March of the clans, Saturday July 25th

Here's Part 2 of Saturday, the march of the clans. According to the notice posted at Holyrood, members of clans were to gather starting at 7:00 at the South Gate of Holyrood Palace. The clans were grouped alphabetically--good thing that C for Campbell is far from M for Macdonald--and in clusters of clans. And each cluster was led by a pipe band. I don't know how many clans were in our cluster but the Duke told me--doesn't that sound posh, the "Duke" told me--that our clan alone had 200 people marching. It was difficult to get an idea of who was marching because we all milled about for what seemed like ages before we got going and once we were marching, I was so excited I was just aware of the people ahead and behind and all of the people lined up on the Mile. There are some good photos of the March, as well as of the Gathering on Flickr though.

This is my tartan shawl. I chose to wear the Campbell of Cawdor tartan. There are only four "official" (i.e., recognized by the Duke, the clan chief) Campbell tartans: the ancient Campbell tartan, Campbell of Breadalbane or Glenorchy, Campbell of Loudon and the Cawdor. I chose the Cawdor because Cawdor is much closer geographically to where my family originated than Argyll is. So I always had this feeling that we were part of the Cawdor Campbells rather than the Argyll Campbells. I also like the Cawdor family motto "Be mindful" rather than the Argyll "Do not forget" which has an unfortunate association in my mind with Quebec license plates.

Here's a photo of me with the Campbell banner in the background. I really did go all out, complete with Scottish brooch. I admit that I was quite sentimental about it all but it was a tremendous feeling of history participating with thousands of other descendants of Scottish emigrants--there was an estimate of 7,000 participating in the march. I checked to see if anything had been recorded on Youtube but it hasn't surfaced yet. I am tempted to buy the DVD of the proceedings, mainly to see the March again.

Here's where you can see the differences in tartans. The fellow with the white shirt and beard is wearing what is supposedly "Campbell dress tartan" but it's not one of the officially approved tartans. Funny, because I had a skirt in that tartan when I was a little girl and was photographed at my school when we had a "where did your family come from" day. Ah well, who knew and who knows. (And, some would say, who cares.) The other tartan that the fellow with his back to the camera is wearing is, I think, Campbell of Argyll Ancient. But don't quote me. Oh and you can just glimpse my proper footwear--sneakers! The best shoes I could think of for walking up that Mile.

Because I was in the middle--or maybe toward the end--of our clan, and our clan wasn't the first, I never did get to see which band led us off. I knew that the Duke and Duchess were at the head of the clan, carrying the banner though because I'd got a glimpse of her head below the banner and the feather in his cap. Hmmm feather in his cap....

I had thought I'd read that it would be the Atholl Highlanders (pictured) but then I read that these are an infantry group and not a pipe band. I think I really will have to get the DVD so I see what the March actually looked like apart from my little corner of the march.

The March begun, looking behind me at the clans following.

Meeting up with Ian Campbell, my dinner companion of the previous evening. He's wearing the Campbell tartan.

So many people lining the Mile to watch the clans march along! Cheering and waving flags. Well, a little booing at us, the Campbells. Some people will never let go of Glencoe. Another irony of the Argyll motto.

Sitting in the stands, waiting for the rest of the clans to enter, I took this photo of the entrance to Edinburgh castle. The pipe bands that led the clan groups went through the gates after piping the clans into the stadium. I think that the entire march lasted about 3 hours f

rom first pipe band to last clan member entering the stadium.

And at the end of the performance of Aisling's Children, the pipers marched back out again. Aisling's Children was good but not, in my opinion, great. It told the story of Scotland through the eyes of one family, the Macleans, from the first Maclean at the time of the Picts through the many wars Scotland fought with England and, ironically, for England in the World Wars, to the modern Maclean, a farmer in Australia. It touched on so many

incidents and themes that it seemed to hop from one tragedy to the next. Clan warfare was mainly referred to as warfare engendered by whether the clan was loyal to England or not. But I know from reading just a bit of history, and from seeing the Massacre Cave at Eigg where the MacLeods of Skye wiped out all of the inhabitants of Eigg (mostly MacDonalds), that the clans were fairly brutal on their own. There were also a number of technical problems with the production and the "music" for it was mostly unmemorable. Such criticism! Put it down to the fact that I was, by that time, cold and a bit tired. I'm still very glad to have been a part of it and to have seen it.