Clan tent suggestions needed

[Bluescelt]

All good suggestions in previous posts. Most people stopping by your tent want to learn and share so try to absorb as much history of your clan as you can. Visual presentation draws people in. I took a high resolution panoramic photo of Loch Tummel when in Scotland and printed it out on a 120"x36" banner which I hang in the tent. It gives those who haven't been there a good feel of what it's like and has been a good addition to the tent. It's always good to have photos of your chief if you have one. Another trademark of our branch of Clan Donnachaidh is we make a homemade batch of shortbread for every games. People have really responded to this.

[Nathan]

I have a little bit of experience and love to share.

Here are some photos of our tents (we do 3 10x10 tents put together).



If you want, give me a pm and I'll answer any question that you may have to the best of my ability.

Clan Donald Missouri has the best display I've seen! Way to go, Chuck! I'm still taking notes a year later and really like the clan crested lawn chairs. One thing we're missing compared to some other clan tents is merch to sell. Around here, a lot of clan societies make more revenue selling hats and t-shirts etc... than they do selling memberships.

Some shots of my clan tent:




The experience of a diaspora community is always going to be different. I have Canadian friends who live abroad and form Canadian clubs and look for excuses to get together and do Canadian things like watch hockey etc... When you live in the midst of a place where everyone is Canadian, it makes no sense to make a big deal about it, but when you're a minority away from the homeland, it's different.

I'd say that I've gotten far more into the Scottish community since leaving Cape Breton as a way to connect with others and combat a certain degree of homesickness. Back home, most people are Highlanders, so nobody gives it a second thought. Nobody wears a kilt to a ceilidh, feis or mod except for some pipers or Highland dancers, but if they travel to the Antigonish Highland Games, the kilts will come out.

Clan tents provide a home base for people who are curious about their genealogy, clan history and kinship. A MacDonald living in Scotland could just pop over to a museum or castle or the Armadale centre on Skye to get his fill of this information but many North Americans will have to settle for talking to the enthusiast at the clan tent. C'est la vie.

[Father Bill]

Jock, Nathan, you both hit the nail square on with your last posts. It explains both sides of the difference - in Scotland it's not a big deal, it's just what is. Here with a massive Scottish percentage of the population, it seems to a lot of folks to be something that's missing from their lives - a gap, so it's a need that has re-created (with unfortunately, some misperceptions included).

[Ron Abbott]

Good photos! The cromach always get me. Why the cromach?

I always noted that Maj. Gen. Sir Athol Blair Alasdair MacCrumbly-Biscuit of MacCrumbly-Biscuit alays seems to have one at the highland games (along with a car blanket in the ancient MacCrumbly-Biscuit tartan over his shoulder).

I have to say that one of the things that surprises me is how people seem to look up to the clan chiefs. Although it's not always the case, has everyone forgotten about the likes of the clearances? The manner in which clan chiefs often treated the ordinary people of 'their clans'?

Do the majority really much have in common with the Fettes and Oxbridge educated clan chief? Of course that's not always the case but t does make me wonder.

MacKenzie asks why I wear a kilt. In fact, I wear one much less nowadays but that's just because I find it uncomfortable in the heat and humidity of where I live. But 30 years ago when still in Scotland I was playing in two pipe bands and also did solo piping work and I was wearing the kilt perhaps four or even times a week.

I also dropped out of the local St Andrews Society a long time ago. I couldn't be bothered with the , "oh yes I was born in London, but my mother's, aunt's, second sister's half cousin had a grandmother whose grandfather came from Berwick....hmm.....it was in Scotland then wasn't it?" type of person. Either that or it was someone who thought wearing a Rangers top and letting loose with bigoted rants was an appropriate way of showing one's Scottishness (change that for a Celtic top if it's your wish).

I also worked in two shops in The Lawnmarket when younger, mainly bagpipes but all sort of highland wear and even tourist tat was for sale.

I have to confess however that when I do return to Scotland these days, I love to do what I am sure many tourists do, because in some ways maybe that's what I have also become......visiting castles, etc. etc. However my main like back home is for the tranquility, a lack of polluted air and I love to do some fishing.

I'm anything but anti-kilt, I just like it worn in the right way and on the right occasion and I find it amusing to see some of the outfits out there....especially the ones with clan everything.....kiltpins, cap badges, tie clips, a signet ring, clan tie, tartan flashes etc. etc.
I would however confess that when I return to Sc

[Nathan]

Good photos! The cromach always get me. Why the cromach?

I always noted that Maj. Gen. Sir Athol Blair Alasdair MacCrumbly-Biscuit of MacCrumbly-Biscuit alays seems to have one at the highland games (along with a car blanket in the ancient MacCrumbly-Biscuit tartan over his shoulder).

I have to say that one of the things that surprises me is how people seem to look up to the clan chiefs. Although it's not always the case, has everyone forgotten about the likes of the clearances? The manner in which clan chiefs often treated the ordinary people of 'their clans'?

Do the majority really much have in common with the Fettes and Oxbridge educated clan chief? Of course that's not always the case but t does make me wonder.

MacKenzie asks why I wear a kilt. In fact, I wear one much less nowadays but that's just because I find it uncomfortable in the heat and humidity of where I live. But 30 years ago when still in Scotland I was playing in two pipe bands and also did solo piping work and I was wearing the kilt perhaps four or even times a week.

I also dropped out of the local St Andrews Society a long time ago. I couldn't be bothered with the , "oh yes I was born in London, but my mother's, aunt's, second sister's half cousin had a grandmother whose grandfather came from Berwick....hmm.....it was in Scotland then wasn't it?" type of person. Either that or it was someone who thought wearing a Rangers top and letting loose with bigoted rants was an appropriate way of showing one's Scottishness (change that for a Celtic top if it's your wish).

I also worked in two shops in The Lawnmarket when younger, mainly bagpipes but all sort of highland wear and even tourist tat was for sale.

I have to confess however that when I do return to Scotland these days, I love to do what I am sure many tourists do, because in some ways maybe that's what I have also become......visiting castles, etc. etc. However my main like back home is for the tranquility, a lack of polluted air and I love to do some fishing.

I'm anything but anti-kilt, I just like it worn in the right way and on the right occasion and I find it amusing to see some of the outfits out there....especially the ones with clan everything.....kiltpins, cap badges, tie clips, a signet ring, clan tie, tartan flashes etc. etc.
I would however confess that when I return to Sc

Well Ron,

You ask some fair questions and I've given them some thought over the years. Here's where I am at the moment.

The cromach is a) very comfortable to lean on when you're on your feet all day and b) a symbol of leadership. It's a traditional accessory for far more than the chiefs. I'm the Commissioner of Clan Donald Southern Ontario and so I view that position as a representative of the Chiefs to the clan and of the local clan to the Chiefs. I try to make the MacDonalds etc... that come to my tent proud of the legacy of their clan and connected to their cultural inheritance. I find dressing traditionally - cromach and all - helps me achieve that.

I can't speak for everyone, but I've given the question of the chiefs a lot of thought. I come from an area that was populated by the Highland clearances and we are acutely aware of their role in our exile. And no, I don't have a whole lot in common with the Eton and Oxford educated class of clan chief, except for one thing...we're family. See, I'm not in the grudge business. You have to take a long view of history. The current living chiefs were not responsible for the clearances. Certainly their ancestors were, but the Crown was equally responsible for stripping them of their clan system and making them into feudal landlords with such high tax obligations. The Clearances were horrible and must not be forgotten, but forgiveness is a virtue. But while I'm remembering that this Chief's ancestor was responsible for a Clearance, I also remember that another of his ancestors raised the banner for Prince Charlie and another one of his ancestors stood beside the Bruce at Bannockburn and another of his ancestors established the Gaelic civilization that was the Lordship of the Isles. Those people are my ancestors too. So while I certainly don't idolize the chiefs, the peers, the aristocracy or even the Monarchy for that matter, I respect that life looks different depending where you're standing and what circumstances you're facing. At the end of the day, you have to take the good with the bad. They inherit both the sins and the great deeds of their fathers but they get a fair shot as unique human beings in their own right.

If a Chief devotes his time and effort to the clan and its legacy, he deserves respect for that. He is the head of the family and if he doesn't abuse that position but treats it like a responsibility, he is worthy of some degree of loyalty. The Finlaggan Council, the Armadale Centre on Skye, the Clan Donald Lands Trust, The Galley Aileach, The Clanranald Trust for Scotland are some of the ways my chiefs are doing their duty to the clan, so I'm doing mine.

I feel the same way about grudges against so called rival clans for the most part. Most rivals were also brothers in arms on different battlefields at different times. We can choose to focus on our differences like the Rangers and Celtic fans you referenced, or we can focus on the times when we were at our best and aspire to be great and united once again.

I certainly don't mean to downplay the Clearances or atrocities, but I have to think that notwithstanding the suffering those emigrants had to endure, I kind of won the lottery. I was born and raised in Canada at this time in history and that does not in any way suck. I also grew up on Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia aka the Western-most Island in the Hebrides. Life wasn't easy for the generations of coal miners, farmers and fisherman that made their way here, but it was no easier for many back in Scotland and given the number of Scots that keep coming in this direction and the fact that precious few Canadians are headed in the other direction, I can only be so angry about the decision.

As for amusing outfits on people, it's a good thing xmarks is here or many would have nothing but vendors to go by...I've seen just as many funny outfits on native born Scots as I have diaspora Scots but I try to lead by example and speak kindly because a) they're only clothes and it's the man wearing them that matters and b) If a man is proud enough of his heritage to step out in a kilt and deserves fellowship and brotherhood more than snobbery and derisiveness. He'll figure out the details later, or he won't and I won't lose a wink of sleep over it.

I guess there's no need for a cromach when you have to carry a set of bagpipes, but since I don't play pipes, it gives me something to do with my hands. ;)