Your Cultural Heritage + YOU

[Cloudpatrol]

My family is essentially Jewish Slavs. I gain cultural food and a special emphasis on education but I'm not sure that's a cultural thing. I didn't grow up with Russian values at all, my parents consider themselves American and I resisted learning Russian.

Cool! Were your parents born in America?

Let me know what sorts of cuisine, if you feel like it I am curious if we share stuff in common that way...

 

[Dr Mobius]

I believe I am Irish, Scottish and Norse, though the specifics of that, I couldn't say off the top of my head (more than I did already). Long story short, there are these giant books of genealogical research that were done about the paternal side of my heritage because of the aforementioned revolutionary war figure-- they were complied sometime in the 70's, and I have them somewhere. In short, though, they trace the particular branch of my surname all the way back to the Celtic King of Spain (which I didn't even know was a thing until reading that stuff). In those same books, they talk about the Norse link. I'll have to go back and read them, as it's been several years.

I feel like such a dream killer . Ah there were Celts in Spain; Celtiberians but they were displaced by Greeks, Phoenicians, and later Carthaginian colonies. Ultimately they were assimilated into the Roman Empire after siding against them in The Second Punic War. No kingdoms only tribes. If I had to guess; whoever compiled your family history took Lebor Gabála Érenn a lot more seriously then it warrants. Is this the fellow you're thinking of?

Ha, I hope they are right though, for the sake of some heritage based tattoos both my Dad and brother have.

Well I mean basing your tattoo on something that could have happened over a thousand years ago is always going to be risky.

Thanks for lending your thoughts, I always love to learn more or get a different perspective on topics of history!

It was too interesting to pass up. An Irishman fighting in the war of independence would have been extremely rare.

 

[small.wonder]

I feel like such a dream killer . Ah there were Celts in Spain; Celtiberians but they were displaced by Greeks, Phoenicians, and later Carthaginian colonies. Ultimately they were assimilated into the Roman Empire after siding against them in The Second Punic War. No kingdoms only tribes. If I had to guess; whoever compiled your family history took Lebor Gabála Érenn a lot more seriously then it warrants. Is this the fellow you're thinking of?

Not at all! This only makes me more interested in reading into all of it, clearly I need to! As I said, it's been quite awhile since I perused the books-- I think I'll try to find them and PM you about it if that's okay? The Breogán fellow doesn't ring a bell, I think the names were more in title form... I'll find the books and get back to you!

Well I mean basing your tattoo on something that could have happened over a thousand years ago is always going to be risky.

True! Though one of them is just our family code of arms, so can't go too wrong there! My Dad has some viking ones that are more specific though.

It was too interesting to pass up. An Irishman fighting in the war of independence would have been extremely rare.

Well that bit is definitely not based on legend, he was half Dutch (maternal surname Van Harlengen), half Irish-- Captian Henry Connelly, my 5th Great Grandfather. You can find basic info about him online.

 

[Punderstorm]

Cool! Were your parents born in America?

Let me know what sorts of cuisine, if you feel like it I am curious if we share stuff in common that way...

No, they were immigrants actually. I love pirogi, ketlety and Russian brand ice cream!

 

[ZNP-TBA]

Some modernized folk metal music from my ancestral homeland (land my parents and generations before them were born in )

https://youtu.be/1QVOHFNVm0o

https://youtu.be/Hfs48l2IdEg

https://youtu.be/W7AJ5jlkyz8

https://youtu.be/2L8DTTD51dE

 

[Poki]

50% hawaiian
50% portuguese

Grandparents are catholic
Parents christian - no denomination, find church that speaks to them and they believe in the actions.

Personal - no religious affiliations. I despise the state of religion and always have. I will look at each person individually. I have my own set of internal beliefs and guidance.

Culture...lol...hawaii is melting pot. My culture is a melting pot. I like it that way.

 

[Flâneuse]

My mom's parents were from The Hague in South Holland. My mom is much more culturally American than Dutch, but both my grandparents displayed a lot of Dutch values, especially ones more strongly associated with older generations: frugality, stoicism, directness, and a fixation on orderliness and cleanliness. While direct, organized, and 'clean freak' are some of the last words I would use to describe myself, I am definitely frugal and stoic, though it's hard to tell whether that's because of their influence or not.
I don't know much about Dutch traditions (they were very Americanized in that regard), but I did eat a lot of old-fashioned Dutch food growing up that, at the time, I didn't even realize was common Dutch food (thick pea soup with pork, sauerkraut with potatoes, rye bread with cold cuts, etc.)

My dad's side of the family are British-American Southerners, with the exception of my Cuban great-grandmother. Judging by the surnames in my family tree, my British ancestry is at least three-quarters English but there's some Scottish in there too. I'm not super-family-oriented and traditional like they are, but I did pick up the proper Southern manners and the expectation that I should be friendly to everyone even when it means being smarmy. I also love traditional Southern food but as a current vegetarian I can't eat most of it anymore (even vegetables are often cooked with pork fat for flavor).

My Cuban ancestry is too distant to influence me much - my great-grandmother died before I was born and my grandfather never went to Cuba or learned much Spanish.

 

[OrangeAppled]

I feel "Californian". I am obviously American, but I have never identified strongly with my nationality, not being a nationalistic person. I was born and raised in California and was not immune to my environment, so I am pretty much Californian. Whether I travel out of the country or just to a different part of the United States, I am pretty readily identified as a Californian. It is pretty interesting when I am in another country that they distinguish between, say, a midwestern American (who seems to be the stereotypical American, along with Southerners; odd to me given that most people reside in cities, if I am not mistaken) and a Californian. I get called a "California girl" a lot.

Growing up, I always felt a bit alien, but I suspect I'd feel that anywhere. People around me also think I am a bit odd (not overtly avant garde like I am challenging social norms, but more of the creepily, subtly strange demeanor thing), but again, I think I'd get that anywhere. So it is pretty amusing how I have to leave my home to be identified with it and to identify with it myself . It seems like immigrants often identify more strongly with their ethnic/cultural backgrounds than natives do, and I suppose I understand why now. You don't fully realize how much it has shaped you until you are not immersed in it, and then there is some desire to retain "yourself" in a new environment.

So now for the long part...

As far as my family history, like many Americans, I am a euro-mutt. I have German immigrant grandparents on my dad's side and my mom's family came from Spain to the USA in the mid-late 1800s (due to political upheavals in Spain). I have some Italian in there too and probably Jewish via the Spanish side. I have a great aunt who was a librarian and a great uncle who both did genealogy for the Spanish side of the family, so we know our history very far back.

Given that a big chunk of my heritage is Spanish, my social identify has become confusing. Growing up, it was not. There was no question that Spaniards are Europeans in my home, and my family saw themselves as both white/caucasian and "Latin". Ultimately, we are/were just working class American people, eating meatloaf and whatever for dinner. But then the whole "Hispanic" thing started to get popular, increasingly so as I became a teen, and that was confusing. Living in California, it was especially awkward because many people here that are from a Spanish speaking culture are not white or are a mix (often euro + indigenous americans). Thus, many people use Hispanic to mean "non-white" as if it is a "brown race". To make it worse, I don't speak Spanish and my grandparents speak a different dialect from Mexicans (the most common Hispanics in California). They also were raised in the Southwest USA and adopted Southwest culture, which is very "Hispanic" in many ways. So I have found myself in the precarious position of explaining what I "am" to people, particularly because I look weird to people. When I say Spanish, people often think I am being snobby (even racist) and denying any indigenous heritage, and they think that is why I don't say "Mexican". To them, it is some code for saying, "I am totally white, not mixed like YOU". But no one in my family has ever lived in Mexico nor immigrated from there; we simply don't have that culture or heritage. Yet, it gets more confusing because as noted, I am Californian, and that very much has Mexican influence! So I feel on eggshells when answering the "what are you" question, and I feel like people want to take away my family history and give me a Mexican identity because it is more convenient for them. I have talked to other people in California with a "Hispanic" (UGH, I really hate that word) heritage other than Mexican who have felt this way too. We can be made to feel like we are politically incorrect for having a specific heritage...

In actuality, I mostly look Spanish, although a lot of my features are from my German dad. But people don't seem to know what Spanish people look like, although arguably they just look like Southern Europeans. So people often guess I have an Italian or French heritage, but some think I am more, er, exotic and guess part Asian (often 1/4 Korean...but just 1/4....funnily enough, I went to Korea and Koreans think I look totally "American"). It's just the way I came together though; my features give an illusion at times. Some people can tell I am "Hispanic", but they don't grasp that this is European and that some Latin Americans are pretty much white; or maybe they feel Southern Europeans like Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese are not white, IDK. Other times, people think I am just generic "white". Things were worse for my mom, given she had a Spanish maiden name and grew up in California as a pale, freckled redhead who spoke no Spanish.

I definitely go through life as a white woman. Even my grandparents, with their Spanish names and accents, went through life as white people (and with all the advantages that come with it; and even a "double advantage" of "crossing cultures" due to being bilingual & white among "Hispanics"), and so I guess when people want to identify us with a "minority race" it doesn't feel right. Especially given the history of Spaniards and how brown hispanics may experience discrimination, it really feels "off" for people to call me Hispanic when I know they mean "non-white". Being a racial minority is not only NOT my identity, but it is also not my experience.

So there is my heritage and the confusion it creates in my life .

 

[Cloudpatrol]

I feel "Californian". I am obviously American, but I have never identified strongly with my nationality, not being a nationalistic person. I was born and raised in California and was not immune to my environment, so I am pretty much Californian. Whether I travel out of the country or just to a different part of the United States, I am pretty readily identified as a Californian. It is pretty interesting when I am in another country that they distinguish between, say, a midwestern American (who seems to be the stereotypical American, along with Southerners; odd to me given that most people reside in cities, if I am not mistaken) and a Californian. I get called a "California girl" a lot.

Growing up, I always felt a bit alien, but I suspect I'd feel that anywhere. People around me also think I am a bit odd (not overtly avant garde like I am challenging social norms, but more of the creepily, subtly strange demeanor thing), but again, I think I'd get that anywhere. So it is pretty amusing how I have to leave my home to be identified with it and to identify with it myself . It seems like immigrants often identify more strongly with their ethnic/cultural backgrounds than natives do, and I suppose I understand why now. You don't fully realize how much it has shaped you until you are not immersed in it, and then there is some desire to retain "yourself" in a new environment.

So now for the long part...

As far as my family history, like many Americans, I am a euro-mutt. I have German immigrant grandparents on my dad's side and my mom's family came from Spain to the USA in the mid-late 1800s (due to political upheavals in Spain). I have some Italian in there too and probably Jewish via the Spanish side. I have a great aunt who was a librarian and a great uncle who both did genealogy for the Spanish side of the family, so we know our history very far back.

Given that a big chunk of my heritage is Spanish, my social identify has become confusing. Growing up, it was not. There was no question that Spaniards are Europeans in my home, and my family saw themselves as both white/caucasian and "Latin". Ultimately, we are/were just working class American people, eating meatloaf and whatever for dinner. But then the whole "Hispanic" thing started to get popular, increasingly so as I became a teen, and that was confusing. Living in California, it was especially awkward because many people here that are from a Spanish speaking culture are not white or are a mix (often euro + indigenous americans). Thus, many people use Hispanic to mean "non-white" as if it is a "brown race". To make it worse, I don't speak Spanish and my grandparents speak a different dialect from Mexicans (the most common Hispanics in California). They also were raised in the Southwest USA and adopted Southwest culture, which is very "Hispanic" in many ways. So I have found myself in the precarious position of explaining what I "am" to people, particularly because I look weird to people. When I say Spanish, people often think I am being snobby (even racist) and denying any indigenous heritage, and they think that is why I don't say "Mexican". To them, it is some code for saying, "I am totally white, not mixed like YOU". But no one in my family has ever lived in Mexico nor immigrated from there; we simply don't have that culture or heritage. Yet, it gets more confusing because as noted, I am Californian, and that very much has Mexican influence! So I feel on eggshells when answering the "what are you" question, and I feel like people want to take away my family history and give me a Mexican identity because it is more convenient for them. I have talked to other people in California with a "Hispanic" (UGH, I really hate that word) heritage other than Mexican who have felt this way too. We can be made to feel like we are politically incorrect for having a specific heritage...

In actuality, I mostly look Spanish, although a lot of my features are from my German dad. But people don't seem to know what Spanish people look like, although arguably they just look like Southern Europeans. So people often guess I have an Italian or French heritage, but some think I am more, er, exotic and guess part Asian (often 1/4 Korean...but just 1/4....funnily enough, I went to Korea and Koreans think I look totally "American"). It's just the way I came together though; my features give an illusion at times. Some people can tell I am "Hispanic", but they don't grasp that this is European and that some Latin Americans are pretty much white; or maybe they feel Southern Europeans like Spaniards, Italians and Portuguese are not white, IDK. Other times, people think I am just generic "white". Things were worse for my mom, given she had a Spanish maiden name and grew up in California as a pale, freckled redhead who spoke no Spanish.

I definitely go through life as a white woman. Even my grandparents, with their Spanish names and accents, went through life as white people (and with all the advantages that come with it; and even a "double advantage" of "crossing cultures" due to being bilingual & white among "Hispanics"), and so I guess when people want to identify us with a "minority race" it doesn't feel right. Especially given the history of Spaniards and how brown hispanics may experience discrimination, it really feels "off" for people to call me Hispanic when I know they mean "non-white". Being a racial minority is not only NOT my identity, but it is also not my experience.

So there is my heritage and the confusion it creates in my life .

This was fascinating

Particularly the aspect of being 'Spanish' in Cali.

I think this is such a valid and poignant observation:

I feel like people want to take away my family history and give me a Mexican identity because it is more convenient for them.

So many of my friends have "anglicized" their names when in reality the names they were born with are VERY easy to pronounce. But, North Americans seem somewhat lazy in even attempting to learn something outside the familiar.

How grand that your great aunt and great uncle did the genealogy leg work so you have that at your disposal!

 

[Blackout]

Haha, I look "weird" to people too : (

Try being part white and Native American, it puts you in a bit of an awkward and precarious position. I don't feel altogether anything.

Don't the majority of "French" people technically "Spaniard" ancestry as well? would that not mean that I have distant Spaniard ancestry as well? I have a lot of french in me as well

 

[Red Herring]

I feel like such an inbred by comparison. I'm a German born to German parents in Germany.

During the nazi era many people had to investigate their family lineage up to some point in order to apply for a Aryan Certificate (which you needed for different purposes). My grandparents did that which is why I have quite a bit of information at hand. Apparently my maternal grandpa started to take a special interest as he investigated way further than the certificate would have required. He enjoyed collecting as much data as he could from old church registries.

My mother's side is mainly Northern German farmers who handed the farm from father to son or at least stayed within the region which makes it easy to track. Juicy detail #1:my grandpa and my grandma where remote cousins. Juicy detail#2: apparently one of my ancestors came into a bit of money under dubious circumstances during the Thirty Years War (1618 to 1649) and there were rumours in the village that he was a war profiteer. It seems that this side of the family has been pretty much always been native-native.

My father's side is from Silesia. Silesia is now a part of Poland but was still a part of Germany when my Dad was born there only months before the end of the war and had been so for centuries (the population has always been mixed with a slight German majority that my family belonged to). My grandma had to flee from the approaching Soviet Army on foot in the winter of '44/'45 with two little girls and a baby in a handcart and started a new life in Northern Germany when all Germans were expelled from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The names in the certificate that I found are all very German sounding names, but there is one ancestor with an unknown father and my Dad always said he'd be surprised if there hadn't been some Polish or other Slavic influence at some point since this was traditionally a very multiethnic region. He liked that thought.

I have been considering doing that 23 and me thing but am not sure if it's worth the trouble. I'm curious but it looks like the chances for interesting results are slim.

How do I feel about that heritage? The romantic in me would love for it to be more colorful and adventurous. I am aware of the benefits and comfort of being part of the native population of one of the richest countries on earth, in peacetime and safety, born into a middle class family.

Being German comes with both a rich cultural heritage and a huge moral burden. To me that mainly means a special responsibillty to be extra watchful when it comes to xenophobic, illiberal and nativist urges. I am neither proud not ashamed to be German as it is nothing I chose but a fact on which I had no influence. Naturally it has shaped me as anybody is shaped by their culture.

My parents never saw the war and grew up in a peaceful democracy as did I. But when I join a debate on the internet or just read forums on international politics it's a question of time before somebody makes a cheap joke or put-down comment about nazis. It's often seems to be used as a very cheap and low way of boosting ones own ego while generically silencing Germans on any issue from the Euro zone to the best flavor of potato chips ("Of course you would say that, but what you really want is world domination, is it not? Nazi!")

 

[Mole]

I feel like such an inbred by comparison. I'm a German born to German parents in Germany.

During the nazi era many people had to investigate their family lineage up to some point in order to apply for a Aryan Certificate (which you needed for different purposes). My grandparents did that which is why I have quite a bit of information at hand. Apparently my maternal grandpa started to take a special interest as he investigated way further than the certificate would have required. He enjoyed collecting as much data as he could from old church registries.

My mother's side is mainly Northern German farmers who handed the farm from father to son or at least stayed within the region which makes it easy to track. Juicy detail #1:my grandpa and my grandma where remote cousins. Juicy detail#2: apparently one of my ancestors came into a bit of money under dubious circumstances during the Thirty Years War (1618 to 1649) and there were rumours in the village that he was a war profiteer. It seems that this side of the family has been pretty much always been native-native.

My father's side is from Silesia. Silesia is now a part of Poland but was still a part of Germany when my Dad was born there only months before the end of the war and had been so for centuries (the population has always been mixed with a slight German majority that my family belonged to). My grandma had to flee from the approaching Soviet Army on foot in the winter of '44/'45 with two little girls and a baby in a handcart and started a new life in Northern Germany when all Germans were expelled from Poland and Czechoslovakia. The names in the certificate that I found are all very German sounding names, but there is one ancestor with an unknown father and my Dad always said he'd be surprised if there hadn't been some Polish or other Slavic influence at some point since this was traditionally a very multiethnic region. He liked that thought.

I have been considering doing that 23 and me thing but am not sure if it's worth the trouble. I'm curious but it looks like the chances for interesting results are slim.

How do I feel about that heritage? The romantic in me would love for it to be more colorful and adventurous. I am aware of the benefits and comfort of being part of the native population of one of the richest countries on earth, in peacetime and safety, born into a middle class family.

Being German comes with both a rich cultural heritage and a huge moral burden. To me that mainly means a special responsibillty to be extra watchful when it comes to xenophobic, illiberal and nativist urges. I am neither proud not ashamed to be German as it is nothing I chose but a fact on which I had no influence. Naturally it has shaped me as anybody is shaped by their culture.

My parents never saw the war and grew up in a peaceful democracy as did I. But when I join a debate on the internet or just read forums on international politics it's a question of time before somebody makes a cheap joke or put-down comment about nazis. It's often seems to be used as a very cheap and low way of boosting ones own ego while generically silencing Germans on any issue from the Euro zone to the best flavor of potato chips ("Of course you would say that, but what you really want is world domination, is it not? Nazi!")

I must admit I am more interested in your psyche than your ancestry.

At first I was thrown off the track by being impressed by your intelligence, and I bumped my head up against your psyche without knowing why.

You are of course delightfully intelligent but when I try to engage you, I miss the mark entirely.

I do think you understand yourself better than I do, and so you present to me as a puzzle: I am puzzled by you.

Of course I could ask you to solve the puzzle for me, and no doubt Mad Hatter could throw some light, and I am sure, in the fullness of time, your daughter will perhaps know you best of all.