More Highland Adventures!

Part 14: Clan Gunn Heritage Center

This is the part where I mention that I am part Scottish on my mother’s side, though for the most part I take my heritage from the Irish and the Norwegians. The Scottish part of me comes from Clan Gunn who can be found in the highest parts of the highlands, from the Isles of Uist to the Shetlands.

Fun Facts about Clan Gunn:

- The motto is Aut Pax Aut Bellum meaning “Either Peace or War” (While those are typically your options, I think it essentially means “Suit yourself, We’re easy”)

- The origin of the name Gunn is Norwegian. The word "Gunni" means "War" or "Battle".

- The was an ongoing feud with Clan Keith that began in the 11^th c. that didn’t officially end until 1978

As tribute to our forefathers and in order to do some research we traveled the four hour drive to get to the Clan Gunn Heritage center. The Gunn center wound up being in an old Church with a large graveyard that had members from the clan, lots of Sutherlands, Setons, Gunns and a very few Williamsons. Though this got me thinking:

Does this mean that Keifer Sutherland (A.K.A. Jack Bauer) and Tim Gunn (of Project Runway fame) might be distantly related? Could this possibly mean the combining of two great shows to create the GREATEST SHOW KNOWN TO MAN?! Ok, so here’s the pitch:

You have 24 hours to complete a fabulous look; if you fail Los Angeles is destroyed by a North Korean nuclear weapon. In the meantime you face treacherous models, torture and a shortage of black thread for quick patchwork. Oh I forgot to mention the suspense building “tick-tick-tick-tick” in the background.

Oh. So. Good.

Anywho, at the center we met a family from New Zealand who were looking to complete a family tree, it was kind of humbling to know that a few hundred years ago we could have shared a patriarch. As a side note; here is the tartan of Clan Gunn.

http://www.clangunnsociety.org/images/Kilt_500.jpg

Unfortunately the only thing we could really glean from the center was that women would typically do all the work while the men would either:

A. Stealing Cattle

B. Paying Blackmail for the Cattle

C. Be hired out to kill some dudes

Blackmail as it turns out is actually a Scottish word: Black for the most valuable cows, and Mail meaning a duty that was owed.

My by far favorite part of the museum was a sword that had with it an interesting legend. The army that had the sword would be victorious, but he who carried the sword was destined to die in battle. So here's the question, do you accept the sword as a valiant gesture or do you pawn the sword off on the least liked of your clan?

Part 15: The Long Haul

On the way back we found ourselves on a logging road and just as it began to start poring I realized that it was actually hideously dangerous. The road got tighter and tighter and there were people on bikes going the opposite direction. We needed something quiet and politely distracting, we listened to BBC 2 for a while but didn’t get anything just right, so we looked around and found ourselves a hefty Miss Marple marathon.

Oh Agatha Christie, why do you make such great yet simultaneously irritating detectives?

Hercule Poiroit – a pompous little overly precise man

Miss Jane Marple- a hopelessly Victorian busybody.

Before we knew it we were back in Buckie. It wasn’t until we looked at the clock did we realize we had been on the road for 5 hours.