![]() Many clans have their own clan chief those that do not are known as armigerous clans. Clans generally identify with geographical areas originally controlled by their founders, sometimes with an ancestral castle and clan gatherings, which form a regular part of the social scene. ![]() The most notable clan event of recent times was The Gathering 2009 in Edinburgh, which attracted at least 47,000 participants from around the world. It is a common misconception that every person who bears a clan's name is a lineal descendant of the chiefs. Many clansmen, although not related to the chief, took the chief's surname as their own to either show solidarity, or to obtain basic protection or for much needed sustenance. Most of the followers of the clan were tenants, who supplied labour to the clan leaders. Contrary to popular belief, the ordinary clansmen rarely had any blood tie of kinship with the clan chiefs, but they sometimes took the chief's surname as their own when surnames came into common use in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 1.3 Clans, the law and the legal processĬlan organisation Clan membership Īs noted above, the word clan is derived from the Gaelic word clann.1.2 Authority of the clans (the dùthchas and the oighreachd).Thus, by the eighteenth century the myth had arisen that the whole clan was descended from one ancestor, perhaps relying on Scottish Gaelic clann originally having a primary sense of 'children' or 'offspring'. However, the need for proved descent from a common ancestor related to the chiefly house is too restrictive.
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