tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.comments2022-01-27T14:00:57.710-05:00Amhran nam BandiaKathryn Price NicDhànahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comBlogger125125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-28610740474068250502018-10-08T14:37:04.446-04:002018-10-08T14:37:04.446-04:00Well, even though BQ is irrelevant in this situati...Well, even though BQ is irrelevant in this situation, I've found that it's higher than I thought, and I have more Catawba ancestors than I realized. Some of the specifics around the ancestors will never be completely clear, due to the time period and the records of that era. What matters is who are our people now, who claims us, who we are accountable to, and where our loyalties lie. I am doing my best to be a good relative, to all of the above.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-7761061148842080992017-10-06T15:40:39.956-04:002017-10-06T15:40:39.956-04:006 Oct 2017
A note on music. In some comments abou...6 Oct 2017<br /><br />A note on music. In some comments about this post elsewhere, there was a bit of confusion about what I mean by the importance of *traditional* music as a carrier of tradition. When I talk about this, I mean the music sung in the Celtic languages: Prayers in the original language that are sung, and as they're to spirits of nature, might not even be seen as prayers by those from other backgrounds; songs that carry lore, waulking songs in Gaelic, Irish songs *in Irish* that carry relevant symbolism and cultural significance, or Old Irish or Irish poetry that's been set to music. And, as an experiential, living tradition, the songs that continue to live and grow as we work with this traditional music in community. <br /><br />I'm not talking about twee, romanticised but superficial, modern songs in English, drinking songs, or newage instrumentals that various disconnected people believe have "a Celtic spirit" to them. I'm not talking about the dreck that gets randomly filed under "Celtic" in the bins at the store or online. I'm talking traditional music that those in the living cultures recognise as carrying cultural meaning; songs that carry on meaningful parts of tradition.<br /><br />Hope that clears it up. <3Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-90961323524664153672017-05-09T19:59:03.338-04:002017-05-09T19:59:03.338-04:005.9.17
At some point I'll switch this over to...5.9.17<br /><br />At some point I'll switch this over to a format that records the actual date. <br /><br />Updates in ancestry land. The rumours are true: The tribes keep better records than most of the non-Native families did. Much has happened in the years since I first wrote this initial blog post. <br /><br />I grew up with a genealogist, a professional librarian, as one of my aunties on my mother's side of the family. So I already knew quite a bit about that group of ancestors, but very little about my father's side of the family (beyond his parents and siblings). Over the past decade, as Native relatives have looked into our overlapping family histories, we've discovered that some of the ancestors we had assumed were Cherokee are actually Catawba. And an adopted sister of mine has turned out to also be my distant cousin. <br /><br />Some of my great-aunt's stories, recorded by hand in family journals, have now turned up in records kept elsewhere, which is also pretty cool. I trusted her to record things honestly, but once things have been passed down for so many generations, you never really know. Lots of relatives now. Of all sorts. <br /><br />But I'm still not checking any boxes ;) <br /><br />Knowing the actual stories and Nations of these ancestors, where they lived, what languages they spoke, and who my relatives are now, has increased my sense of responsibility: My responsibilities to my relatives, to this landbase, and to the communities I'm a part of. It does not change the fact that I have white privilege, that, even though I faced plenty of struggles growing up I was raised with white privilege, by people who also have and had white privilege. <br /><br />Just like being a diasporan Gael gives us different challenges than those faced by our relatives in the Celtic Nations, being a white or white-passing person who also has distant heritage is a very different road than simply being Native. It's yet another way I find myself in a liminal place. Though, as should be apparent from most of what I'm writing these days, most of my time and energy is in Indian Country and the Gaelic worlds. I don't relate much to mainstream America. Not that I ever did...Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-90226058803714850412017-04-05T04:50:36.408-04:002017-04-05T04:50:36.408-04:00How disgusting and disrespectful to the first nati...How disgusting and disrespectful to the first nations people. We have one of our own here, seems they train one another in the art form. No more culture vultureshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07264060744411967131noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-3603311792202915972016-11-27T17:11:59.742-05:002016-11-27T17:11:59.742-05:00A bit later on 27 Nov 2016
I guess I'm also &...A bit later on 27 Nov 2016<br /><br />I guess I'm also "lucky" that I grew up in communities with a very large Irish immigrant population (but anyone who romanticises that has never lived it), that the Irish side of my family were more recent immigrants, and that I was exposed to some degree of Creideamh Sí customs (or superstitions) while young. But I think the main thing that I find disorienting about the idea that any of this was "easy" thirty or even twenty years ago is that all of the groundwork and foundations of GP and CR that people take for granted now... everything we had to revive, reconstruct and test for relevancy through the school of hard knocks... we simply did not have that advantage then. We did not have any of that groundwork. We had to lay it down ourselves.<br /><br />So... yeah. Disorienting. Sometimes I really wish we had a time machine so I could take younger people back and show them what we had to go through. We tell them how it was, but apparently some of them really don't believe it. Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-84313967579836001962016-11-27T15:00:26.782-05:002016-11-27T15:00:26.782-05:0027 Nov 2016
Recently someone who linked to this p...27 Nov 2016<br /><br />Recently someone who linked to this post commented that they thought I somehow had it "easy" doing this work - notably, laying the groundwork decades ago. I think their point was that this has somehow been "easier" for me than for others because I know who my ancestors are. I honestly don't know how to respond to this without sounding like a Monty Python's sketch about how early we had to get up in the morning and how many miles we had to walk to school through the dark and snow, half-dead, dragging our siblings on our backs, with nothing to eat, etc. :) <br /><br />So I'll say this: We had no Worldwide Web. Everything we knew that didn't come through our families (those we knew locally or through snail mail - remember, no international communications at the click of a button, that stuff hadn't been invented yet), we had to find in libraries, and bookstores in intellectual oases like Harvard Square. I was "lucky" that I made the personal sacrifice to leave my family of origin and all my childhood friends so I could move on my own to one of these intellectual oases. <br /><br />I was lucky that my great-great-aunt was a respected genealogist, whose work is now used internationally. I am both blessed and cursed that some lore and gifts came down through three Scottish lines of my family, and that at least three of those lines include ancestors who intermarried with Indigenous people once they came to Turtle Island, and that these alliances gave me a good start in being able to communicate with the spirits of the landbase and bioregion where I grew up. This reciprocal communication is essential to what we do. Without that connection to the spirits of the land and water, we would have nothing. <br /><br />I am lucky that even as I suffered the usual loneliness and social isolation that smart, spiritually sensitive kids always go through, that I also lived on spirit-infused land and water where the spirits loved me, spoke to me, and allowed me to love them back. I am lucky that I survived the abuse I suffered at various points in my challenging life. Above all I am lucky that I found community and Elders who saved my life and kept me on track when I easily could have wound up just another casualty. <br /><br />But was any of it "easy"? Really? I am lucky I still have an intact sense of humour. Sometimes people think I sound bitter. You have no idea. I will now go laugh with my friends until we cry, remembering all the things we've barely survived. All the times we were so close to death that it's a miracle we're still here. All the loved ones who didn't make it through. Easy. That's a good one. I wish everyone reading this well. I wish you perspective. I wish you a long enough life that this all makes sense. With love, - KPNKathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-59276962509974269432016-10-13T19:21:30.098-04:002016-10-13T19:21:30.098-04:00Hey S Hope, sorry about the delayed response. I do...Hey S Hope, sorry about the delayed response. I don't always get these notifications. <br /><br />It's about culture, not Blood Quantum (BQ). It's about who your family and relatives are, what language you speak, the sense of humour you have, what food you eat. It's about the prayers you say, the songs you sing, what you do when someone is born, when they get married, or when someone you love dies. We consider this a Lifeway. <br /><br />If you don't have these ways in your family of origin, or if the ways of your family of origin don't resonate with you, it's about finding community and tradition elsewhere. It's appropriation if someone decides in isolation that they belong to, and can represent for, a community they know little about, and have never participated in. It's not appropriation if you actually become part of that community on the terms of that community, and they consider you a full member. <br /><br />If someone makes a sincere effort to learn the culture, then it is up to the members of that culture to see if that person fits in. In the Gaelic Polytheist, and broader Celtic Reconstructionist communities, while we've always assumed that most people drawn to these ways will have some Celtic ancestors, we've never made it a requirement; mostly because we abhor the racist, white supremacist groups that are obsessed with "racial purity". Usually those groups aren't even spiritual. It's not that we don't think the ancestors are important. They are. And as a tradition that honours the ancestors, sometimes people who start out in a Celtic group (or a group of another culture) might find their ancestors pulling them elsewhere once they connect with them. <br /><br />So, long story short, it's about culture and community, not blood.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-60314887224123814402016-10-13T17:27:40.878-04:002016-10-13T17:27:40.878-04:00It can vary a bit by dialect, but roughly: 'S ...It can vary a bit by dialect, but roughly: <i>'S e am fìor-uisge</i> would be "shay um feer ISH-kuh." <br /><br />When you can, listen to native speakers. I am but a learner. :)Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-22827262819400533302016-10-13T14:36:06.253-04:002016-10-13T14:36:06.253-04:00Can we get pronunciation of S e an Fior-uisge...
T...Can we get pronunciation of S e an Fior-uisge...<br />Tapadh leibh <br />Eoin Stiubhart Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-91386058341795690952016-10-12T15:40:20.319-04:002016-10-12T15:40:20.319-04:00I posted this for Chief Arvol Lookinghorse as Paul...I posted this for Chief Arvol Lookinghorse as Paula, Arvol, and members of their family are personal friends of mine. However, Paula sends these statements out to a very large mailing list now. There was a time when that was not the case, but nowdays, having a copy of these public statements does not mean someone is a friend of the family or a relative. <br /><br />Some skinstealing newagers, including those who falsely claim to be doing "reconstruction" of "Celtic" traditions, people who are NOT a part of any of our communities, have been misrepresenting this statement by Chief Lookinghorse to say white people in the diaspora can choose to become Indigenous. Chief Lookinghorse has now had to stop allowing photographs at many of his talks and public appearances because boundary-violating non-Natives have been sneaking up and trying to get their photo taken with them, without his permission, and then some have used those photos to imply he approves of their devious ways. <br /><br />If someone is implying a connection with any spiritual leader based on things like this, contact that spiritual leader's people. You can find many of us on social media. The CAORANN Facebook page has council members staffing it with relatives all over Indian Country and most of the Celtic Nations, for example. Please be smart and don't support scammers and exploiters. Check out everyone and every claim. <br /><br />I go into this more here: <a href="http://nicdhana.blogspot.com/2012/05/white-americans-and-indigenous-identity.html" rel="nofollow">Colonists, Descendants of Colonists, and "Indigenous" Identity</a> <br /><br />And the CAORANN statement here: <a href="http://www.bandia.net/caorann/ie.php" rel="nofollow">On Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Identity</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-20363407982143330972016-07-01T23:40:29.964-04:002016-07-01T23:40:29.964-04:00So how does this work? Im very drawn to Celtic cul...So how does this work? Im very drawn to Celtic culture (both historical and modern) but it only accounts for a quarter of my ancestry (Scottish). Does this count as appropriation? Most people I know have a mix of ethnic backgrounds so how does this even work? Hope I dont come across as rude or anything, just trying to understand.S Hopenoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-51570035535819803822016-06-23T17:26:57.882-04:002016-06-23T17:26:57.882-04:00April Youpee-Roll weighs in with an excellent piec...April Youpee-Roll weighs in with an excellent piece updating the Warren situation: <br /><br /><a href="http://m.bigskypress.com/missoula/mistaken-identity/Content?oid=2963599" rel="nofollow"><b>Mistaken identity</b><br />Elizabeth Warren's chance to do right by American Indians</a><br /><br />June 23, 2016 <br /><br />"That national teachable moment I'd hoped for was lost, distilled to base mythology and caricature, largely because Warren refused to admit that she lacked an understanding of modern Indian identity.<br /><br />"After Warren defeated Brown, most of the discussion of her Cherokee claim was relegated to the dark corners of the internet, where ad hominem attacks in the form of photos of Warren in photoshopped headdresses linger. They are attacks, in my mind, that denigrate native people more than they have ever hurt Warren.<br /><br />"But now, as national attention again focuses on her identity, Warren must do what she failed to do in 2012: listen and learn. Indian identity is not a mythical connection to a long romanticized (and assumed long dead) people. It's not a commodity, up for grabs and outside definition. Indian identity is alive. It's a conversation that native people are having right now about kinship, family, civic participation and nationhood.<br /><br />"Here are the facts: Elizabeth Warren is not a citizen of the Cherokee Nation, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians or the United Keetowah Band of Cherokee. She is not eligible for citizenship because she has no traceable Cherokee ancestors. The Cherokee are the most common target of specious claims to Indian ancestry, a fact some scholars attribute to early romanticism of the Cherokee struggle for sovereignty, developing as a justification for the anti-federalist sentiment in the antebellum south. Often these claims are traced to family lore and legend, sometimes of a "Cherokee princess" great- grandmother. I believe such claims are ultimately rooted in a natural desire to belong; it's understandably hard to stomach that we all live on stolen land, but that is the unpleasant truth of this nation's colonial roots."<br /><br /><a href="http://missoulanews.bigskypress.com/missoula/mistaken-identity/Content?oid=2963599" rel="nofollow">More...</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-26437684973641775392016-06-23T17:20:17.983-04:002016-06-23T17:20:17.983-04:00Fake tribes keep reporting the CNO video to YouTub...Fake tribes keep reporting the CNO video to YouTube. Photos taken at public events, used in the videos under fair use conventions, are being fraudulently reported as violations. Let's see how long this one stays up:<br /><br /><a href="https://youtu.be/t8SCbj35Sqo" rel="nofollow">What is a real Indian Nation What is a fake tribe?</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-7515636869722470052015-11-17T17:31:03.521-05:002015-11-17T17:31:03.521-05:00Samhain 2015
Some thoughts three decades on from ...Samhain 2015<br /><br />Some thoughts three decades on from some of the events mentioned here:<br /><br />In this post I briefly mentioned some of the goings-on in the mid-1980s (which link to <a href="http://paganachd.com/faq/whatiscr.html#howstarted" rel="nofollow">additional details over on the CR FAQ</a>), and how they did or didn't contribute to the gradual founding of CR. <br /><br />From my perspective, our work at PSG 1985 was really no different from what we did at any other gatherings my groups and I went to in those years. I think the only real difference was that it was a slightly bigger gathering (being the main national event back then), and some people also organized a formal discussion. Most discussions of this, in years before and after, were informal, and the rituals we were doing were mostly kept to our own circles.<br /><br />An important point to note is that most of the people at that PSG discussion did not go on to be part of developing CR. We discussed Celtic history, and what some of us were doing. Then they mostly went back to being Wiccans. Most of them still are Wiccans.<br /><br />I realize it was a major turning point for some of the attendees, if that was the only time in the eighties or nineties (or ever) that they got a chance to hang out with those of us who were doing this work. But if they just came to a talk on Celtic history and practice and then went right back to being a Wiccan for the next fifteen, twenty, or even thirty years... please understand if the rest of us look a bit taken aback at anyone who claims more significance for that event than it merits. <3Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-87648173970935014622015-11-05T12:42:01.607-05:002015-11-05T12:42:01.607-05:00I have updated the title of this again, as lately ...I have updated the title of this again, as lately I've been seeing this same sort of stuff from Americans or English people who move to a Celtic Nation and then misrepresent themselves as Indigenous to that land, based on redefining "Indigenous" to simply mean, "rooted in the Earth." This offensive re-definition is leading to many white Pagans and Nuagers, in America, Canada, and a few other English-speaking countries, calling themselves "Indigenous". As these non-Natives plagiarize and misappropriate, in some cases those who don't look deeply enough are mistaking these offensive appropriators for tradition-bearers. <br /><br />The link in my comment above, to the CAORANN statement on Indigenous Identity, wasn't formatted properly. This link should work: <a href="http://www.bandia.net/caorann/ie.php" rel="nofollow">On Indigenous Knowledge and Indigenous Identity - from Celts Against Oppression, Racism, and Neo-Nazism</a><br /><br />We had to start CAORANN due to plagiarism. Now it's happening again. Hey data-miners: we have an attorney. While we love sharing our work for free with respectful people, when nuagers rip off our words and try to sell them, or try to sell fake ceremonies they promote with words ripped off from us, we WILL do something about it. Think that over. <br /><br />And another repost: <a href="http://www.bandia.net/moonstone/curse.html" rel="nofollow">A Self-Inflicted Curse Falls Upon All Plagiarists</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-78350259578684162602015-01-23T05:51:02.805-05:002015-01-23T05:51:02.805-05:00I am good friends with a couple of police officers...I am good friends with a couple of police officers from that area and they said there was real anger and disgust among the officers talking about this theft. Here's hoping they find it and the culprit(s). Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-60954951683508529972015-01-22T15:09:50.763-05:002015-01-22T15:09:50.763-05:00More coverage today:
Follow up on the theft of t...More coverage today: <br /><br />Follow up on the theft of the Manannán statue from Limavady with video report. Includes reactions from locals and the police, and a photo of the large wooden cross that was left at what remains of Manannán's mangled feet. SDLP Councillor Gerry Mullan describes it as "a very concerted act of sabotage." If the statue isn't recovered the council have said they *may* consider commissioning a replacement. - <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-30934332" rel="nofollow">BBC Northern Ireland</a> <br /><br />There is now a <a href="https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bring-back-Manannan-Mac-Lir-the-Sea-God/630114243759074" rel="nofollow">"Bring back Manannan Mac Lir the Sea God" Facebook Page</a> <br /><br />And we are also continuing to post updates on the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/GaolNaofa" rel="nofollow">Gaol Naofa Facebook Page</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-85865135551502215812015-01-21T17:06:58.001-05:002015-01-21T17:06:58.001-05:00Additional coverage:
ANGER AS THIEVES STEAL MAN...Additional coverage: <br /><br /><a href="http://www.derrydaily.net/2015/01/21/anger-as-thieves-steal-manannan-mac-lir-statue-it-will-bring-them-bad-luck/" rel="nofollow"><br />ANGER AS THIEVES STEAL MANANNÁN MAC LIR STATUE: ‘IT WILL BRING THEM BAD LUCK’</a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.londonderrysentinel.co.uk/news/local-news/irish-sea-god-stolen-1-6534594" rel="nofollow">Irish Sea God stolen</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-5889067016615650642014-12-26T17:05:20.600-05:002014-12-26T17:05:20.600-05:00It's good having diverse relatives.It's good having diverse relatives. Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-22287475092626314202014-12-26T16:59:44.083-05:002014-12-26T16:59:44.083-05:00Part two of two:
As is almost always the case wit...Part two of two:<br /><br />As is almost always the case with vague stories of Cherokee ancestors, I had assumed that at least some of my ancestors were probably African-Americans and Jews. We've now confirmed that I do have a bit of heritage from both groups, including a bit of West African ancestry (so, even though I may have been the palest person at those Yoruba ceremonies, those actually were my ancestors we were calling). This has led to the mysterious "Black Dutch" milieux - communities in Pennsylvania and New York with Sinti (German Gypsy) and Sámi immigrants, who chose to pass as whatever their neighbors were (sometimes Jewish, sometimes other ethnicities). It looks like I have a little bit of blood from all of the above groups, though as the Rom family changed their names several times, tracing many more details about their history may prove impossible. <br /><br />The ones who changed their names are proving very hard to trace back very far, but other lines have turned up distant Sámi ancestors who married in to Scottish and Irish lines via the Norse. After finding the Sámi ancestors I've been spending some time looking into the Sámi culture, and am now a member of some descendants' groups.<br /><br />While my Irish-American ancestors are recent immigrants, most of the Scottish lines have been here for quite a while. In a few cases my direct, Scottish ancestors and their siblings were raised by Native mothers and foster-mothers, who married a great-something grandfather after his first wife died. In some of those cases it is not clear which wife was the birth mother of the children, so, not clear which type of ancestor they are - foster or blood. But whether or not I carry these ancestors' blood, I also owe my life to these NDN women because they became part of our family and raised my blood ancestors as their own. Some of these women were Powhatan, and others were most likely Cherokee and Choctaw.<br /><br />I am glad to have finally found out more about these particular ancestors, and am sorry their lives were so hard that they had to assimilate and hide who they were from their descendants. I am glad that I can do my part in reconnecting my family with this part of our history, and with finding relatives now.<br /><br />Aside from now knowing a lot more about my specific ancestors, like that the war leader Gwenliian of Wales is my 25th and 30th great grandmother, and that I have five lines of direct descent from Brian Boru (!), and now having cool stories about what my ancestors have gone through, not much has changed. I haven't done all the lines yet, so I guess some things could still turn up.<br /><br />While it's interesting, it hasn't changed the way I was raised. Culturally, I'm still a Diasporan Gael. Just with more diverse ancestry than I knew.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-41552781529770692852014-12-26T16:50:44.137-05:002014-12-26T16:50:44.137-05:00Some followup on my genealogy and ancestry, update...Some followup on my genealogy and ancestry, updated twice after multiple waves of research:<br /><br />Part one of two:<br /><br />Last year one of my Cherokee sisters* and I started looking into ye olde genealogy. At first we found what most people who claim Cherokee heritage find: that my ancestors who I assumed were Native are actually recorded as white in the censuses. I also found pictures of them and they look as Scottish and Irish as their names.<br /><br />While I thought I was prepared for this result, this turned out to be much more disorienting than I expected. It was even rather shocking, made me a bit depressed, and forced me to reevaluate my self-image. I mean, I know I'm white. But I didn't think I was <b>that</b> white.<br /><br />Turns out I was looking at the wrong ancestors.<br /><br />It wasn't the Rosses at all, but other lines entirely where we found my Indigenous ancestors. I had just assumed, given the historical relationship between the Rosses and the Eastern Band Cherokee.<br /><br />It wasn't until last week that things changed. We got more data, and have now narrowed down which of the ancestors were or weren't Indigenous (or were or weren't my ancestors).<br /><br />Some of what we found is exactly what I expected: my blood ancestors are most likely Cherokee or Choctaw, which we knew, but also maybe some distant Powhatan, plus some from the Plains and even the Southwest (I had no idea about the latter). As is obvious, just based on recent history and what I look like, I have very low BQ. About 3/128. It would be enough to enroll with CNO, but none of my known ancestors are on the rolls.<br /><br />The research has also confirmed that I have a number of ancestors whose siblings married into the Choctaw Nation, and some Plains nations, and their descendants are my cousins.<br /><br />Connecting with relatives has also turned up photos of a number of darker-skinned recent ancestors, who are mysteriously listed as white on the census. This has led down some false leads as well as opened doors to areas I never considered.<br /><br />(Continued in next comment)<br />__________________________________<br /><br />*"NDN way." Ooooooold way. As in, we're still looking into whether or not we're related by blood, but in the meantime we've just gone ahead and adopted each other.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-12723063168974455942014-08-16T14:43:59.402-04:002014-08-16T14:43:59.402-04:00And here's a new twist on the "I know my ...And here's a new twist on the "I know my own roots" issue. We've now seen white pretendians list, in exhaustive detail, all the different sorts of white people they're descended from. On and on, indicating they have most definitely done their genealogy (or had it done for them). Then comes the kicker: They are pretendians anyway. <br /><br /><b>Knowing</b> where your ancestors are from doesn't automatically mean you are familiar with, or preserving, their <b>culture</b>. And being able to list a whole bunch of white people has absolutely no bearing on anyone's "right" to steal ceremonies or participate in identity theft. <br /><br />Another lovely phenomenon: The woman who "must" be Native. Goes like this, "All my American ancestors are white, going back to the 1600s. But look, here, there's a woman with no last name. They must be.... Hiding the fact she was an INDIAN!!!!" <br /><br />Seriously. I've seen this happen. Genealogists are laughing right now. The pretendian who said this, who is now presenting themselves as an Indigenous representative to other white people, is lucky she could trace her ancestors back that far. Because with patrilineal naming, it's inevitable that you will wind up with female ancestors who are only recorded as "Mary (husband's last name)" or "Sarah (unknown)." That's what happened when women weren't counted as individuals in the censuses. It is zero indication that some woman with an unknown surname, living among white people, with all her children listed as white, was anything other than... white. <br /><br />Get a grip people, we're smarter than that.Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-49557105417356041682014-07-22T13:44:12.085-04:002014-07-22T13:44:12.085-04:00Via Native News Online: “Grandmother of the Batter...Via Native News Online: <a href="http://nativenewsonline.net/currents/grandmother-battered-womens-movement-tillie-black-bear-walks/" rel="nofollow">“Grandmother of the Battered Women’s Movement” Tillie Black Bear Walks On</a>Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-70436461421619068912014-01-11T03:55:25.514-05:002014-01-11T03:55:25.514-05:00Just watch this.... placing a blanket at her feet ...Just watch this.... placing a blanket at her feet like she is royalty..... what happened to touching the earth like I have been taught!!! Love when white woman from town is claiming WE are all one tribe.....<br /> WRONG!! Hence the word "tribe"....WE are all one "people and we are many Tribes.... Clans ect...... I do love people of culture and love the fact that the human race has MANY cultures they can call their own and live by what was taught to them as young people and carry on beautiful traditions.... <br /><br /> Tribe or Individuality does not mean to hate all other cultures of people, Native Americans and so many other peoples in this world teach there families their customs for having their roots embedded into them with grace and respect, amongst many other teachings that another culture may not practice!!!!......<br />Our individuality as tribes, clans peoples and the the other many cultures that exist should not be infringed upon and put into a melting pot to loose our identity as the people we were, are and will be!!! If you practice your heritage be true to thy self....Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10617133837075160789noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13208539.post-85878270240756766202013-09-06T17:07:35.288-04:002013-09-06T17:07:35.288-04:00Go raibh maith agat, a Fhionnchú!Go raibh maith agat, a Fhionnchú!Kathryn Price NicDhànahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10293181815707001620noreply@blogger.com