Awareness of one's cultural origins is of intrinsic importance to the development of a well-rounded individual. Anthropologists the world over know this. Likewise, military academies recognise this as a unifying force in the makeup of every successful officer. The very same principle applies to all other fields of human endeavour.
Now, in this modern world, where people are rapidly being reduced to mere numbers, the need to re-affirm one's Cultural Origins is of greater importance today than ever before.
There are two distinct strands to one's Cultural Origins; one is the written record, like a carefully compiled Family History Scroll, the second is the family coat of arms.
Thirty years ago, Curran's Heraldry undertook the task of developing a Family History Databank, a project that still continues today. Our Family History Scrolls are compiled from official records, and from our own extensive archives. Our database now contains the Histories of well over 200,000 family names.
The other strand of family research is also the most colourful. It contains images of Stags and lions and Boars etc, and all sorts of implements and weapons, and figurines of warriors and hunters etc. The list is almost endless. These are Coats of Arms, and they serve to re-affirm one's ancient origins, providing a visual reminder of our ancestor's illustrious achievements.
But the antiquity of Heraldry is truly astonishing, extending all the way back to the dawn of history. It is a commonly held myth that it was the Normans who invented Heraldry. But they simply adapted what was already there. They took the Flemish style of displaying family emblems, and applied a variety of images to them, most of which were already created by the Ancient Celts. But, intriguingly, some elements of Celtic imagery can be traced back to things that were held sacred by the ancient Egyptians.
And the story goes back even further, to the very dawn of history itself. Archaeologists now believe primitive cave paintings found in Central France, are the earliest known attempts to encode tribal identity, and to lay down significant markers for future generations of the tribe, so that they could take pride in their forebears. The cave paintings contain images of animals and implements, warriors and weapons, recording illustrious deeds, just like Heraldry does.
