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She called her 'Gan'

My mother when she was a little girl, was dressed in a crown of flowers, a new dress and shoes and went to throw petals at the feet of her grandmother at the Santa Rosa Festival in Trinidad. You see her grandmother was a Carib Queen and every year they celebrated this Catholic festival in Arima, Trindad.

I have never experienced this and though the Carib bloodline is being passed on through me, there is not much I can say about my heritage. In jest I would tell other who ask what I am mixed with, I would say "my people were here first... we did not arrive by boat... we were natives." But I really do not know what that really means. I do not know how to live off the land. In fact I kill all plants and animals that enter my home. I should put a sign ... "Enter at your own risk!"

But I do want to understand this particular part of my ancestry. Although I am mixed with Chinese, Spanish, Scottish and Protégées, I have always been curious of the one culture that was here before anything else. How in those primitive day did they survive? How did they manage to survive this long?

I do know many, when researching the history, did not willingly conform and many died resisting change. However those who did survive have managed, with all external influences surrounding them have managed to preserve their language, way of life and culture.

I do plan on taking the kids to see a Santa Rosa Festival for them to understand where they came from. The present Carib Queen is no longer my bloodline as it is passed on from one carib family to the next. I also did find out the appointed queen did have to be well knowledgable in their culture (so that takes me out of the running).

Still these are things that I believe we need to know, for me and my kids. It would explain why we have sure high cheek bones... or why our hair type is the way it is. something to make sense of the puzzle that is me.



What part of your own heritage are you interested in finding out??


Comments

  1. Wow, you have such an interesting history and culture! It is fun to explore our pasts. I did my whole genealogy once and found that I am descended from a knight!

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  2. I really do not know a lot about my heritage. I would love to do some research and learn about it. I think we have Welsh and Irish in our family tree.

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  3. I have no idea who my biological father is, but I would love to know. My husband and his father have traced their family line back to the year 6. I think it is pretty incredible.

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  4. That is fascinating! I really want to learn more about my heritage too!

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  5. That is so interesting! How amazing it must have been for your mother to see her grandmother as a queen when she were a child! I know bits and pieces of my heritage and would love to have the time to find out more.

    Tesa @ 2 Wired 2 Tired

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  6. How interesting! My mom is really into geneology and has traced her family pretty far back. I can't wait until she starts working on my dad's side of the family. He is part Cuban (which we didn't know until he tried to find his birth family - when he was adopted, they left the fact that he was a quarter Cuban off of his records!). Anyway, I think it would really interesting to find out about our Cuban ancestors.

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  7. Thanks so much for following! I love hearing from my readers. It encourages me that people actually read me blog. Following you back!

    www.thepreppylittlepolkadot.blogspot.com

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  8. Great story, Jillian. Knowing about one's family history is always good in all aspects..helps build up one's life emotionally.

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  9. What amazing history your family holds! Thanks for sharing. xx- Monica

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  10. Great story about your heritage. I think it's important for people to have a love of their heritage. Best wishes on your journey.

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  11. Oh I didn't know you were from Trinidad. I am from Trinidad as well. We also have Carib and Protégées in our blood line as well. I wish I could teach my children more about that part of their culture but it was on my mother's side of the family and when she had her stroke she lost her memory and doesn't remember much about that stuff at all. Great post. Thanks for sharing your heritage with us.

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  12. Ahh such wonderful history!

    I'm interested in our musically inclined nature and also our cuisine.

    I wish I could live in my country with my children at least five years to get them involved more.

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  13. You know, being from a broken home I really know very little about my family history. I know I have some German and ever so little bit of Italian background, but that's it. I think it would be cool to know if I was related to any royalty.

    Heather from Mommy Only Has 2 Hands

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  14. What an interesting story. My dad and grandparents are from Trinidad as well. Actually my dad and his siblings are. My grandparents are originally from China but I'm not sure when they moved and why. My mom's side is from China as well but then moved to Taiwan during the war.

    And somehow they all ended up here in Canada where I was born and raised with my siblings.

    I wish I could have asked my grandparents more questions about what life was like, why they moved etc. I hope to find out as much as I can from my parents now that I am a parent myself. Before it didn't really matter but now it does.

    Thanks for sharing!

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  15. Hi Jillian! It is such a blessing to know where you come from and I think it is beyond awesome that you want to learn more and teach your child what you learn. I have Native American Indian, Irish and who knows what else. I would love to research more and try to find out where my family is from.

    Thank you for following me at This Southern Girl's Life. All of the snow is gone now, but we had fun while it was here. I am now following you back. Have a great rest of your week!

    Natosha

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  16. What a great family history story. I think it's important to know about our ancestors, and great stories like that make it all the more fun and interesting to learn about them.
    Thanks for stopping by my blog earlier and I'm now following you.

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