Celebrating Our Scottish Heritage - Tending a Clan Booth

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roger settlemire

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Mar 2, 2013, 2:00:28 AM3/2/13

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Celebrating Our Scottish Heritage

Tending a Clan Booth

In a previous article entitled “Attend the Scottish Games and Celebrate our Scottish Heritage and Culture” on the EFA Forum dated April 2, 2012, I encouraged our members to join with others in celebrating our Scottish heritage and culture at Scottish Highland Games and Gatherings and other Scottish cultural events attended by many thousands of “Scots,” and “wannabee Scots,” and the general public all over North America and many parts of the world (e.g. 60,000 attend the S.F. Scottish games at Pleasanton, CA).

In this article, Beverly and I would like to share our wonderful experience in tending a booth for the Nevada Society of Scottish Clans at a county fair booth. We tended this booth for about 10 hours a day for five days (from 12:00 noon to 10 PM, Wednesday through Sunday) in August of each year for about five years. We had the help of other members of the Society (some of whom traveled from Reno, 80 miles away). We spent about 60 hours tending the booth each year. But it was well worth while interacting with the public about Scottish heritage and culture on a first-hand experience basis.

We set up the booth with a big banner (about 4’ by 10’) having the name of Nevada Society of Scottish Clans emblazoned across it and displaying large Scottish flags (the blue and white St. Andrews Cross and the red and gold Rampant Lion) and American flags at the corners of the booth. We put up pictures of men in kilts and bagpipers around the booth. We posted a big clan map of Scotland showing the medieval homelands of the various clans. We set up tables with Scottish clan and name books, clan tartan books, clan crests books, family history books, and other Scottish paraphernalia. We had homemade Scottish shortbread cookies and miniature Scottish flags to hand out. We had bagpipe and other Scottish music playing in the background. I dressed in kilts (which I thought I would never do but I did) and Beverly dressed in Scottish attire. The first year we did not know what to expect, as the local county fair had never had a Scottish booth before. We waited for the gates to open to the public to see what would happen.

To our amazement, even before the gates opened, vendors and other people working the fair were coming up to our booth, and asking about their clan connections and Scottish ancestry. The gates opened and the response was incredible. People would really “light up” upon seeing the “Scottish Clan” banner and flags. Mom and Dad with their children, couples and individuals of all ages (young children to seniors) came up to our booth throughout the entire time of the fair --- they were all fascinated with the clans and Scottish heritage and culture. People who had heard that they might be a “wee bit Scottish” wanted to know if they were descendants of one of the “Scottish Clans” or at least whether they were “Scottish.” The excitement level was high.

We would look up their family names to see if they were in the clan and Scottish name books. If we found their family name “in the book,” we would see if the family name was a “clan name” (such as Clan Campbell, Clan Stewart, etc.). They were elated! This was like hitting the jackpot!

· Maybe the family surnames turned out to be one of the “septs” --- affiliates of a certain clan. (One “clan” might have a hundred surname septs). People were happy with the connection to a sept --- as they could claim they were part of a specific “clan.”

· Maybe the family surname turned out to be Scottish in the name book, but not part of a “clan” or a “sept.” We would have to explain that not all Scottish families were historical “clans.” People would still be happy to find some indication of their Scottish heritage.

· We would ask people about their maternal surnames, and, in many instances, we could find a clan, sept, or Scottish name connection in the name books.

· But sometimes, a family surname was not listed in the name book at all. We told them that the compilations of Scottish surnames did not contain complete listings, and that their surnames might be listed in other books. These people were disappointed that they were not able to find the coveted Scottish connection, but we consoled them with Scottish shortbread cookies. They still went away wanting to be Scottish in mind and spirit, and wanted to join some Scottish organization just because they loved the Scottish culture.

· We told them about the different modern “clan organizations” (see http://www.scottishtartans.org/clanlink.html) and the Scottish organizations that they might join (e.g. the NSSC, St. Andrews Society, Caledonian Club, etc.). Many joined the NSSC and paid their dues right on the spot. In the first five days at the booth, we got 60 new members for the NSSC. It was truly amazing.

· If we found a family surname in the name book, either as a clan or a sept or just a Scottish name, then people would want to know the location of their clan on the clan map of Scotland. They wanted to know what “their” clan kilt looked like, what “their” tartan was like, and the history of their clan, sept or family. We looked up their colorful kilts, tartans, crests and histories, too. They were fascinated and wanted copies, if possible.

· We told people that any information we gave them about their clans and family was just “preliminary,” and that they would have to do genealogy research to find out more. This stimulated people’s interest in finding out more about their family history through genealogical research on the internet and other sources. We would have a nice little conversation with every person that stopped at our booth. Sometimes, there were so many people stopping for information that we had trouble handling all of their inquiries.

· We are glad to report that we did not encounter a single instance of any “negative reference” or confusion of “clan” evoking “Klan,” or anything of that nature.

· We handed out miniature Scottish flags to the children and shortbread all around, so everybody went away happy.

The children of various ages were with their parents at the booth, wide-eyed looking at the Scottish flags and symbols and colorful kilts. While they might not have been able to understand much of the conversation about Scottish clans and culture, they were happy to be involved. It was an introduction to their “roots” and they will remember their “Scottish experience” for a lifetime. Surprisingly, even teenagers took an interest in the Scottish clans --- as many had seen the film “Braveheart” --- and they wanted to know more about Scottish heritage and culture.

We were also surprised to find that so many people either had done genealogy research or were interested in doing genealogy research on their families to find out more.

We had attended Scottish Games with their air of excitement. But we were not prepared for the excitement surrounding the Scottish Clan booth. We just put the Scottish paraphernalia “out there,” and watched people eagerly coming to our booth to see what it was all about.

The word “clan” turns things Scottish into something magical and exciting. The word “clan” lifts people into “another world”--- the Highlands of medieval Scotland. We found that people were attracted to our clan booth --- “like a magnet.” Many people found something that was missing in their lives --- a “spiritual” experience about Scottish clans and heritage. People seem to love the clans and the Scottish culture and wanted to know more. They seem to love almost anything Scottish. Running a clan booth was one of the more gratifying things that we have done. We enjoyed conversing with people about the Scottish clans and culture. We had fun meeting so many people with a strong interest in Scottish clans and culture. What a great experience!

Beverly and I have been experiencing the Scottish “clan scene” over the last decade. We would like other descendants of our medieval “Clan Ewing” to have the pleasure and exhilaration of being a part of the Scottish scene. It is a “spiritual experience” like none other.