Here is my first blog for some thoughts on a variety of Celtic Related things from the gods, to lost kingdoms to the obscure onto Tartan Design . By profession I am a Publicist and by trade I sell Kilts over at Just Kilt Me, I am also a die hard Monarchist along with being Historian and Genealogist. First I would like to tack the Dalradians who stemmed from the Northern Part of Ireland into the Western parts and beyond of Scotland and a wee bit into Wales along with Northern England, who have their roots with the Veneti. Whom I have studied extensivly, they have their roots in Brittany being forced out by the Romans in a series of waves settling in Eastern Scotland, Southern Wales, North Ireland and a few areas of SE England. A great resource for this amongst others I used in countless hours of study that is still on going is a book called The Tribe Within By Anthony Murphy Barrett over on Smashwords.com for about $5 it is a very interesting book along with informative and I have some notes for the updated version which the author does on numerous occasions for free since History is a on going discovery process.

Below are the overall basics of Dalriada from Wikipedia and of course my thoughts…They are descent from the Veneti the Celtic seafarers from Brittany that settled in Ireland around Donegal which founded the Kingdom of Dalriada (they settled in the coastal areas of Scotland east and west along with Wales  The kingdom was founded by Fergus and his brothers, with Fergus being the first king. He and his descendants through the whole history of Dalradia  married into the royal houses of the Picts, Godiddin, Brycheiniog, Gwynedd, Strathclyde, Powis and the other kingdoms of the North forever connecting the Men and Women of The North in kindred. Even if they did wage war on another from time to time in the expansion of territories.  Descendants of Fergus ended up kings of the Picts who established the Siol Alpin, Wales and Strathclyde amongst the other major and minor Celtic Kingdoms.  They were all of the same tribe of the Veneti so there was already a connection but most had forgotten their previous kinship from centuries ago, only the bards kept that knowledge. Aedan Mac Gabrain whose son Artur would come to be known in legend as King Arhur was the son of the founder of Gwynedd Cunneda’s great great granddaughter thusly being his three times great grandson; his descendants would found the Campbells, MacArturs and other clans; one of Cunnedda’s sons would marry into a Pict -Dalradian line and found the Kennedys  then found the MacGregors, who were from the same stock of MacFie and others in the Soil Alpin along with a few other clans too.

As I have mentioned numerous times and some do not agree with me on this, you can really wear whatever tartan you would like because one one or another, either directly or indirectly by marriage or kinship you are related to that basically every clan there is. Along with some that are not clans anymore but associated families of bigger ones (Like the MacDonalds claim everybody as this was a result of marriage or seeking protection of bigger clans) Be it from an distant aunt, uncle or cousin who married in to a brand where one numerous grandfather was a Campbell and his wife was a Gordon, then her mother was a Arnott  or something like that. 

Always factor in the IAP  the Identical Ancestor Point  Here is the video again tht explains it

And always bear in mind  you have to do your ancestry tree too you can not totally rely on your DNA results as DNA washes out, you do not get the same DNA amounts from each side of your partentage.   When it comes to Scottish clans  and British and Irish in general remember the Vikings which were Danish, Norse and Swedish show up as NW European , then Anglo Saxons can show up as German/French even the Celts of Brittany show up French, the Catti that help found Keith and Chattan are from German areas, then the Flemish and Norman  all came over to Britain, came to serve William the Conqueror then made their way to Scotland either before or with David the first.   Vikings married into the Picts, the Strathclyde married into the Saxons and the Vikings, and into the Norman and Flemish. Despite what some may say, Britain was always a melting pot before the days of the Roman Empire or as a result of the armies of the Roman Empire advancing and driving out celtic tribes that did not want to submit to Rome;  once it was part of the Roman Empire, gauls, saxons, romans, Egyptian, Jewish and even som Buddhist came to the British Isle  most stayed and left descendants. Who then married into the locals.

Humans  are a mishmash   so enjoy history and the shared kinship of heritage .

Now about Dalriada~

Dál Riata or Dál Riada (also Dalriada) (/dælˈriːədə/) was a Gaelic kingdom that encompassed the western seaboard of Scotland and the north-eastern corner of Ireland, on each side of the North Channel. At its height in the 6th and 7th centuries, it covered what is now Argyll (“Coast of the Gaels”) in Scotland and part of County Antrim in Northern Ireland.[1] After a period of expansion, Dál Riata eventually became associated with the Gaelic Kingdom of Alba. [2][3]

In Argyll, it consisted of four main kindreds, each with their own chief: Cenél nGabráin (based in Kintyre), Cenél nÓengusa (based on Islay), Cenél Loairn (who gave their name to the district of Lorn)[2] and Cenél Comgaill (who gave their name to Cowal).[2] The hillfort of Dunadd is believed to have been its capital. Other royal forts included Dunollie, Dunaverty and Dunseverick. Within Dál Riata was the important monastery of Iona, which played a key role in the spread of Celtic Christianity throughout northern Britain, and in the development of insular art. Iona was a centre of learning and produced many important manuscripts. Dál Riata had a strong seafaring culture and a large naval fleet.

Dál Riata is said to have been founded by the legendary king Fergus Mór (Fergus the Great) in the 5th century. The kingdom reached its height under Áedán mac Gabráin (r. 574–608). During his reign Dál Riata’s power and influence grew; it carried out naval expeditions to Orkney and the Isle of Man, and assaults on the Brittonic kingdom of Strathclyde and Anglian kingdom of Bernicia. However, King Æthelfrith of Bernicia checked its growth at the Battle of Degsastan in 603. Serious defeats in Ireland and Scotland during the reign of Domnall Brecc (died 642) ended Dál Riata’s “golden age”, and the kingdom became a client of Northumbria for a time. In the 730s the Pictish king Óengus I led campaigns against Dál Riata and brought it under Pictish overlordship by 741. There is disagreement over the fate of the kingdom from the late 8th century onwards. Some scholars have seen no revival of Dál Riatan power after the long period of foreign domination (c. 637 to c. 750–760), while others have seen a revival under Áed Find (736–778). Some even claim that the Dál Riata usurped the kingship of Fortriu. From 795 onward there were sporadic Viking raids in Dál Riata. In the following century, there may have been a merger of the Dál Riatan and Pictish crowns. Some sources say Cináed mac Ailpín (Kenneth MacAlpin) was king of Dál Riata before becoming king of the Picts in 843, following a disastrous defeat of the Picts by Vikings.The kingdom’s independence ended sometime after, as it merged with Pictland to form the Kingdom of Alba.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_kings_of_D%C3%A1l_Riata