Updated 16.1.17 1

Here is the latest list of what Clans are marching on what days for The Touch of Tartan.

There will be a series of Clan Parades that will take place each night of the Tattoo. This will be a major event within the Clan-themed events that will be happening throughout this year, backed by the Scottish Clan Event Fund.

There are 25 performances of the Edinburgh Tattoo. Tickets have been put aside for the clans to buy for each performance to make sure that as many tartan-clad clansmen, women and children attend as possible.  Each Clan has seats allocated at the Tattoo.

For more information please contact  info@clanchiefs.org.uk

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The Black Chanter of Clan Chattan

The ancient Clan Chattan possess a wooden chanter (finger pipe of the bagpipes)  known as ‘The Black Chanter’ or ‘Feadan Dubh’.  The chanter is one of the Clan’s most cherished possessions alongside their Green Banner and is kept at Cluny Castle in Badenoch—the Seat of the Chief of Clan Chattan/MacPherson. The prosperity of the House of Cluny is supposed to depend on this chanter.

Cluny Castle – seat of the Chief of Clan Macpherson until the 1930s

The Black Chanter is said to have originally fell from heaven. There are cracks on the pipe believed to be caused from this fall.

Legend says that the Duke of Cumberland had been warned before the battle of Culloden by an old witch, or second seer that if he waited until the Bratach Uaine (Green Flag) and the Feadan Dubh (Black Chanter) came up he would be defeated. Ewen of Cluny was present at the Battle of Prestonpans with six hundred of his Clan, and he accompanied Prince Charlie into England. On the Prince’s retreat into Scotland, Cluny with his men put two regiments of Cumberland’s dragoons to flight at Clifton, fought afterwards at the Battle of Falkirk, and was on his way from Badenoch to Inverness with his Clan to join the Prince when flying fugitives from Culloden met him with the intelligence of that sad day’s disaster.  They had missed the battle.

As Colonel John Roy Stuart (Iain Ruadh Stiubhart) the famous warrior-poet of the ’45 has it in his Oran eile air lutha Chuilodair:
“Clann-Mhuirich nam buadh,
Iad-san uile bhi bhuainn,
Gur h-e m’ iomadan truagh r’a leughadh”

which may be freely translated as
“Clan Vourich of might!
When dire was our plight,
Would you had been there to aid us!”

According to tradition the Black Chanter of Clan Chattan is endowed with magical properties. Towards the end of the combat on the North Inch of Perth, we are told that there was seen an aerial minstrel hovering over the heads of the Macphersons, who after playing a few wild strains on the instrument let it drop from his hand. The Macpherson piper secured this en- chanted pipe, and even though mortally wounded poured forth the pibroch of the Clan till death effectually silenced his music. The Black Chanter was ever after held to ensure success not only to the Macphersons, but also to its temporary possessors, whenever lent to other Clans by the generosity of the Chief of the time. The Grants of Strathspey having received an affront through the cowardice of some unworthy members of that Clan and being dejected beyond measure, borrowed this magical instrument. Its bold war-notes soon roused their drooping energies and stimulated them to such valour that from that time forth it passed into a proverb that “no enemy ever saw the back of a Grant.” The Grants of Glenmoriston afterwards borrowed it in the same way, and it was only restored to “old Cluny” in the early part of the present century.

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Molly O’Brien

A young Dundee actress is to take on the lead role of a Highland heroine for a new short film about the Highland Clearances.  The Last Footsteps from Home is a haunting story inspired by the real life story of Kate McPherson, a courageous young Scots woman who was forced to leave her family home during the turbulent Highland Clearances in 1813 and board an emigrant ship bound for Canada. Molly O’Brien (18) will bring the inspiring role of Kate to life for the forthcoming film.

Born in Blairgowrie  O’Brien has had roles in theatre, small films and TV and has worked as a background artist on the Outlander television series. Molly started acting classes at the age of seven when she moved to Ireland for two years. Back in Blairgowrie, Molly continued her newfound love of acting at her local theatre company before going on to audition for a foundation acting class at Scottish Youth Theatre.

“The classes taught me a great deal about acting and performance,” says Molly who now lives in Glasgow, “especially about the more professional side to it – the importance of dedication, developing an appreciation for meeting deadlines and really committing yourself to a role.”

Filming of The Last Footsteps of Home starts in September,  using locations like Brora, Golspie and the Strath of Kildonan and Laidhay Croft Museum, which is a 200-year-old thatched longhouse in Dunbeath.  The Laidhay interior is a readymade film set with a substantial collection of 18th and 19th century agricultural and domestic items. It will be set  in Sutherland and Caithness.

Elizabeth Cameron of Laidhay Croft Museum says: “Laidhay is delighted to be involved with Last Footsteps of Home. It’s certainly going to give a great boost to the displays in the museum. We feel confident that people will receive the finished film very positively.”

One of the film’s locations Laidhay Croft Museum is a 200-year-old longhouse

O’Brien, who was brought up in Blairgowrie and now lives in Glasgow, said: “When I first heard about the role of Kate McPherson I was very excited.
“The Highland Clearances is a subject that interests me greatly, especially in the light of the fact that although they took place hundreds of years ago, similar examples of people having to leave their homes and go elsewhere can be seen all over the world today.
“It is a privilege to be involved in a project that is telling Kate McPherson’s story in this way.
“She really was an amazing woman – her life inspires me and symbolises the determination of we as Scots in the quest for a better life.”

The film’s writer and director, Robert Aitken says: “Although separated by 200 years, Molly and Kate share a great quality – both are tenacious young women heading out to a new world hoping to make their mark.

Robert Aitken

“I knew instantly that Molly was perfect for the role. Pathos will be important in telling our story about the Highland Clearances. Regardless of the arguments, the idea of leaving your home forever is truly heart wrenching.

Throughout the filming, cast and crew will be based at The Golspie Inn, which itself played a key role in the story of Highland Clearances and of great, but little known, importance in the context of Scottish history. Resistance to the planned improvements, which included removing of tenants from the old townships in the Staths at Kildonan and Clyne to the coast, resulted in the ‘Golspie Riots’ of 1813. Around 500 people turned up in a collective act of defiance at the proposed clearance.

he Golspie Inn, Previously the Sutherland Arms Hotel

Starting in the late 18th Century and running into the 19th Century, the Highland Clearances saw townships occupied by generations of families cleared to make way for large-scale sheep farming and the rearing of deer. It was a forced and often brutal removal. The Clearances fundamentally changed the landscape of much of northern Scotland and destroyed gaelic culture.

A Commemorative Stone for The Gillespie Riots

“We intend to remember the significance of the ‘Golspie Riots’ with a commemorative stone,” says Eddie McRae, owner of Golspie Inn. “The Inn is only too glad to support the making of Last Footsteps of Home. We have ambitious plans to make the Inn a conducive meeting place for people and the amazing heritage we have on our doorstep. We want to offer visitors and locals alike a rewarding cultural experience. The story of the ‘Golspie Riots’ will also be of great interest to descendants at home and abroad and we feel Robert’s film will truly help communicate this pivotal point in the Scottish Diaspora.”

Concludes Robert Aitken: “I’m hugely excited that our story will use actual locations connected with the Highland Clearances. It’s very important that Molly feels an empathy with the area and the harsh circumstances that the local people often found them in. You can only do that by being on the land where the more turbulent events of the Clearances happened.”

Kate McPherson was among 80 people who were forced off land in Sutherland and emigrated to Canada where they were to be settled in the Red River colony. Ms McPherson and the others cleared from Sutherland had to walk 100 miles (161kms) to the colony in wintry conditions in handmade snowshoes.

Mr Aitken said: “The film follows Kate McPherson at the precise point when she is leaving her home, her way of life and her country and we will quite literally follow her ‘last footsteps of home’.
“While the Clearances are well documented, what happened to the displaced Highlanders following the evictions and the impact they made on the world is not so well known.”
Forcibly evicted

Interestingly the short will be free of dialogue.

Find out more about The Highland Clearances >
Find out more about The GlenCalvie Clearances >

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