Saturday, September 01, 2007

Keep it Alive!

A friend of mine once said, "You must know where you come from, in order to know where you are going." Must say, I agree. Heritage is something to be treasured. Clothing, Food, Music and Traditions are meant to be handed down from generation to generation. This helps form your identity. Any oppressive cultural force in the world first aims to destroy the cultural traditions of their target population. History provides MANY examples of this cruelty.

Early Christian settlers committed terrible injustices against Native Americans. Broken treaties, massacre of entire tribes and the slaughter of the great Buffalo were only the beginning. This cruelty was justified in the mind of the white-man because he viewed the Indian as a "heathen savage". Learned recently that up until 1978, Native American children could still be forcibly confiscated from their homes and placed in government boarding schools. Pow-wows, public drumming and Friendship Fires- any large gathering of Natives were also forbidden until that time. Am I just being negative? I love this country, but this is the reality of our history- you won't hear much of this injustice in most text-books.

Africans were stripped (literally) of everything that was dear to them and taken across the sea. They were chained, sold like cattle and treated with the greatest of indignities in order to break them and convince them they were worth nothing more than a lifetime of slave labor.

Hitler managed to convince a majority of Germans that Jews were less than human and had weaker genetics. Jewish symbols were banned from display- except for the Star of David they were forced to wear on their sleeves. Upon arrival to a concentration camp, it was not uncommon for Jews to be forced to strip in public- a form of humiliation. Sadly, Hitler studied American tactics with the Native Americans. He got the idea of placing Jews in concentration camps from our "brilliant" Indian Reservation idea. The Nazi understood that if you treat people badly for long enough, eventually, they feel worthy of your mistreatment and cease to resist.

For all their pompous, tea-time behavior, the English were among some of the most inhumane. Scotland & Ireland suffered tremendously under England's greed. Many in England wanted to unite the 3 cultures to form one strong country, but in order to do so, the English Lords would have to strip the Celtic nations of their pride. They charged unreasonable rents for hovels & land they had STOLEN from the Celts in the first place. They refused to give a fair market price for wool, potatoes, mutton, etc. So the Celts were forced into poverty, then punished when they couldn't pay-up. Farms were burned, children were hanged and a young bride was taken sexually (raped) by whatever Lord happened to rule over her lands the night before her wedding. (Try being a Celt in love and not be the first to have your beloved- harsh!) Kilts were banned, Bagpipes forbidden and Gaelic was not to be spoken, only English. Unlike many other cultures who submitted, the passionate Celts consistently resisted oppression until they finally organized and threw the English out on their arses.

In the harbour of New York there stands a statue that reads, "Send me your tired, your poor, your hungry...." Nice sentiment, but have we really been that charitable?

My Scot ancestors came here in the late 1700's as indentured servants (slaves) in order to escape the constant bloodbath that was Scotland. They worked hard and tolerated mistreatment for decades, earned their freedom, bought land and settled in the midwest. My Irish kin came in the early 1900's during a time when the Irish were hated in this country. In order to blend in, they dropped the O' from their name and refused to speak Gaelic. The family plaid was put away and stories of home were lost in the effort of 'becoming American'.

Those of Celtic, African, Muslim descent are likely to know very little of their family history, traditions or language. This saddens me.
The US has worked very hard to become more tolerant of other cultures. We now have Black History month. In recent years Bush named March, Celtic-American month. What about Native American month, Mexican-American, Italian American and Chinese American months? Chinese immigrants are largely responsible for our amazing railway system. There should be an Italian-American month, simply because they brought us such GREAT foods!! 'Bout time proper recognition is given to those who helped build this country while living under deplorable conditions.

My family is not exactly close-knit and hasn't taken much pride in the family tree. Most of the history I've learned about my Celtic roots, I've had to pursue on my own- it was not passed down much. Unlike my forebearers, I don't need to hide my heritage in order to be successful- I enjoy celebrating it. The family tartan is back on display. It has become an important part of my identity. My children know where we came from and much of the history of our ancestors, whose strength is in our very blood. A sense of pride has been reborn.

So, where do you come from??

13 comments:

Erin said...

Wow, that's a great post. It's so cool you know as much as you do about your ancestry.

I just traced my dad's family back to the time when they arrived stateside, it was interesting. But I don't really know much about my heritage...I'm English, Scot, French and I don't know what else...

Livingsword said...

Trailady;

Excellent article with a little different “flavor” than usual.

Although humans have the ability to be extremely “noble” being created in the image of God, we also because of our fallen state have a propensity towards depravity.

I am Canadian so of course not from the US, although the US and my own country have made many horrible mistakes (read sins) this is true of every country; the North American natives had wars among themselves before we were here because they are the same as us, this lurks within each of us, this of course does not make what we did to them right.

The greater the power the more the ability to do evil or good, also the more the responsibility!

Personally I prefer to NOT celebrate my particular heritage and instead celebrate all heritages. This is very different from the typical Canadian “way” where we are very much a mosaic as apposed to the American melting pot. They both have their challenges, in Canada we are not quite as united, in America differences are not as welcome to being embraced. Yet people form around the world line up to enter our countries, some even skip the lineup to get in. How many people are trying to sneak into North Korea, Cuba, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Libya, Syria, etc?

Places without liberty, political freedom, religious freedom, freedom of speech , freedom of the press…

We are far from perfect but so is everybody else.

Gingers Mom said...

I have been wanting to do some research on family heratige. We're from all over. Lots of Irish and Mexican on my hubby's side. German and Scotish on mine, I believe. I'd really like to know more since neither of our families ever really embraced our cultures. I'm trying to learn traditional cuisine from each country. It's fun! I hope you are doing better, sweetie. You deserve so much happiness!!

Brian said...

Hi TL,

Just wanted to pop by and say hello. I think about you and your family every day and I pray that you find your way.

imfreenow.blogspot.com said...

We have mostly Scandinavian, a little Native American, and some of the perpetrators' blood - English!

Don said...

My Dad's side of the family is Scots-Irish Rogers/McCoy
My Mom's side is Scotch, with a liberal dose of Native American.
Walker/Reynolds/Rutherford.

Trailady said...

Hey everybody! What good friends you are. I am delighted that when I have time to check in on my blog, I still have comments.

Yes, correctly stated that each culture has done it's share of wrong-doing. I certainly don't uphold Celtic culture as being faultless... just to clarify...

sage said...

Mostly Scots here--with a bit of Welsh, Irish, English (we try to forget that) and German. My Scottish ancestors came from the highlands and islands to NC in the late 1740s--that's about as different of a location as you could find!

Insteresting to find out about your heritage

Roseuvsharon said...

I'm like you. Don't know much about certain party of my family history. It seems my Native American ancestors knew the only chance for their posterity to ever be accepted and live a "normal" life would be if they refused to be put on the Dawes Roll.

Now that it is finally "cool" to know your ancestry, that link is lost to me, from years and years of ancestors trying to deny it.

My ancestors walked the trail of tears, and we're still crying.

Roseuvsharon said...

One more thing. I really hate those lines on official (or even unofficial) forms that ask you to fill in your race.

I could choose Hispanic, I mean after all my dad was a victim of prejudice because of his heritage I suppose I look enough Latina. But then again, the red that pops out in my hair when my temper flares keeps me from denying my Irish roots. Then again, one look at my grandfather's picture and I'm Cherokee all the way. Exactly what am I supposed to put down there, other than Heinz 57?

Anonymous said...

Great post girl! I have my ancestry traced to 1060ish in England. My people came in the Norman conquest and had lots o land and stuff. BUT praise God that in 1622, the youngest son with the least inheritance submited himself to indentured servanthood and came to America! And the rest is history......

Thanks for the great reminder that we are here due to the heritage of our forefathers. I appreciate it!

Anonymous said...

Hi
Nice n informative post. Sure one must be aware of ones ancestry...


Have been really long time since i last been to ur blog...

Liked to go thru some of ur earlier write ups.
Anywayz Congrats. n good luck 4 ur new job...Keep on doing the good work.

imfreenow.blogspot.com said...

Hi again. I just went over to your other blog - signs and wonders to read your thoughts about your struggle with faith. I had no idea. It is hard to see you lose the passion you had and the faith you had. It is evident in the lack of posting and commenting. I know how that happens. I know how the doubt, as you have expressed can become overwhelming. Just know that there are those who uphold you as they also go through difficult periods of doubt and despair (namely, myself.)