How important is Culture to you?

[michel]

I was born in a Belgian Colony, of a Belgian Father and English Mother; I therefore had Belgian nationality.

Whe I came to England, I was allowed to reside here 'on sufferance' by the foreign office.

When I began my career in the bank, a stipulation was made that to be employed, I must renounce my Belgian nationality and become British by naturalization; which I did.

My Father died in 1997, and I have noticed that my younger son James has a 'penchant' for his Belgian lineage; when we went to stay in Bruxelles last year, we went to the military archives department, from which we managed to obtain a duplicate copy of my Father's military record- this was mainly for James, who was interested in Dad's career - he was captured twice, escaped once, and invalided out of the army through having lost part of his foot wile evading recapture.

I got an email from James this morning, which shows that he has been in communication with the Belgian authorities to see if he might be eligible for Belgian nationality.

The reply was that unfortunately, since I was not a Belgian national at the time of his birth, he would have to go through Naturalization proceedings, but that I was eligible to reclaim my Nationality.

I hadn't realized how important this is for James, and have contacted the Embassy in London for details of what I would have to do to regain my nationality, and was there some way that my son.........

I was touched by James' gesture; he obviously feels very conscious of his background, and wants permanent links to it. it suddenly occured to me that forum members, diverse as you are, may well feel the same; in other words, do you 'chase' after your ancestry, and is it a matter of 'pride' for you?

 

[Melody]

it suddenly occured to me that forum members, diverse as you are, may well feel the same; in other words, do you 'chase' after your ancestry, and is it a matter of 'pride' for you?

Great topic, Michel.

I think many of us yearn to feel a connectedness with the past. Maybe an inner need for continuity? What better way to do that than by connecting with our ancestors.

My maternal grandfather was Slovak and my maternal grandmother was Pennsylvania Dutch. My paternal grandparents were Scots/Irish. Neither side made a big deal one way or the other about their ancestry but since I was a teenager, it's the Scots/Irish part of my ancestry that has fascinated me. The music...the history...the people. Maybe because I look like that part of my ancestry? I don't know.

My youngest son shares my ancestry (obviously) and his father's which is English & French but it is the Irish part of his ancestry that he's been making connections to since he was 9 years old. He loves anything Irish and, in fact, even took step dancing after going to see River Dance with me.

He's made noises about moving to Ireland when he grows up and hoping there's a need for vets there since that's what he plans on being.

 

[Jaymes]

I'm pretty rooted where I am... I don't have a particularly strong connection to any of the nationalities of my ancestors. The cultures all interest me, and I find it comforting to know where I come from, but I don't have a particular urge to go hop a boat or a plane to go back there.

 

[James the Persian]

Michel,

Yes, I'm very proud of my roots, but it doesn't tie me to any one country. My family includes English, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, French, Bretons (who would kill me if I called them French) and even a Turk. By marriage I have added to this tally Romanians, Russians and Ukrainians. I'm proud of all of them and I love to find out as much as I can about their histories. I hope that my son will share the same feeling when he is old enough as one benefit of my cosmopolitan background has always been the understanding that all people are, essentially, the same. I wish I had the time to really get to know my roots and to learn all the languages (well, with the exception of French - I'm afraid I find that grates on my ears) but I simply don't. German, Czech and Romanian is about all I can manage.

James

 

[anders]

I'm as Swedish as can be. Some perfectly Swedish ancestors are on record from the early 15th C. For numerous years, I wished that something more exotic was proved. There's a rumour of some Russian guy interfering somewhen on my father's side, but there's no proof in records. Interesting, but I don't really care. I would be quite happy moving to and/or marrying a person from, for example, China.

My moving to Asia (or even moving within Sweden) would disappoint mother (88), but she is quite aware that she's spoiled rotten by having me in the same house, and in such a case, we would have no problem in seeing to that my sisters and their children provide her with the necessary services (like driving her to her numerous activities and for shopping - mother has a bad hip, and didn't renew her driver's license). My nieces and nephews already do an admirable job in the "services" department.

 

[Fluffy]

I have to admit that I just don't feel any connection to my past ancestors (beyond my parents and grandparents) and certainly not to any of their customs or traditions. Similarly I feel no leanings towards my Polish or Irish heritage. Both seem meaningless to me. They are simply another place on this globe which are much the same to the place on the globe where I live. Thats probably just me, I'm good at seeing similarities and bad at connecting to diversity.

 

[Valjean]

Interesting thread. Apparently I'm a bit of an anomaly, as I have no interest whatever in my "national" heritage or family history, and I no longer have any biological "family." I am, by accident, a North American. My country, and allegiance, are to my Planet.

 

[michel]

Michel,

Yes, I'm very proud of my roots, but it doesn't tie me to any one country. My family includes English, Germans, Czechs, Slovaks, French, Bretons (who would kill me if I called them French) and even a Turk. By marriage I have added to this tally Romanians, Russians and Ukrainians. I'm proud of all of them and I love to find out as much as I can about their histories. I hope that my son will share the same feeling when he is old enough as one benefit of my cosmopolitan background has always been the understanding that all people are, essentially, the same. I wish I had the time to really get to know my roots and to learn all the languages (well, with the exception of French - I'm afraid I find that grates on my ears) but I simply don't. German, Czech and Romanian is about all I can manage.

James

Hehe you sound slightly more 'mongrel' than I am - and I feel much as you do, I am proud of my ancestors - like you I can claim white Russian, English, Irish,French,German & Belgian to which, by marriage you can add Spanish & Gilbraltarian (with Maltese roots just to confuse)- but I am no linguist like you; I speak pidgeon Kiswahali, fluent French, a bit of English and semi-conversationally fluent in Spanish - I yearn to take on what I see as a 'difficult' language to my collection - the trouble is that there are only 24 hours in the day - and even with what I do, that isn't enough..........

 

[ch'ang]

I also don't feel any connections at all to my family after my grandparents generations, i really think that we are all really the same and holding onto a specific heriatage causes problems, i do think that are interesting though and enjoy hearing about them

 

[QTpi]

I am German, Dutch, Scotch, Irish, and English through my ancestry. I find my Dutch heritage to be the most interesting because of the special "talents" of some of my ancestors. People came from all over the country (so I am told) for my great-great-grandmother (who was Dutch) to lay her hands on them and heal them. She was able to pass one of her "powers" to my grandfather. This was the ability to blow away pain from a burn. I never knew about it until I was about 9 years old when my aunt and I were making candy apples. When I dipped the apple in the molten candy I foolishly straightened it up and received very painful second degree burns all over my hand. My grandfather arrived shortly afterwards while I was still crying and in a lot of pain. He told me to let him blow away the pain. I didn't want him to because I thought he was talking crazy and it would just hurt so much more to have air blown across my burns. But he promised he wouldn't hurt me and my grandfather never ever lied to me so I agreed. I readied myself for the pain I was certain I would feel, but when he gently blew over my hand, the pain was instantly gone, just like a switch had been flipped. The blisters stayed, but the pain was gone. It still amazes me every thime I think of it. I have pictures and several short video clips of may great-great-grandmother. I can feel a connectednesss when I look at them and wish I had the time to investigate more.

 

[michel]

Strange; I have a similar 'connection' with my paternal grandfather, who used a dowsing pendulum to diagnose illness and homeopathic remedies to cure.


But what reall 'rang a bell' in your post was the story of the burn. In Africa, we regularly had 'shows' from witch doctors - sometimes they would pierce their cheeks with a shard of bone - they did not bleed, even though you could see the bone coming through the inside of the cheek.

Another 'trick' would be to walk barefoot over a bed of white hot coals; the natives would offer to take Europeans across; occasionally there would be someone who had drunk perhaps a few too many, and would volunteer. One such man was a friend of my parents - he held the native's hand, and walked barefoot over the coals showing no sign of pain whatsoever. The next day, although he had blisters all over the soles of his feet, he felt no pain whatsoever.