CLSNA' LamontCentral Forum

David · President - CLSNA

Clan Claus? Are you kidding me?

Knockdow · Guru

Accck Skydiving Santas like in that Vegas movie (skydiving Elvis's)

morris · Regional Vice President - NE CLSNA

I think all Scotts should Shun such mockery! Are they even Scottish?

LarneMan · Senior Member

Inconceivable! confuse

It's just wrong!

Wood Badger · Senior Member

Cycle Gang Wana-be's
Elvis wana-be's
Cop wana-be's
and now Scots wana-be's

What next?? confuse

I agree...Sad

just sad

Drac · Senior Member

Here's what's next

David · President - CLSNA

RE: Clan Claus? Are you kidding me?

LarneMan · Senior Member

I know what caused it! They've been eating "that soup"! It's caused them to become addled!

It's just against nature! Against nature, I say! confuse

James · Senior Member

Actually the "Claus" I talked to was a reverend. I think it started as more of a church group spreading the christmas message.

There is no Clan Claus grant by the Lord Lyon Court at least in 2007. I read every entry on the website.

I think it's probably some ashamed campbells.

I wonder if they know that St. Nicholas is from Turkey?

I don't see them being around for very long.

-- Edited by James on Thursday 2nd of July 2009 07:16:14 PM

Kilted Carver · Senior Member

We met this chap at Blairsville, and my daughter went crazy!

She insistedwe talk with him. He was a nice chap, his kilt belt-buckle had SANTA on it and his pin on his plaid had a reindeer on it. Very cool fella.

EoinDubh · Senior Member

I don't know about the games in your areas, but here on the West Coast they

are in steep decline. We do have a lot of them (about 14 per year in the

Northern California and Northern Nevada) but until this year there were new

ones starting up about every other year. This year several of the older,

established games were not held and it looks, from the drop in attendance,

that more will not be held next year. So if the Clan Claus folks bring in

more gate it is a good thing.

They seem to be well off financially as an individual membership is

$100 annually. Additional family members cost $25 each annually up to

a total of $150. They seem to be kitted out and into the spirit of

Scottishness in general. The main problem is that no matter what they

call themselves, they are not a recognized clan.

Of course there are other groups that have tenet at Games that are

not Clans but are setup with the clan tents. Examples are Cali Clubs,

St. Andrews Societies, SAMS, Tri Valley Scotts, etc. Then there are

the re-enactors and vendors. Typically the groups are divided, at

least here on the West Coast into Clans, vendors and re-enactors.

Adding another group would solve the Claus problem.

My wife had an idea about Clan Claus. Move the service organizations and

semi clans like Claus into the same area. So all the clans would be grouped

together, as would the vendors, re-enactors and service organizations. This

gives groups like the Clan Claus, Clan MacClown (yes they do exist), Clan

MacStagger (don't ask) a place to hang out and possibly help get people back

to the games.

Kilted Carver · Senior Member

Before you read my ramblings please understand that I mean no harm and am not trying to ruffe any feathers...wit that said , read on:

I am member of a forum called Clan Ootland, we know we are not a clan, its just a name that was chosen by the people that started it all. I also, like EoinDubh has stated,I have seen organizations use the term "clan" when what as actually was meant was to say "club" or other. Another is Clan MacBubba, which the name can make one think of rednecks.
Is it true that to try to attain real clan status you must get your ducks in a row and go before the Lord Lyon?
I don't see Clan Clause ( would it be more preferable to call it Club Clause, or Kilted Clauses?) going before the Lord Lyon anytime soon.
I really don't think they are trying to make fun of our heritage either, if anything I think they may draw attention to it,and isn't that what we are trying to do?

LarneMan · Senior Member

I know the one year we went to Grandfather, we camped on "the other side of the road" - the side that a fellow named Bear "opened" for us since there was a chain across the entrance. They called the group that camped there Clan McRowdy, but they didn't even have a clan tent or anything.

The proper camp ground was for RVs and campers, etc., not tent camping. The sites had electrical outlets and water, so there were many people there with microwaves, fridges, TVs etc. confuse

The "other side" was tent camping with camp fires, etc. And a much more interesting group of folks, IOHO. For instance, there was Leslie, born in Edinburgh, I believe, who trained for the heavy weight wrestling event by drinking a fifth of Glenfiddich with beer chasers until he fell over. His reasoning was that he wold still be numb by the event time, and not feel anything. He was, after all, the heavy weight Champion. wink

OK, enough of this frivolity! biggrin

So, maybe the addition of the service organization category and area would help the games.

David · President - CLSNA

The real issue for me is the Lord Lyon claim. That's what got me hot. Go be Santa but don't put misinformation out there. Of course, it can't be verified that they actually printed that on their lit because no one I know snagged a copy but the source is reliable.

Plus it's true that Scotland doesn't own the right's to the term "Clan". Anybody can put Clan in front of anything. Taken by themselves each thing is very harmless. Putting them together in a Clan Tent area confuses people into thinking they could be a real clan with real historical connections.

This could be a cool new update to Miracle on 34th Street. biggrin

I've hosted enough tents and answered enough questions to know that many people could draw the wrong conclusion.

Kilted Carver · Senior Member

Apologies David,
I somehow missed the Lord Lyon claim.
Really don't know why they would want to make a bold faced lie like that part of their literature, knowing that in reality most of the people that are just walking through don't have a clue of who or what Lord Lyon does, with the exception of the people that have Clan tents and upon them finding out would probably cause some anger towards their claims and organization.
If the literature does exist, that would mak the whole situation wrong indeed.

David · President - CLSNA

No worries! I don't get on the soapbox very often. I let most things roll off but for some reason this one got to me.

I suppose it's because so many cultural traditions get lost through the generations. Not just ours but for the entire world. They get lost for a number of reasons and one of those reasons is distortion.

I was just worried that the 4th century Turkish Saint Nicholas of today is tomorrow's Santa Claus who lives at the North Pole with elves. Can that happen to our Clan history? Maybe. Not likely. I just want our history to remain dignified and not a watered down disney version. BTW, I love the movie and it did alot to raise awareness but . . . everybody already thinks Braveheart is real history. Where does it stop?