At the 250th anniversary of Culloden, there was a large event and re-enactment held. At this event certain clan chiefs appeared whose ancestors fought for the Jacobite cause. Their ancestors were also responsible for the eviction of the descendents of clansmen who bled for them at Culloden. Clansmen whom they cold heartedly replaced with thousands of sheep in the interests of 'improvement' and profit. So much for ancient tradition of clan loyalty and a sense of paternal duty to ones people, which after Culloden became a tenuous thread indeed.

I have read on a certain clan chiefs website a long tract about how one should address a Chief, what an ordinary clansman can and cannot do, what symbols he can and cannot use. How they wear the Chiefs tartan and how the Chief can decide whom they will allow to be a member of the clan, regardless of the direct blood links. 

There are of course matters of protocol in all associations, but have these clan chiefs forgotten a little matter of the Highland Clearances and their forebears part in them, and the fact that the world has moved on a bit since 1746? Feudalism and its cap doffing has gone, it has no place in the modern world.

As individuals we are all deserving of respect and as is said in the army, 'rank is given but respect is earned'. That is a very good philosophy for life generally, no matter what titles one may have been gifted or inherited. Fortunately, there are modern clan associations around, who fully embrace those new sentiments and genuinely embrace those of the Clan surname from all walks of life.

CLICK ON THE THUMBNAILS FOR LARGER SCALE IMAGES
The Memorial Cairn	The Plaque on the Cairn	The Memorial Cairn
The Hanoverian Line indicated by the red flags	The Hanoverian Line indicated by the red flags	The Hanoverian Line indicated by the red flags
Well of the Dead - where fell the Chief of the MacGillivray's	Mass grave of the Mixed Clans	Another mass grave of the Mixed Clans
The mass grave of Clan MacKintosh	The mass grave of Clan MacGillivray	Mass grave of the Clan's MacGillivray, MacLean, MacLachlan and the Athol Highlanders.
Respect for the Fallen - Silence for the Dead	The Hanoverian Dead who were certainly not all English	The mass graves with the red flags indicating the Hanoverian line in the background
Another mass grave of the Clan MacKintosh	The battlefield at Culloden - It has been returned to its original state, after being previously used for commercial forestry	The battlefield diagram amidst the mass graves between the Hanoverian and Jacobite lines

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©Copyright - James of Glencarr