Scotland Family Travel A
family vacation in Scotland could be one of the happiest times of your life,
when you bring back memories to cherish and moments to look back on and smile.
We’ve got some very handy hints and tips to make sure that this really is
the case. Check out the weather forecast before you leave, look up lovely
places to eat around the country, and keep the whole family smiling with our
guide to travelling with kids. Relax – you are all going to have a holiday
you’ll never forget – for all the right reasons.
Clans of Scotland Whatever their ancient origins - Celtic, Norse or
Norman-French - by the 13th century the clan system was well established in the
Highlands of Scotland. It was a distinct Gaelic tribal culture, which, in its
15th century heyday, threatened the authority of the Stewart monarchy itself.
Though increasingly brought into contact with the rest of Scotland, the clan
system survived largely intact until its dismantling in the years following
1746, a consequence of the failure of the final Jacobite uprising on the bloody
field of Culloden. The clans - their heyday and their demise In Gaelic, the
word clann means family or children. The clan system was completely
separated by language, custom and geography from the Sassenach or southern
parts of the country (Sassenach means 'of Saxon origin' and was applied equally
to Lowland Scots as to the English). The clans lived off the land more or less
self-sufficiently, with cattle as their main wealth. Stealing cattle (sometimes
in order to survive) was widespread, as were territorial disputes between
clans. Land was owned by the chief, rather than individual clansmen, and was
held either directly from the Crown or from other superior clan chiefs. The
most powerful chiefs in some places kept expensive courts and retainers for
prestige and had virtual autonomy over matters of law and order within their
territory. Not all of a clan chieftain's preoccupations were war-like. For
example, an important member of the chief's retinue was the bard, who could
both compose an epic poem, perhaps recalling a feat of heroism in battle, and
recite lineage, which was an important part of his role as the recorder of the
clan's history.
The clan piper was another hereditary post, of whom the MacCrimmons, hereditary
pipers to the MacLeods, were perhaps the most famous. However, by the 18th
century, with agricultural improvements spreading from the Lowlands and with
some road-building taking place which made communications easier, clans and
their chiefs were brought more and more into contact with 'southern' ways.
Thus, even without the shock of Culloden and the violent reaction of the
Lowland authorities (which included the proscription or banning of tartan and
the forfeiting of rebel clan chief's estates) the old clan system was gradually
being absorbed into a modern economic society. This process of change was noted
by Sir Walter Scott in his novel, Rob Roy, where Rob can be seen as a symbol of
the old, self-sufficient ways, which contrasted with those of his distant
cousin, Bailie Nicol Jarvie, a Glasgow merchant preoccupied with progress and
business. Even so, Rob also acts as a Jacobite agent and sympathiser (as did
the real life Rob Roy), demonstrating that, inevitably, the clan system was a
part of Scottish politics.
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Scotland Travel- Scotland
Tour, short Scotland Vacations, and Scotland Tourism
Information - the most complete travel information including - Edinburgh hotels
- Everything you want to know about traveling to Scotland -Scotland Travel
Agents - Scotland Hiking - Scotland Cycling - Scotland Golf - Scottish castles
(including castle accommodation), landscape, history and sites of interest,
Scottish Castle Hotels, Scottish Inns, Scottish B&B's - Aberdeen - Dundee -
Edinburgh - Glasgow - Inverness- Perth, Edinburgh Tattoo Packages. For travel
to Scotland, we have day tours of Edinburgh and tours to the Scottish
highlands, longer, Scotland motorcoach tours, self-drive tours with car rentals
and bed and breakfasts, hotels and castles, train travel, barging and cruising
on the canals Scotland. We offer chauffeur driven itineraries, apartment and
castle rentals, Scotland walking tours bicycling tours, fishing in Scotland,
Scotland golf , Harry Potter tours, custom family tours to Scotland, and so
much more. Planning a honeymoon in Scotland? Visiting by ship for a short time
- we also have shore excursions for cruise ships or private day tours. If you
don't see it here, please ask. We more than likely can arrange it for you.
Click here for air inclusive self drive specials for one week or two weeks. Why
take an escorted vacation of Scotland? These escorted tours of Scotland may be
combined with a stay in Edinburgh, or with Ireland
BE PART OF the greatest clan gathering the world has ever seen. Clan Gathering
and Highland Games to celebrate Scotland’s rich history and cultural
traditions. Homecoming 2009
Riding Out 2009
Is your clan attending? Clans Attending: Below is a list of the clans which
will be attending The Gathering 2009. We have custom one week itineraries for
all Scottish Families, culminating with the Clan Gathering in Edinbugh. Don't
miss yours! Agnew Armstrong Arthur Baillie Barclay Bell Blair Borthwick Boyd
Brodie Broun Bruce Buchanan Burnett Cameron Campbell Carmichael Chattan
Cochrane Colquhoun Crawford Crichton Cumming Cunningham Currie Davidson Dewar
Doig Donald Donnachaidh Douglas Dunbar Duncan Durie Eliott Erskine Farquharson
Fergusson Forbes Fraser Gordon Graham Grant Grewar Gunn Hall Hannay Hay
Henderson Herd Home Hunter Irvine Jardine Keith Kennedy Kerr Kincaid Lamont
Leslie Lindsay Livingstone Lockhart Lumsden Macalister MacAlpine Macaulay
Macbain Macdonald Macdougall Macdowall Macduff MacEwen Macfarlane Macfie
Macgregor MacInnes Macintyre MacIver Mackay Mackenzie Mackinnon Mackintosh
Maclaine Maclaren MacLea Maclean Maclennan Macleod Macmillan Macnab Macnaghten
MacNeil Macpherson Macrae MacTavish Macthomas Maitland Malcolm Matheson Maxwell
McCallum McKerrell McVicar Moffat Moncreiffe Montgomery Morrison Napier Nesbitt
Oliphant Paisley Pitcairn Ramsay Ranald of Lochbhair Rose Ross Scott Sempill
Sinclair Skene St Andrew's Society of Singapore Stewart Stewartby Strachan
Strange Stuart of Bute Sutherland Trotter Turnbull Ulster Scots Urquhart
Wardlaw Wilson of Kilwinnet Wood Many clans can be traced back to a specific
part of Scotland, the MacLeods of Skye for example, or the MacNabs of St Fillan
on Loch Earn. For those with a clan history, a trip to the clan homeland is an
absolute must. You can find out more about your own particular clan.
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