Family Symbols

Element I: Family Heritage

Family symbols can be an informal design or object which the family holds dear and identifies with as a represenation of itself. In a more formal sense, there is an art and science of family symbolism called "Heraldry". Heraldry developed simultaneously in the twelfth century in Europe where it is referred to as a "Coat of Arms," and in Japan where the family emblem is called "MON."

However, in the last few decades according to heraldic experts in the Western world, coats of arms are more widely used, and more new coats of arms have been designed and recognized than at any previous time in history. While having originated within a class structured society among those which called themselves the nobility, authentic coats of arms are today a widespread family based treasure available to all who are made noble by the lives they lead and the values they hold dear.

More importantly, the use of family symbols or "arms" as we shall refer to them is not an indication of great wealth, nor pretension, nor even (in the case of newly created arms) of "old family", nor for that matter of a high level of educational or cultural attainment. Arms serve as a subtle but constant reminder to descendants who bear them of their continuing responsibility to lead lives of honor and service and thereby bring even greater honor and recognition to the family arms.

A registered coat of arms or other, less formal family symbol proudly represents an active and present relationship between members of a family and a visible linkage between the past, present and future generations. Arms then represent continuance and endurance and provide a strong and lasting symbol for family unity.

Arms serve to encourage a sense of interdependence which strengthens the family structure. The arms shared by members of a family are a heritage of 'belongingness', promoting the ideal of a family joined together and inseparable in spirit.

Armorial bearings contain a quality of intangibility which is most significant to the family. Lands, monies, and properties may be lost because of economic changes, wars and other disasters, leaving ensuing generations without inheritance. However, a coat of arms is a recorded design of identification which is fully able to survive change and loss. It can even endure a dormant period only to be reclaimed by rightful descendants at a later time. At the armiger's (one holding title to the coat of arms) death, the armorial estate is left to descendants throughout all future generations.

It is a legacy which can never be depleted, devalued, lost or stolen; rather the arms of just and honorable persons singularly increase in their meaning, significance and value as they are taken up and borne by those descendants in each generation who proudly claim their birthright by registering to bear the ancestral arms.

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