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The clan system
that arose in Scotland around the 11th century when Scotland was
(and still is today) a feudal system was a complex society. A
chief headed the clan and all members of the Clan owed the chief
allegiance.
The Gaelic word for 'clan' is children, but is best translated
as 'family.' Originally each clan was made up of the descendents
of one man and his children. Today a clan is a social group
whose core comprises a number of families derived from, or
accepted as being derived from, a common ancestor. Almost
without exception, that core is accompanied by an added number
of dependent and associated families who have either sought the
protection of the clan at some point in history or have been
tenants or vassals of its chief.
Anybody of any name can be a member of a particular Clan, the
only proviso being that he must apply to the chief and be
accepted by him to be a member of his extended family, only the
chief has the power to accept a person into the clan and indeed
to expel him, once accepted, the applicant and his family and
descendents are entitled to wear the chiefs crest badge
surrounded by a strap and buckle and the designated Clan tartan.
In the Scottish borders the structure is exactly the same, the
only difference between the two is that in the borders it is not
called a clan, instead it is always referred to as a family and
so the leader in the clan is called a "chief" and in the borders
he is called the "head of the family".
So Clan and Family are synonymous and for the purposes
of the 'World Wide Web' and our foreign members we
will refer to ourselves as a Clan/Family. |
