How Important Are Your Ethnic Ties?

[Hunter's Moon]

How much do you identify with your ethnicity/ies, and how much importance do you place on ethnic ties? 

 

How you show this would depend on the ethnic group, I suppose, but do you prepare cuisines that are specific to your culture? Do you feel that your ethnicity makes up a large part of your identity, or is it just something that was a random occurrence and you don't give it much weight? 

 

Why do you think people feel compelled to learn their ethnicity/bloodlines and find out about ancestors, etc? 

 

In my family, ethnicity was never important. In fact, we don't even have much clue from where our ancestors come, except for my maternal grandfather, who was a second generation American. My maternal grandmother called her side of the family Old Yankee, her way of saying they came as settlers in the early days. 

 

I feel like a huge part of my identity is missing. Perhaps that is because I spend a lot of time with people who feel strongly about their ethnic ties (I attend a Greek Orthodox Church and have many friends who are proud of their Hispanic heritage). 

 

I'm just curious how others feel about their ethnic ties, or lack thereof. 

[Violet Crown]

My grandfather liked his boiled beef, cabbage, and potatoes, and passed a taste for same on to my dad. I have assiduously avoided the Irish cuisine aspect of my heritage. But I still do Guilt. :D

 

Otherwise, no, not really.

[Carrie12345]

I'm too much of a mutt to feel real close ties to my multiple ethnicities. My "culture" is Suburban American and little more.

 

We make some traditional Swedish foods around the holidays (and my 3yo loves Sweetie Meatballs from Sweeten) and do up the American St. Patrick's Day.  My daughters are eager to learn some Middle Eastern recipes from a cousin on dh's side.  Mostly, we like food!

[regentrude]

We are first generation immigrants, and our ethnicity is a very important part of our identities. We made a big effort to teach raise our children to be fluent in our native language and to familiarize them with the culture of our country of origin. That includes songs, literature, and food.

[Rosie_0801]

It is an important part of my identity that my grandfather was Polish and I'm still in contact with his sister. I am not Polish though, even if I cook a few recipes. I'm very much Australian and would be no matter where I went or what else I picked up.

[Ottakee]

Dh identifies a bit more as he is Native American and an enrolled tribal member.  We do attend various tribal events and when we get together with his side of the family it has a Native flair for sure.  I cook some Native foods but not a lot.

 

I am English/Dutch/German/Native American---about 1/4 each.  I grew up in a very Dutch area so ate more Dutch foods---rusk, pig in a blankets, etc. and had a big Dutch Tulip Time festival.  We all joke about being Dutch as in being cheap/frugal, etc. 

 

We are more just plain jane Americans overall though.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I think it is the sort of thing I'd think about if I moved to another country.  I don't see myself as having an ethnicity in the sense I have very different traditions than my neighbor.  DH is from another country.  Probably the only "tradition" he keeps up with that isn't a tradition for me is soccer.  Hehe.  He watches a lot of movies in his native language.  But aside from that our backgrounds must just be more similar than different because at no point has he expressed that he is missing something about his native country or where he feels like a stranger in a strange land. 

 

I feel a lot like Arctic Mama.  I don't have a strong sense of pride over my identity.  I'm basically just doing my thing...going on with my life. 

 

I'd say if I had to identify with an ethnicity it would be a melting pot American.  There has been so much mixing and melding of traditions in my family over the years that it's hard to identify with a specific ethnicity outside of that.  So I guess that IS something and some sort of ethnicity, but I don't notice it unless I'm in a situation with a sharp contrast (which is pretty much never). 

[fraidycat]

Random occurrence. Holiday meals include Polish food because it's a tradition (and yummy!), but that's about it.

[The Girls' Mom]

Maybe if I had strong ethnic roots I would feel they were more important.  However, my ancestry is about as mixed as it can get.  I think I'm part everything out there...lol.  

 

 

[SparklyUnicorn]

Maybe if I had strong ethnic roots I would feel they were more important.  However, my ancestry is about as mixed as it can get.  I think I'm part everything out there...lol.  

 

Yes, this exactly.  And it gets mixed up more and more over time.  I suppose I feel a hint of this when talking about holiday meals or traditions.  I realize my traditions are not exactly like every single other American out there.  Then again, there are a lot of similarities. 

 

Except, I kid you not, there are no people of Italian ancestry anywhere in my family, extended family, family from as far back as anyone has managed to figure out doing family trees, etc. 

 

I always found that odd.  There were a lot of Italians in the area I grew up.  We just all never got together.  LOL

[StephanieZ]

I have none that I know of, and I don't feel they are important. 

 

My ancestors came here during colonial days, and I don't know of a single ancestor on either my or dh's family that "came on the boat" pre-civil war, although I am sure there are plenty, as we are white, and surely our ancestors must have mixed it up. 

 

So, since my ancestors have been here many generations, and no strict religious or ethnic ties among them, I am sure I'm about as mutt-ish as one can be, so I don't think I have any ethnic ties to note. I could surely claim a dozen or more ethnicities, but none in more than a sprinkling. 

 

Some day, I am sure data organization and DNA analysis will be easy enough that I can easily tell that I am 3.4 % this and 5.7% that, etc, and I'd be curious and happy to learn. More holidays to celebrate and foods to claim!
 

For now, I know that my maiden name is German, and I know that the ancestor with that name came over from Germany in the 1600s . . . And, dh's name is also German, but I have no idea when his German ancestor came over . . . So, anyway, surely, in the nearly 400 years since my German named ancestor came over, the intervening ancestors have mixed it up, so I doubt I am much German at all any longer. Other than that, I have no idea who came over when. Would be interesting as a curiosity, but not important to me. 

 

Who I am has nothing to do with my ethnicity.

[Mergath]

I'd say it's fairly important here. MN has a strong Scandinavian background, and we've held onto a lot of the traditions from that. I mean, no one eats lutefisk because they WANT to. ;) That background has shaped our state to a greater degree than most- it's why we're practically socialists compared to the states around us, or so I've read.

[PeacefulChaos]

How much do you identify with your ethnicity/ies, and how much importance do you place on ethnic ties? 

 

How you show this would depend on the ethnic group, I suppose, but do you prepare cuisines that are specific to your culture? Do you feel that your ethnicity makes up a large part of your identity, or is it just something that was a random occurrence and you don't give it much weight? 

 

Why do you think people feel compelled to learn their ethnicity/bloodlines and find out about ancestors, etc? 

 

In my family, ethnicity was never important. In fact, we don't even have much clue from where our ancestors come, except for my maternal grandfather, who was a second generation American. My maternal grandmother called her side of the family Old Yankee, her way of saying they came as settlers in the early days. 

 

I feel like a huge part of my identity is missing. Perhaps that is because I spend a lot of time with people who feel strongly about their ethnic ties (I attend a Greek Orthodox Church and have many friends who are proud of their Hispanic heritage). 

 

I'm just curious how others feel about their ethnic ties, or lack thereof. 

I don't think much about ethnicity.

 

I'm dutch.  And something else - a lot else, actually.  But Idk what.  I'd say I'm more Dutch than anything else, but it's still not an overwhelming percentage - my maiden name is very Dutch lol.  I think my biological great-great-grandparents on my maternal grandfather's side were the ones who came over and settled in Iowa, where a lot of other Dutch were.  My grandma's hometown is very Dutch - they have a tulip festival every year where everyone dresses in traditional old garb and they do parades and all sorts of 'Dutch' things.  I've been as a kid and it's actually pretty fun lol. 

My bio Gpa was pretty much fully Dutch and my Gma is a mixture of Dutch and English and who knows what else.  So that's that side of the family... I know nothing about my dad's side.  (Pause for a long minute while I go and cyber stalk to see... nope, still don't know anything about my dad's side, though from what it looks like, he's a runner, too, and I think I found someone who may be my half sister?  Who knows?  Did definitely find my other grandma on FB, who was apparently in the delivery room when I was born - as a nurse - and had no idea of our familial connection.  Note that this is just the guy who is 'most likely' my dad, though there is another close contender.  I don't know his name though.  I can say I don't look anything like that side of the family if the name I have is in fact correct.)  That last name could be just about anything in the European countries lol... at least with my mom's/my maiden name, it was pretty obvious we were Dutch.  :lol:

Anyway... that was an aside lol... 

 

On my maternal gma's side, a lot of effort has been placed in searching out ancestry.  It's just something one of my uncles enjoys doing.  I've never really looked at it, though.

 

If someone were to go by what I cook, they'd think I was Asian.  I could eat rice every meal.  I do eat rice multiple times a week.   :lol:  But in all seriousness, sometimes I think it'd be cool to find out exactly 'what' I am, just as a curiosity.  Especially since I don't know much about a lot of my family.  But I'm not real concerned about it - I'm more interested in who I am now as a person than any sort of ethnic ties.

 

 

Oh, and DH is similar.  Our last name is very German and his extended paternal side (grandfather's family) is very Mennonite, the last name is never pronounced correctly unless people are familiar with other people with that last name - which is usually in connection with some Mennonites or 'Pennsylvania Dutch Mennonites'.  We're not necessarily related to them, though.  MIL is a mix.  Her maiden name is pretty English.

 

[Lawyer&Mom]

I'm Irish/German/Norwegian/Dutch with a little bit of English and French...  I would say I feel strongly Northern European, and that explains my fondness for minimalist Scandinavian furniture and sauerkraut.

[umsami]

My parents are mainly WASPs.  I don't think we do anything associated with my Dad's family's ethnicities....although they do take pride in coming over on the Mayflower...and the Native American ancestry.

 

My Mom's family is German, French, and Italian.  She found some long lost relatives in Germany...and they actually became friends...and both sides have traveled back and forth.  

 

I wish we had more on both sides, to be honest, that we practiced....but back when my Mom's family emigrated in the 1800s...the goal was to "fit in."  Languages were meant to be forgotten, etc.  Italians were called "WOPs" (without papers...equivalent of illegal immigrants today)....and were discriminated against.  

 

We do try and make a big deal about the kids' Egyptian heritage....because they are half Egyptian.  So, we cook some Egyptian foods....and we talk about Egyptian culture....and we're trying to make sure they know some Egyptian Arabic.

[Elisabet1]

I am just simply American.

 

If someone wants to know my ancestry, I would be Irish, Dutch, American Indian, Danish, ....actually..just put half of Europe on there as well as two American Indian tribes. My looks? I do not think anyone would guess by looking at me. My brown eyes clearly come from my French side. But my big bones came from my American Indian side. My fair skin....Danish side? I am not even sure. Grandpa says (he has passed away, but he used to say) our stubbornness came from our Irish side. 

 

I am not going to pretend that any ehtnic group or heritage is perfect or clean. History is full of nastiness. It just tells us how great it is that we are where we are. We have hope for our grandchildren!!! Anyway, so I am just American. But I think I should not have said "just" American..I AM American and that is a great thing!

[dirty ethel rackham]

My Irish and Norwegian heritages are important to me.  My mother was raised by her Norwegian grandparents (off the boat around the turn of the century.)  While they felt it was important to assimilate, they still made many traditional food.  The food, which I only had when we went to visit, brings back memories.  We had closer relation to the Irish relatives, but I can't say we did all that much that was really all that Irish (except drink.)  My dad was 2nd generation German.  He felt he needed to downplay that fact during WWII and its aftermath, which was difficult to do since his name was very distinctly German.  But, there were certain dishes that were my dad's favorites.  I didn't find out until much later in life that these were very German in origin. 

 

Dh's mom was a "mutt" - lots of ethnicities and but only the German heritage was really passed on.  His dad is Slovenian and that is a very important part of his heritage.  As his relatives say, there is no marrying or burying (or any holiday) without potica (pronounced poh TI tzah.)  Same with Slivovitz.  His grandparents and their kids attended a Slovenian Catholic church that had services in Slovenian.  As the older generation is dying out, several of the grandkids (and their spouses) are learning to make potica. 

[Carrie12345]

Yes, this exactly.  And it gets mixed up more and more over time.  I suppose I feel a hint of this when talking about holiday meals or traditions.  I realize my traditions are not exactly like every single other American out there.  Then again, there are a lot of similarities. 

 

Except, I kid you not, there are no people of Italian ancestry anywhere in my family, extended family, family from as far back as anyone has managed to figure out doing family trees, etc. 

 

I always found that odd.  There were a lot of Italians in the area I grew up.  We just all never got together.  LOL

 

That's one of the few things missing for us, too!  I don't think we have any Hispanic/Latino blood, either, but NOT being Italian (or at least 50% Irish if you couldn't be Italian) was definitely weird in North Jersey, lol.

 

Then my aunts married into Italian families and we could incorporate Italian traditions more "authentically".  :lol:

[Elisabet1]

On the culture note..the culture is very different where I am not versus where I grew up in the midwest. I lived in S California after college before the south and that felt more like where I grew up than where I am now. I feel like people who only live in one part of the country do not really realize how diverse this country is. It bothers me when the federal government takes control and tries to Nationalize stuff. It is ruining the culture and beauty of this country. It would be like insisting that Ireland be the same as Germany which would have to be the same as Italy and so on. It should not happen. We are losing our culture. But..I do think it is good to include differences in culture just within the US. I am just often shocked at how much so many people think South Dakota is the same as Florida which is the same as NY, etc. Very different people, very different history, very different cultures.

 

I am rambling again.....

[Carrie12345]

On the culture note..the culture is very different where I am not versus where I grew up in the midwest. I lived in S California after college before the south and that felt more like where I grew up than where I am now. I feel like people who only live in one part of the country do not really realize how diverse this country is. It bothers me when the federal government takes control and tries to Nationalize stuff. It is ruining the culture and beauty of this country. It would be like insisting that Ireland be the same as Germany which would have to be the same as Italy and so on. It should not happen. We are losing our culture. But..I do think it is good to include differences in culture just within the US. I am just often shocked at how much so many people think South Dakota is the same as Florida which is the same as NY, etc. Very different people, very different history, very different cultures.

 

I am rambling again.....

 

I get what you're saying, to a point.  But I think it's more of this being a mobile society than gov't influence that's reshaping things.

[gaillardia]

How much do you identify with your ethnicity/ies, and how much importance do you place on ethnic ties? 

I have always had a fascination for learning more about various European countries, more so than other countries, and these have just so happened to be the ones from which my ancestry comes. You are talking about ethnicity, I am talking about ancestry. I am English, French, German, Scottish, Irish, and Native American.

 

How you show this would depend on the ethnic group, I suppose, but do you prepare cuisines that are specific to your culture?

Not that I am aware of other than just being American since the 1600s.

 

Do you feel that your ethnicity makes up a large part of your identity, or is it just something that was a random occurrence and you don't give it much weight? 

Neither. I don't think it was random.

 

Why do you think people feel compelled to learn their ethnicity/bloodlines and find out about ancestors, etc? 

 

Since I was a little child I was fascinated by a book about my mother's mother's family line. No one was talking about family history or anything like that. There was nothing on her father's line and I was full of questions about that. What country did they come from? Why were there two capital letters in it? I took issue with the answers and even though I was only 6, I knew I had all the right questions and even knew what country the name had originated from, as we found out later. (Mom insisted it was Germany, I insisted it was France).

I have my own personal beliefs about those who have gone before me and I feel that they wait for us to know them again. In some it may be strong, and in some it may be weak, but I feel that if we seek to know who they were and where they came from, we will find those answers.

 

In my family, ethnicity was never important. In fact, we don't even have much clue from where our ancestors come, except for my maternal grandfather, who was a second generation American. My maternal grandmother called her side of the family Old Yankee, her way of saying they came as settlers in the early days. 

In my opinion, what is cool is finding out what the occupations were of my ancestors. The census is the easiest place to start.

 

I feel like a huge part of my identity is missing. Perhaps that is because I spend a lot of time with people who feel strongly about their ethnic ties (I attend a Greek Orthodox Church and have many friends who are proud of their Hispanic heritage). 

There is so much information available online on family history. I hope you feel prompted to seek out your family line.

 

I'm just curious how others feel about their ethnic ties, or lack thereof. 

I found out I'm a descendant of a very well known person in American history. I love knowing that. I also found out things that made me feel very sad, just from reading census records in the early 1800s.

 

 

[Ali in OR]

We're a mix, mostly Northern European: Norwegian, Swedish, English, Bohemian, Scotch-Irish, French-Canadian just on my side. German and English on dh's side. It's fun to imagine what ancestors lives may have been like. When studying history, there are lots of points where we can say, "maybe these were our ancestors." Vikings, Huegenots? We definitely know we come from some immigrants fleeing mandatory military service in I think the Kaiser's army (not Hitler, the first one). Makes history come alive. I have a few special heritage foods I can make--Swedish pancakes from one great-grandmother, cardamom cake from another. Mostly it's just fun for us.

 

[Farrar]

Not at all. It was not until I went to college in New England and people would often, after the first get to know yous, talk about their ethnic heritage (oh, I'm mixed Polish and German or I'm Irish and Italian or I come from a big Greek family) that I realized anyone who wasn't a second generation immigrant family cared at all. I grew up in the south and there simply wasn't a culture of discussion around that at all. If I had not done some genealogy research (or piggybacked on others in my family, really) then I would have no clue. FTR, my family mostly came from England and the Netherlands, mostly well before the Civil War, and some well before the Revolutionary War. So I'm sure the roots being so distant is a part of it too.

[bettyandbob]

I am half Irish. My dh is half Irish. But our parents were not immigrants. They both came from families that lived in Irish communities in the US and ended up marrying others who were Irish descendants. So, our parents generation is the first yo marry people who weren't Irish. However, the families have been in the US a long time, so the tie seems diluted. It's also further diluted by the fact that everyone, it seems, claims to be Irish.

 

I have visited Ireland. We do like Irish folk music, especially dh and older ds. I'm not a fan of Guinness, but it does taste different in Ireland. We did host Teens from Northern Ireland when oldest was an infant and toddler--(it was a Protestant/Catholic program )

 

Anyway, it's not that big a deal, because really I'm an American.

[marbel]

I don't think about it much.  My grandparents were all immigrants from Europe.  My paternal grandparents retained much of their "Polish-ness," spoke Polish along with English, loved the Polish pope, and we ate a lot of Polish food growing up.  My maternal grandmother was from Lithuania; that grandfather, from Germany or maybe Russia, died before I was born.  She never talked about her cultural past, and my mother didn't either.

 

But both my parents were born in the US in1916, and I think the idea then for immigrants and their children was to become as American as possible.  So they didn't pass on any traditions to us.

 

My husband's family has been in the US for many, many generations.  He identifies as "southern."  :lol:

 

I do enjoy ethnic festivals but like Greek and Mexican food and festivals more than Polish...

 

I agree with a pp - it seems odd to me to be "proud" of an ethnic heritage.  It would seem equally odd to be ashamed of it.   I've no control over it.

 

 

[elegantlion]

Most of my ancestry has been in America since early colonial days, like one marriage removed from the Mayflower, although one great -great (I believe) grandparents immigrated from Germany. Mostly English, French, and German and this is more historical significance than cultural effect. I do kind of miss having something significantly cultural to celebrate (besides the American traditions). 

[Storygirl]

My family's ethnic make up has changed drastically in one generation. My generation is as white as can be, mainly German American with a very German last name. And then the huge change:

 

* My husband and I adopted children from Vietnam and Guatemala, so we then had Asian and Latino people added to our family.

* My cousin married an African American woman who has two black children.

* My brother married a woman from Romania, who then immigrated here, along with her teenage daughter.

* My Romanian niece then married a Chinese immigrant, so their children are half Romanian, half Chinese.

 

So one generation is completely white, and the next is Vietnamese-Guatemalan-Romanian-Black-White-Chinese. Amazing!

 

My Romanian relatives sometimes bring Romanian food to our family gatherings, but otherwise we are just a blended American melting-pot family. We do try to teach our children about their countries of origin, but it does not take priority over any other thing that we teach.

[Jean in Newcastle]

I'm a third-culture-kid.  I've spent all my life trying to assimilate into whatever dominant culture I've been placed in.  My personal "third culture" is a mix and I'm most comfortable with other tck's - even if they come from other cultural mixes.  (I've met friends of DawnM's and I immediately clicked even though we were raised on different continents.)  My culture has nothing to do with my ethnicity.  Our household gets even more mixed because dh is an immigrant who was raised in a way that his parents thought best would assimilate him into the new culture (they did a good job) and yet they reverted to the old culture once he was grown.  

[Arcadia]

We are a Chinese family in an area that has plenty of Chinese. It is easy to keep the culture and language alive. In my area you would be able to hear Asian languages more often than spanish and some of the libraries are well stocked with chinese DVDs, newspapers, books and magazines.

I cook whatever I like usually but we observe the traditional festive foods at traditional festivals. Cooking for Chinese New Year for me would be about as frantic as you (general) cooking for thanksgiving. My next cultural festival is winter solstice.

 

ETA:

Maybe it's the 5,000 years of cultural heritage and being able to speak the language to Chinese of different countries that makes it seems a waste to throw away a heritage.

[MrsMommy]

My grandfather came to America from Austria. My heritage is important to be because I know why he left there, and why he wanted to come here. If I ignore that, I ignore who he was, and I just can't do that.

[AimeeM]

My own aren't very important to me, but my husband's are very important to him. He broke his pure Italian bloodlines by marrying and having children with an Irish/Cuban mutt like myself ;)

[8circles]

Second-generation American, 100% Slovak. I used to think it was important, now I don't think it makes a lick of difference. I think it can influence the culture one is raised in, but it in itself isn't very meaningful.

 

I think its kind-of silly when people say things like they're hot-headed or stubbord or insertothernegativequality because they're fillintheblankancestry. As if that's the cause of it and people of other ancestry have that quality to a lesser degree. It can make a difference if that is your CULTURE but it isn't passed through the blood because of your 1% heritage.

 

Anyhow, there are things from my heritage that I appreciate and will try to continue and other things I'll happily leave alone. I do think many people use their heritage in negative ways, to exclude other people or sometimes they co-opt it and act as if it's their own, which I don't appreciate because I think its disrespectful.

 

I do have a thing about getting the facts right about where certain things come from - I realize this makes no sense given that I think ancestry is pretty meaningless, but there it is.

[Annie G]

My mom is a first generation American, as her parents came here from Germany.   I was mildly interested in my German heritage as a kid but never learned to speak German well. Oddly enough, all four of our children speak fluent German.   Our two youngest identify with their German heritage much more than I ever did.  I'm glad they enjoy the language, culture, and customs of Germany, but it surprises me that they have this interest. 

[Truscifi]

My dad's family was German American. Other than a few handed down recipes, no real ties there.

 

My mom's parents were both children of Irish American protestant ministers with native American wives. How there were two of them in the same tiny town I never understood. Anyway, there is definitely more of an awareness of ethnicity from my mom's side, but still not a lot of real traditions passed down.

[texasmama]

I am French and English - or so I hear.

 

I really just identify as a Texan. That's pretty cool, you know. :)

[FrogMom5]

Interesting question. 

 

My ancestry is Mexican (Spanish-Native American mix), French, Irish, Dutch and a bit more Native American (different tribe though). 

Dh is 100% Irish. 

 

Culturally, we are both Mexican-American and Irish.  Dh speaks Spanish and loves southwestern Mexican foods.  He grew up in a Mexican neighborhood and most of his friends are Mexican. 

 

The only holiday we celebrate is St. Patrick's day, more for religious reasons than ethnicity.

 

Mostly, we are Americans.  It is fun to learn about ancestry, especially since we can trace the Franks back to about 775 A.D.  But, it's only a point of interest.  We identify ourselves as Americans and the rest just helps us with history lessons, cooking lessons and so on.

 

Fun topic.  Thanks for bringing it up.

Denise

 

 

[Dory]

I can trace my family tree back for many years. On my dad's side I can trace us back to the early settlers in Jamestown. My dh's grandfather was a first generation Canadian and the Norwegian ties back home are still fairly strong. He had 13 kids and all of them have been back to the original homestead in Norway and keep in touch with family over there. I always felt it gave a grounded feeling knowing where I came from. I loved hearing the stories. It made my family make sense. I really loved tracking down more family over the years too. Makes me feel connected. Like I'm part of something bigger. It makes me look at my parenting differently. Realizing that all these people have a common ancestor who just raised a family like I am, and this is where it has gone. What I do matters for the future because I can see that what my great grandparents did affected the present.

[MrsBasil]

Not even a little bit.  I know I have German, Scottish, Irish, and English heritage but those ancestors came over before my great great grandparents were children.  It doesn't matter in my every day life and there are not any cultural things my family does to acknowledge that.

 

I identify as an American and that identity is important to me.

 

 

[LostSurprise]

I'm 3/4 German and 1/4 Scotch-Irish, each of my grandparents is 100% something. I find my ethnicity interesting. I find dh's ethnicity (Norwegian/Danish) interesting. I find other cultures interesting. I find older people and their stories interesting. 

 

Does it change who I am or how I think of other people? Probably not. Maybe it gives me some insight into the stuff that gets passed on (genetically, culturally). It gives me people and stories to connect with. Human beings like history because it's the stories of who we are and who we have been over the years. Having grandparents who came to the US from a specific region and who had stories of those places and their lives is interesting and important to me. It's another way to empathize with them as people and understand the world. 

 

Also, there's the jokes. And the food. Cultural traditions can be a great help in binding families and communities together. I really enjoy picking up little pieces of dh's Scandinavian roots as much as I do my own. I like connecting to family (even family by marriage) through their culture and stories. 

[KrissiK]

Well.....I grew up German Mennonite, and there are a few foods I still make - zwiebach (no, not the kind babies teethe on) and peppernuts (hard, spicy little Christmas cookies) - but other than that... I don't really care. Ethnicity is not that important to me. I consider myself an American.

[Tsuga]

My FAMILY ties and my own HISTORY and GENETICS are important to me. Ethnicity as an existing group of unrelated people who have some kind of theoretical link is not important. My recipes are from my European side, my music is from my Hispanic side, and my looks and genetics are very much native. I feel strong connections with my own history and my family.

 

But for ethnic stuff, I don't care. All our traditions are American, but we try to connect with the human family. It's almost like I feel ethnically American, but genetically and historically connected to a specific line. I try to share that with my kids.

 

Also, of all the languages that have been spoken in our family over the past four generations, only German and English persist. They were the maternal ones, so there you go.

[Tap]

I am half Norwegian and have zero connection to this ethnicity. I have 3 siblings I have met a couple of times, and my grandparents died when I was  young.

 

My mother was a mix of Native American tribes (mostly Cherokee and Black Foot) and then a mix of European roots.  Her family was raised to hide their NA roots so most of that information was lost in time and "Black Dutch" (scroll down to 'Native Americans passing as white')  was used in place of tribal names on land records from the time. 

 

 

[violamama]

I am somewhat interested but all my family grandparents were immigrants. It has more to do with learning about their specific histories than a group/area culture thing. Now that we are a mixed race family, we have a great and strong interest in China. We are only three months in, but we're already added triple new cultures: Chinese, Chinese-American and Adoptive International Bi-Racial Family. 

 

FWIW, if you feel a connection to and knowledge of your family is lacking, I recommend 23andme for genetic heritage testing. If you are interested in going beyond that to medical genetic information, another service called Promethease is very useful once you have the 23andme report. 

 

 

[LisaKinVA]

I find my ethnic ties interesting -- mainly as a way to tie into history.  Although my father was raised in a Swedish-speaking community, there really isn't a ton of what I consider "ethnic" food in our family's repertoire.  On my mother's side, there is a lot of German, English and Swedish, but again no "ethnic" foods that are family "must haves."  I think my families were much more influenced by the areas of the US in which they lived.  My mother's side has much more southern foods, while my father's side has more mid-western foods.  My family (my parents & siblings) have more Mexican and Chinese/Asian foods (I was raised in the SF Bay area).  

 

Ethnic foods that have stuck around from my father's side:  Spritz Cookies, Swedish Rye Bread, rice pudding (at Christmas)...and although I wouldn't consider it part of our Swedish heritage, other "typical" Swedish foods we make include fruit pies, waffles and pancakes.  Possibly many of the baked goods my grandma made were Swedish -- but because they are so common in the US I just don't associate them with our "ethnic heritage."  If that makes any sense.

 

I will probably continue to dive into our genetic heritage, and hope to one day do the genetic blood tests.  Genealogy has been very interesting to me...but there are family stories that don't seem to reconcile with what we can actually find.

 

 

[Lolly]

It is very interesting. I like to know it. I will keep the family history alive and current for those who care. We have several lines of family that have been searched and recorded for a great distance back. (Not by me, but I have copies.) But, overall in day to day life, really not very important. We don't eat any special foods or dress any special way because of ethnicity. We don't have any special holidays that we tie into it. 

[Chris in VA]

My dad was born in NYC and then left when just months old, to be raised in England by his Scotch-Irish mom and English dad. My mom's parents came over from Germany in the 20s. They did everything they could to assimilate--what a lost opportunity for my mom and her sister as they could've been bilingual, but very understandable.

 

When I was a young teen, my dad considered moving back to England, and I became quite enamored with my English roots. But my mom never made much English food (except raisin pie--incredibly sweet, with powdered sugar on top...) and only rarely made anything remotely German.

 

So, we were just pretty white bread American--but the English connection was a point of pride for us, even though Dad was from Liverpool, not a posh section of England.

 

I want my kids to know their roots, but really, it's not terribly important to me. As I've studied history, I don't respect England as much as I used to. And German theologians irritate the heck out of me. So there's that.

[Laura Corin]

Not very.  My great grandmother (father's side) was Jewish northern English.  Everyone else is white vaguely CofE southern English for a good few generations back.  It doesn't occur to me to say that I am Kentish (father) or Devonian (mother).  I'm Bristolian, because I was born and brought up in Bristol.

 

L

[Ottakee]

Was Grandma's hometown in Michigan or Iowa?  If it is Michigan, that is where I grew up.......complete with Dutch costume and wooden shoes for all

  My grandma's hometown is very Dutch - they have a tulip festival every year where everyone dresses in traditional old garb and they do parades and all sorts of 'Dutch' things.  I've been as a kid and it's actually pretty fun lol. 

 

[Sahamamama]

As a child growing up in New Jersey (USA), it used to bother me that we did not have more of an ethnic identity. All my friends "were something," and here I was, just plain white. I used to ask, "Mom, why aren't we something? Why aren't we Italian, or Irish, or Polish, or Jewish, or Black, or Chinese, or something? Why aren't we at least Amish?" She would laugh and say, "You are what you are, Dear. More apple pie?"

 

In 5th grade, we were assigned to write a report about our family's ethnic heritage. All the other students knew what to write about. Since at that time in my family we knew nothing about our "heritage," except that it involved lots of sweet-and-sour pickles, mashed potatoes, pot roast, and plenty of baked beans, I wrote about being just a plain, non-specified American, without any "ethnic identity." The teacher was less than thrilled.

 

She never liked me, anyway. That was a long school year.  

 

 

[SKL]

For my family of origin it is interesting, but not really "important."  Our background isn't radically different from that of most people around us.  We share a few really good family recipes and old stories, and that's about it.

 

But for my kids, it's an interesting question.  They were adopted from a very different place.  It's a balance.  On one hand they want and deserve to feel wholly a member of my family of origin.  On the other hand, they deserve to have their biological family of origin respected as such.

 

Some people in my situation will go all out with the ethnic cooking of their child's birthplace, decorating their kids' room all up in the birth country theme, etc.  I have not done this.  We have visited their birth country, read books about the ethnicity of their birth parents, and we have ethnic stuff around the house, mixed in with stuff from other origins.  They have a nanny from a country neighboring their birth country, and she integrates them to some extent into the culture with cooking, arts, language, and being around others of similar heritage.  But I don't try to make their home life look like what it would be if I'd been their birth mom.  This seems the right balance for us right now.