page_title: Irish clans
section_title: Later developments and "revival"
hierarchical_section_title: Irish clans / "Sept" or "clan" / Later developments and "revival"
caption_attribution_description: English: President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, centre, receives the Order of Clans of Ireland from Dr. Michael J. Egan, right, Cathoirleach of Clans of Ireland. Higgins's wife, Sabina Coyne, stands to the left.
context_page_description: Irish clans are traditional kinship groups sharing a common surname and heritage and existing in a lineage-based society, originating prior to the 17th century. A clan included the chief and his agnatic relatives; however clans also included unrelated clients of the chief.
context_section_description: However, despite the loss of their traditional lands and forced emigration into the service of Catholic monarchs across Europe, the spirit of the Irish clans remained. The growing influence of the Gaelic League at the turn of the 20th century rekindled an interest in Gaelic culture and prompted a cultural revival.
  In the 1940s Edward MacLysaght, the Chief Herald of Ireland, drew up a list of over 240 Irish clans. The first modern Irish "clans" were reformed in the latter half of the 20th century. Today such groups are organised in Ireland and in every continent around the world.
  In 1989 an independent organisation, Clans of Ireland, was formed under the leadership of Rory O'Connor, Chieftain of the "O'Connor Kerry Clan", with the purpose of creating and maintaining a Register of Clans, which can be consulted on the organisation's website.  Many independent Irish clan societies have sprung up with international affiliation and membership from across the global Irish Diaspora for the purposes of helping others with preserving history, culture, and the pursuit of genealogy.
caption: President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, centre, receives the Order of Clans of Ireland from Dr. Michael J. Egan, right, Cathoirleach of Clans of Ireland.
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