A personal Statement
I have always been interested in the history of the Scottish clans, and in particular in my own clan, Clan Ewen. So a little while ago, I joined a clan society. Since then I have become more involved and I value the work which clan societies do, but it troubles me that the public face of the clans today is a more-or-less straight mix of history and pageant. I’m a historian and I value history greatly, but I feel that there really should be more to the clans than this. Don’t they have a vision of the future too?
Without something to offer for people today, the clans no longer have any meaningful existence. They do still mean something to me and to many others like me who don’t want to turn their backs on their clan heritage. It’s just that the clans sometimes seem to be nothing but tributes to their own past glory. So, I have thought about what I had hoped a clan society would offer, and about how I could put some of these ideas into practice.
I believe the clans could do more to inspire the loyalty and pride of their clansfolk. Instead of fussing over chiefs and tartans, we should try to look after others in the clan. In today’s world, this can mean seeking out those who are most in need, because they won’t necessarily come looking for their clan. It also means helping young people find their way in the world of business enterprise and employment, or helping to support them in their studies. And we need to remember that the clan includes everyone who bears the clan name or the name of a recognised sept, not just the ones who join the society.
A clan that works on behalf of its clansfolk is a clan we can all be proud of.
As a Ewing, my first thought was to set up something on behalf of Clan Ewen, but I quickly realised that the difficulties in preparing the ground on behalf of a single clan were almost as great as if the same work were to be done for all the clans. Which is why I have put together a proposal for a Foundation for all the clans, to enable people from any clan to work on behalf of their own clansfolk.
The Clans Foundation of Scotland will also try to get the ball rolling on a range of other new ideas for the Scottish clans. Not least, a new football league where the clans can play out old rivalries in on the pitch instead of the battlefield. To find out more, please read the Draft Discussion Paper for The Clans Foundation of Scotland . This document has been newly redrafted following discussions with Malcolm MacGregor of MacGregor; if you want to have your say, please let me know what you think. I’m heartened that some chiefs and some clan societies are already working towards similar goals; The Clans Foundation of Scotland will help and support this work, and will enable other clans to follow suit.
I have also added the Clans Survey to this site. I want to find out more about current attitudes to the clans, what they mean to you and how you think they could better reflect life in the modern world. As far as I know, this is the first survey of its kind ever undertaken. You can also leave your comment in the Clans Guestbook.
‘Reclaim the Clans’ is now also a Facebook cause and a MySpace group.
More about The Clans
On these pages, I’ve put up some articles about The Scottish Clans as a free resource for anyone who wants to know more about this extraordinary cultural phenomenon.
The Scottish clan system arose in the Middle Ages, through the collision of native Gaelic society based on a fluid system of kindred groups, with European feudal society based on rigid patterns of power and land tenure. This collision crystalised both Highland and Lowland society in the kindred groups of the thirteenth century (read more in The Origins of the Clans). Even today, most Scots bear a surname that relates them directly to the clan of their medieval ancestors (although unpicking the tangle of ancestral loyalties behind the name might sometimes be trickier than it first appears). To find out more about clans in medieval Scotland, visit my page on The Early Clans.
By the end of the eighteenth century, the power of the clans as a political force and as a fighting force was spent. In the Lowlands, it had melted away centuries before. In the Highlands, it was broken by a last disastrous campaign driven by ancient loyalties, which ended on the battlefield of Culloden.
In the new world order which was modern Scotland, clan chiefs acted like any other landowner of the time and sought to make the greatest profit from the lands. Some of them (though by no means all) acted with disdain towards the people who had once been the backbone of their power. Looking to the pattern of enclosure which had transformed the English rural economy, they set about clearing the land of its erstwhile inhabitants to make room for sheep. Thus, the traditional clans of old finally perished not on the battlefield so much as in the sheepfold.
Thor Ewing
info @ thorewing.net
© Thor Ewing 2008, All rights reserved
info @ thorewing.net
© Thor Ewing 2008, All rights reserved
