"The bonds of affection that unite the present chief and her clansmen in all the arts of the world is indeed a living tie that neither mountains nor a waste of seas can divide."
___ Sir Iain Moncrieffe, "The Highland Clans"
Sir Iain Monfrieffe, the late Albany herald of arms, speaks warmly here of the late Dame Flora MacLeod, clan chief of the Clan MacLeod. The special bonds that bring the clan and its chief together are very different from those of president and citizen or of monarch and subject. The clan chief is responsible to the clan as the head of a family is responsible for her children; the clan's responsibilities toward the chief are like-wise familial and intimate. Despite the decline of the clan system, the clans and their chiefs still gather in familial assemblies from all parts of the world to rejoice in each other's company.
With the breakdown of extended families into nuclear units, few families can enjoy a similar intimacy and recognition. The strongest sense of clan affection is not experienced among those families that are members of the vast diaspora of immigrants who have left their homeland for a new country. The sense of clan may remain in the new land, with those from a particular area who have settled in a given region, or it may extend back over the water to the people of the old homeland.
The sense of wanting to belong to part of our human identity, but even this special bond is shifting as human consciousness seeks a more personalized identity, as it reaches for a wider connection. We are all moving toward a greater clan bond that is planetary and universal. We are not altogether happy or convinced about this belonging: it lacks intimacy and could so easily come to nothing very much. Whether we can be part of this larger clan is yet to be seen.
"Which clan bonds include you in their embrace? Which do you admit to?"
[From: "The Celtic Spirit" by Caitlin Matthews]
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