Your Cultural Heritage + YOU

[Cloudpatrol]

I live in a port city with a temperate climate which accounts for a great diversity in culture, and a large immigrant population.

Last night a varied group of us were discussing our backgrounds and what/if any meaning it brought to our present lives?

I am:

25% Icelandic
25% German
25% Irish
25% Mix of Ukrainian and English

The most superficially obvious influence is in the 'family' food I've been taught to cook. Pirogies, borscht, Vinatarta cake, Yorkshire Pudding, Noodle and Potato dishes, Shepherd's Pie, Rollkuchen (warm pastry served with liquid honey or watermelon) and so on.

But, I think my origins contribute more than that to the PERSON I am. For example:

From the Icelandic comes a constant yearning to be near water. A habit of responding to melancholy with humour.

The Ukrainian side brings a hard, stubborn work ethic combined with a desire to use money most wisely. The German provides a strongly determined will. The Irish, an easy-going nature with a quick temper (yeah, I’ve had to work on that ).

There are more elements but I want to hear from YOU

What are your origins? How do they influence who you are as a person?

 

[Blackout]

I am an orphan, so I've never felt all together connected to any sort of heritage.

I am Native American, and of European descent; but even in that regards, a mixture of different things. It's part of my family history/cycle to be orphaned in some way and for some odd reasons psychologists they that these patterns have a way of re-creating themselves.

So it seems oddly ridiculous to me that my family went ahead all together and re-created yet another circular episode of abandonment and displacement it would seem. I have always felt that in a way I suppose, counter-culture became my lineage, heritage and in a way adopted to me. It has had a great influence on myself, how I see the world. It has been a great guiding force for me, and maybe one of the reasons I never cared for tradition.

It unfortunately I feel has been lost slightly.

 

[magpie]

My grandfather on my mom's side was born in Hungary and my grandmother also on my mom's side was born in Serbia. The heritage on my dad's side is a little more distant, as in Ellis Island distant. That's the Russian Jewish side.

My sister was baptized Eastern Orthodox Christian to please my mom's side and I wasn't to please my dad's side. I grew up celebrating Christian and Jewish holidays. I speak a tiny bit of Serbian and a tiny bit of Russian (they're very similar languages in a lot of ways).

I spent a lot of time with my Serbian grandmother growing up and she tried to impart a lot of old world values onto me, like politeness, submissiveness, and putting a lot of effort into physical attractiveness. Obviously I didn't turn out like she'd have hoped, but I attempted to pretend in order to please her while she was still alive.

Edit: My grandmother was really affected by war. She came to the US to escape the war, same as my grandfather. I think she'd be unhappy with a lot of recent developments in her country.

 

[Also]

I'm a Black Indigenous Mexican, Brazilian, and Native American. I have absolutely no ties to Brazilian culture outside of the food and some ties to both Native culture (because Indigenous Mexicans are Native American too) and Black/Afro Latino culture.

Language, food, music, politics, community/charity, of course my link to my Mother's country and my Father's tribe, and a lack of trust and faith towards systems created for/by White people has given me a sense of cultural identity.

 

[Hitoshi-San]

I'm mainly German & Syrian. my dad got way more into the heritage thing than my mom ever did but even he doesn't really talk about it a lot. his richest sister just sends him 5 large packages of runzas every now and then and he either eats them all within a week or they sit in the freezer for who knows how long until they're so hard you would probably break your skull if you tried to bite into it. but, I feel like runzas are a Nebraskan thing too, and he is a Nebraskan, so there's that.

I think it's interesting to talk about heritage, but I don't really know a lot about mine. I mean, I barely know what the rest of my ancestry is other than German and Syrian.

 

[Falcarius]

Falcarius family are really boring they have essentially lived in the UK for hundreds of years.

 

[á´…eparted]

50% German
25% Dutch
25% Scottish

 

[Hawthorne]

I'm pretty clueless about the specifics of ethnicity. My dad went (is still going?) through an ancestry phase so I took the test offered by 23andme but it only confirmed the tri-continental medley that I was already aware of.

There's a significant amount of Louisiana creole on my father's side and my maternal grandmother claims some Chinese inherited from her mother.

Other than often being asked if I was Puerto Rican when I was younger, it doesn't affect me much.

 

[cascadeco]

From Dad: 1/4 Norwegian, 1/8 Swedish, 1/8 German (the german portion was actually more polish/prussian/southern part of those older realms)- his side immigrated to the northern U.S. in the late 1800's I believe.
From Mom: English/British Isles, and German - her side immigrated here as far back as revolutionary era.

I think probably biggest impact would be cultural imprints/'issues' passed on - my family was kind of the opposite of southern european stereotypes in terms of disposition. Much more 'take care of yourself' and 'pull yourself' up mentality, less of a nurturing, emotional, and community-oriented one.

 

[SearchingforPeace]

I am long term American of English descent. Most of my ancestors arrived prior to 1700. Going back further, I am Norman (good job super great grandfather William....).

My ancestors spilt between Cavalier heritage (SW England) and religious emigrees (eastern England) for any familiar with Albion's Seed.

Since my ancestors all kept moving West, most were younger children who had to seek their own fortune.

So, classic Anglo-American heritage is as much genetic as much as cultural, such as hard work, self-sufficiency, individual freedoms, etc.

Socially, the biggest influences were growing in SoCal in tune 70s and 80s. We were individualistic, independent, patriotic, culturally united no matter ethnic heritage or religion. I grew up with people from around the world and they tried extremely hard to assimilate. We truly lived as if it was the content of one's character, not the color of one's skin that mattered.

I often feel out of place in Texas where I live. The cultural and social norms are quite different. I assimilate well enough externally, but it feels off just a little.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

25 % Irish
75 % Belarussian Jewish

The two sides of my family are very different. My Dad's side is a lot more restrained and formal, my Mom's side is more boisterous. I grew up celebrating both Jewish and Christian holidays.

 

[ceecee]

Paternal grandparents families were from Scotland, they immigrated to Canada. Some stayed, some came to Michigan.
Maternal grandparents families were from Turkey, they went to Bulgaria (not sure why Bulgaria, other than it was close, they weren't there long) and then to America. No one was in America before 1918.

 

[Yama]

boring white person here. my family's been in america for at least 3 generations. mother's ancestors are from ireland. father's father is canadian immigrant whose parents were from germany and poland (they met during wwii and moved to canada). don't know anything else. in the end, we're all from the same place.

 

[miss fortune]

a complete mutt with the greatest portion being english/irish... my family all migrated to the US sometime in the 1600s with exception to the ones who were already here

the biggest cultural influence on me really has been the rural/mountain lower working class background that comes from both sides of my family... both as far as food goes and as far as most aspects of my life goes really

 

[fetus]

Mostly Swedish and German. Some Scottish, English, Irish, and French. Or I could do the stereotypical white girl thing and say I'm 5% Cherokee (I'm not).

My great-grandfather emigrated from Sweden to the United States when he was 19. He only knew how to say one thing: "ham and eggs." Needless to say, he ate ham and eggs for a while. He came in through Ellis Island and eventually made his way to Nebraska--a lot of Scandinavians settled there, if I recall correctly. He Americanized his last name (our last name is still fairly Swedish, but he changed the spelling) and basically made the rest of his life here in the US.

In my basement, we still have the wooden chest he brought all his things in to America. We use it to store wrapping paper, lol. And growing up, we used to celebrate Little Christmas Eve (December 23rd). My grandma would make lutefisk and Swedish meatballs. We have since stopped celebrating it--it got too hard on my grandma, I think--but we had a Swedish dinner this past Christmas.

 

[Puffypolma]

90% Chinese + 10% Jewish

I am not like most of the Chinese though

 

[Cloudpatrol]

Falcarius family are really boring they have essentially lived in the UK for hundreds of years.

Saw this epic character and wondered if it's possibly an American cousin of yours?

 

[Tater]

i've been meaning to take the "23 and me" test for a while now. it seems to be more granular and extensive than it was a few years ago.

my dad's parents trace back to scotland and my mom likely has mostly scandinavian in her, based on medical record.

 

[Cloudpatrol]

[MENTION=24479]themightyfetus[/MENTION]

Or I could do the stereotypical white girl thing and say I'm 5% Cherokee (I'm not).

haha! This made me laugh OUT LOUD

My great-grandfather emigrated from Sweden to the United States when he was 19. He only knew how to say one thing: "ham and eggs." Needless to say, he ate ham and eggs for a while. He came in through Ellis Island and eventually made his way to Nebraska

These are the little details about heritage that I LOVE. So sweet.

 

[Virtual ghost]

I am from part of the world/Europe where borders are constantly being remade. Therefore I have about 10 various groups/nations in me from the perspective of few generations back.

The mess influenced me in a way that I don't really care much about traditional culture (expect on academic level). Especially since remaking of borders usually means plenty of dead people.