Why is knowing our ancestry important?

[Guapo]

Why is knowing our ancestry important? why do you think knowing your personal ancestry is important and or interesting? what meaning or significance does it have on your life?

[Beorn]

Why is knowing our ancestry important?


To go forward, one must know from where they came.

[Grey]

Ancestry is part of who you are. It is good to know those from whom your blood came, to know your genetic strengths and weaknesses.

You are linked to all of your ancestors, and you will (possibly) become the progenitor of another branch of your family. Do you not feel a connection there?

[Tabiti]

Because it helps you to know yourself better. Certain traits of the character, talents, diseases are often heredical, just like the physical traits.

[asulf]

It is important to know your family history
The latter determines your upbringing, the fruit of experience and values transmitted by your ancestors over the generations, it explains your family trait.
for my part in keeping with the motto under my shield and the battle cry of my ancestors.
is my heritage, coat of arms in the avatar is that of my family, old sword nobility (10th century) revolutions, the s securities may erase the nobility of spirit and heart is!
all titles of nobility that I could carry two prevailing in my eyes they are lord and knight.
They denote the concept of duties and charges, nobility is above all a duty! not a privilege
An old adage says it confirms this:
nobility of heart is better than gold shield.
Honor your ancestors and the name you bear not vitiate the point!
by noble attitudes in your behavior, please be noble, you shook it recognized was the way to access the titles of nobility, and it remains valid today.
hoping this explains one aspect of the subject matter ...

servant, gentlewomen, and my lords.;)

[Absinthe]

To me the importance of knowing one's ancestry is largely overrated within our circle...

I mean, of course it is important to me and to everyone individually to know their ancestry for personal and sentimental reasons...

But does that determine anything?

One needs personal struggle and achievements, not some "pure" geneological chart or what not, in order to make the most of oneself and get ahead in life.

I mean, it is good to be proud of who you are but it is not enough. "Good" genes (if present) are the raw material, but then one has to mold something out of oneself by one's deeds and choices.

Myself, I come from an important family but so far I consider myself a loser, as I haven't been able to materialize any of my long-term goals. Life is not just about survival but also about surpassing yourself and leaving something to be remembered by behind.
So far I've only managed to survive (against very adverse conditions, in my defense) but I haven't done anything to define myself as a person. This is what I'm trying to resolve now.

If I don't make it, then my genes will have gone to waste (in my opinion). So does ancestry alone mean anything to me as a concept? No, it means shit. :wink

[SuuT]

[...]If I don't make it, then my genes will have gone to waste (in my opinion). So does ancestry alone mean anything to me as a concept? No, it means shit. :wink

Would that opinion of Ancestry change if you were to 'make something' of yourself?

In other words, is the importance of Ancestry contingent upon what the latest in the line does with it?

[Allenson]

I appreciate the historical context a sound knowledge of one's tree provides, as well as the sense of continuum into the personal present and with hope, the future also.

It's sort of like this never ending spiral or circle of individuals who've graced this planet....and like the combination of a safe, if one dials in just the right set of people, suddenly, one's self is revealed. One notch or individual over, and an entirely different person is dialed-in. :cool:

Wut? ;)



But does that determine anything?

Well, at the very least, one's building blocks from which to work & construct.


I mean, it is good to be proud of who you are but it is not enough. "Good" genes (if present) are the raw material, but then one has to mold something out of oneself by one's deeds and choices.

Yes. :thumbs up

[nohypocrisy]

And what happens if you are adopted?

[Damião de Góis]

Anyone with an interest in history will have an interest in ancestry. I can't trace mine beyond my grandparents, which is a shame because i'm curious about this.

[Germanicus]

Thank's to Stirpes and The Apricity, i have learnt a great deal about different head shapes and features of the different European races, looking around me in the town i live i can readily see that i am of the same Celtic makeup of the locals. With this in mind identifying different people's features is a specialist subject and only learned people have an authority in true identifications.

[Kadu]

Anyone with an interest in history will have an interest in ancestry. I can't trace mine beyond my grandparents, which is a shame because i'm curious about this.

Go to the city or cities from where your grandparents came from and search in the arquivo distrital and also in the church or churches in the parishes where they lived, i'm sure you can get something through the search of marriage, birth, death certificates and also in old newspapers(these ones in the arquivo distrital).

[Troll's Puzzle]

My ancestry is important because I was born into a scene of angriness and greed, dominance and persecution.
My mother was a queen, my dad I've never seen, I was never meant to be.
And now I spend my time looking all around,
For a man that's nowhere to be found.
Until I find him I'm never gonna stop searching,
I'm gonna find my old man, gonna travel around.

Cause I'm a wrathchild, well I'm a wrathchild.
Yeah I 'm a wrathchild. I'm coming to get you, oooh yeah.

Say it doesn't matter ain't nothin' gonna alter the course of my destination.
I know I've got to find some serious piece of mind, or I know I'll just go crazy.
But now I spend my time looking all around,
For a man thats nowhere to be found.
Until I find him I'm never gonna stop searching,
I'm gonna find my old man, gonna travel around.

Cause I'm a wrathchild, well I'm a wrathchild.
Yeah I 'm a wrathchild. I'm coming to get you, oooh yeah.

[Damião de Góis]

Go to the city or cities from where your grandparents came from and search in the arquivo distrital and also in the church or churches in the parishes where they lived, i'm sure you can get something through the search of marriage, birth, death certificates and also in old newspapers(these ones in the arquivo distrital).

If i remember correctly, my maternal grandparents weren't married. They just made a living together.
Anyway, that would be a long trip to Alentejo just because of that. But thanks for the sugestions :thumbs up

[Barreldriver]

For my kindred knowing ancestry was important for maintaining a patrilineal group. Plus it is easier to pay tribute to your ancestors if you know who you are.

[Mesrine]

I can't consider "ancestors" people I didn't know physically. That's why I won't go beyond the generation of my grandparents, born between 1902 and 1910. Family starts (or ends) here for me.

[Kadu]

Anyway, that would be a long trip to Alentejo just because of that. But thanks for the sugestions :thumbs up


Christ Alex! it's a one hour trip lol get your ass there. :D

[Damião de Góis]

Christ Alex! it's a one hour trip lol get your ass there. :D

Yes you're right. 63 km according to google earth. I thought it was more.

[Mesrine]

Yes you're right. 63 km according to google earth. I thought it was more.

Yeah, what is such a short distance for you? Nothing! :D

http://www.cyclismag.com/photos/Hinault_Bernard.jpg

[Damião de Góis]

Oh yeah... the breton guy i share 0 resemblance with. I had forgot about him :P

[Loddfafner]

I can't consider "ancestors" people I didn't know physically. That's why I won't go beyond the generation of my grandparents, born between 1902 and 1910. Family starts (or ends) here for me.

Knowing about the lives of my great-great grandparents has helped me understand my grandparents. Several of my lines are very well documented as far back as the XVIIth century. When one takes the long view, one can see patterns and cycles. It is not just genes that are passed on, it is culture. And not just cultural continuities, but cycles of different kinds of temperaments developing in reaction against each other. There are long term trends as each generation learns from the mistakes of the last.

[Loxias]

Because people have rarely (if not never) married just anyone randomly, there are family characters and ways of doing things. Families are like little nations. It's interesting to know how they came to be so.

[Amapola]

would you people change (who you are or how you feel) at all if you discovered anything unexpected in them? The DNA can tell you many things about your risk of probability for diseases though.

[Goidelic]

would you people change (who you are or how you feel) at all if you discovered anything unexpected in them? The DNA can tell you many things about your risk of probability for diseases though.

Probably not if it was a serious genetic illness, if it was 17th century West African ancestry, I would be extremely upset & have a breakdown, that's simply not me & my identity, as well as who I am & I therefore would burn all records of that piece of ancestry which went back to that West African ancestor & would rewrite the genealogy lineage myself going to a European ancestor - revisionism. :mad:

If it was 17th century Amerindian, I wouldn't mind. :)

Thankfully, that's not the case. ;) I'm happy about my ancestry. ;)

[Loxias]

If it was 17th century West African ancestry, I would be extremely upset, that's simply not me & my identity, as well as who I am & I therefore would burn all records of that piece of ancestry which went back to that West African ancestor & would rewrite the genealogy lineage myself going to a European ancestor - revisionism. :mad:

You cannot unsee it though! You wouldn't be able to erase it from your memory, and would live a life of misery! Mwahahaha!

:p

[Goidelic]

You cannot unsee it though! You wouldn't be able to erase it from your memory, and would live a life of misery! Mwahahaha!

:p

I probably would, but I wouldn't share the secret with my family :p

They'd be distant fair haired 17th century Negroes. ;)

[Electronic God-Man]

Probably not if it was a serious genetic illness, if it was 17th century West African ancestry, I would be extremely upset & have a breakdown, that's simply not me & my identity, as well as who I am & I therefore would burn all records of that piece of ancestry which went back to that West African ancestor & would rewrite the genealogy lineage myself going to a European ancestor - revisionism. :mad:

I'd hope you were joking, but if not: That's retarded. It would be a part of who you are and your family's history. There's no point in trying to find anything out about your ancestry if you only want to find things that fit with what you want it to be. It doesn't make sense to do the research at all then.

[Goidelic]

I'd hope you were joking, but if not: That's retarded. It would be a part of who you are and your family's history. There's no point in trying to find anything out about your ancestry if you only want to find things that fit with what you want it to be. It doesn't make sense to do the research at all then.

Yeah, but the more you hide it the better, in another 1,000 years no one would know. :D;)

[Electronic God-Man]

Yeah, but the more you hide it the better, in another 1,000 years no one would know. :D;)

Why should no one know?

[Goidelic]

Why should no one know?

Because it's not historically what European diaspora is about. Having an Australian Aborigine or Negro ancestor isn't something to be proud of. ;)

But, I wouldn't mind a 17th or possibly 18th century Amerindian ancestor, just because Mongoloid goes better with such genes, even a Finn with one 17th century Siberian ancestor wouldn't do much. ;)

For Unwanted Ancestry I'd say:

1. Negro
2. Abos (Dark Australian Aborigine/Black Papuans/Oceania Blacks)
3. Gipsy (Also dark pigmented/Black Indians from India, Dark Bangladeshi, Black Veddas, same crap Gypsy's are)
4. South American Amerindian - Pueblo, Aztec etc.
5. Near Eastern scum (Jews, Iranians, Arabs, Kurds, Persians)
6. East-Asian/(mongoloid race -Southeast Asian/Central Asian, Eskimos & other light pigmented Mongoloids)
7. North American Amerindian

[Electronic God-Man]

Because it's not historically what European diaspora is about. Having an Australian Aborigine or Negro ancestor isn't something to be proud of. ;)

If it were true it would be true no matter what, and shouldn't be necessarily hidden...I certainly wouldn't go about proclaiming it from the mountaintops either though.

[nohypocrisy]

Because people have rarely (if not never) married just anyone randomly, there are family characters and ways of doing things. Families are like little nations. It's interesting to know how they came to be so.

It seems you've never heard about arranged marriages (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arranged_marriage). Happened a lot back in the day.

[SuuT]

For Unwanted Ancestry I'd say:

1. Negro
2. Abos (Dark Australian Aborigine/Black Papuans/Oceania Blacks)
3. Gipsy (Also dark pigmented/Black Indians from India, Dark Bangladeshi, Black Veddas, same crap Gypsy's are)
4. South American Amerindian - Pueblo, Aztec etc.
5. Semites (Jews, Iranians, Arabs, Kurds, Persians)
6. East-Asian/(mongoloid race -Southeast Asian/Central Asian, Eskimos & other light pigmented Mongoloids)
7. North American Amerindian

Wait...wut? :P

[nohypocrisy]

Probably not if it was a serious genetic illness, if it was 17th century West African ancestry, I would be extremely upset & have a breakdown, that's simply not me & my identity, as well as who I am & I therefore would burn all records of that piece of ancestry which went back to that West African ancestor & would rewrite the genealogy lineage myself going to a European ancestor - revisionism. :mad:

If it was 17th century Amerindian, I wouldn't mind. :)

Thankfully, that's not the case. ;) I'm happy about my ancestry. ;)

And what would be the difference? If you find you have some negro ancestry would you suddenly feel the urge to start playing the drums? Become a rap fan? Your hair would suddenly become frizzy and curly?

[Zyklop]

Knowing about the lives of your ancestors is a sign of respect. How they lived and died and what efforts they took unto themselves so their offspring would have it better - after all you are one of them.
And to not become one of these slobs that take everything for granted.

[Bard]

Knowing about my ancestry is very important, it's something about keeping live the memories of the past.
By the way one of these days I'm going to the local church to see if I can find something, atm I arrived till the grandparents of my grandparents which is not much :p

[Allenson]

^ Might want to change that "i" to an "a".

Just a thought. ;)

[Bard]

rotfl dude, freud would say lapsus? :p

[Monolith]

1. Negro
2. Abos (Dark Australian Aborigine/Black Papuans/Oceania Blacks)
3. Gipsy (Also dark pigmented/Black Indians from India, Dark Bangladeshi, Black Veddas, same crap Gypsy's are)
4. South American Amerindian - Pueblo, Aztec etc.
5. Near Eastern scum (Jews, Iranians, Arabs, Kurds, Persians)
6. East-Asian/(mongoloid race -Southeast Asian/Central Asian, Eskimos & other light pigmented Mongoloids)
7. North American Amerindian
Well, except for the Europids, you've just ruled out pretty much the entire humanity. :D

[Tabiti]

I won't kill myself if I find there is some Eastern Asian or Ameridian blood in my family...

[Goidelic]

And what would be the difference? If you find you have some negro ancestry would you suddenly feel the urge to start playing the drums? Become a rap fan? Your hair would suddenly become frizzy and curly?

No quite the opposite. ;) I'd probably write & instrument more Celtic Black Metal music & sing about swarthy invasions the Celts have to battle. :thumb001: