I wonder how many people around here
are like me?
I count among the 7 or 8 nationalities
in my ethnic makeup Irish and Finnish. If I were a drinking person,
I guess that might mean that I wouldn’t be sober through the end of
the week, what with having to celebrate St. Urho’s Day and St.
Patrick’s Day back to back. But since I’m not a drinking person,
I just have to make sure I wear purple today (a color in which I look
good) and green tomorrow (a color that, to be honest, doesn’t
flatter me as much as I’d like).
Oh, the problems we have in life,
right?
Anyway, like I said, I’ve been
wondering how many people in the U.P. have both Ireland and Finland
as part of their heritage? I mean, I know there was a large Irish
population in Marquette, especially in south Marquette (which is
where I get mine), and I think everyone knows that one or two (or
perhaps a few more) people emigrated to the U.P. from Finland a
century or so ago. Over the years, I’ve met a people with a lot of
Finnish in their blood, and I’ve met a lot of people with Irish in
their blood, but I don’t know how many have both. And that makes
me curious.
(Of course, I’d also be curious to
know how many people also have English, Scotch, German, French,
Swedish, and whatever else I’m made up of in their blood, as well!)
Now, despite my curiosity, I have to
say that I’m be a very poor excuse for someone curious about his
ethnic background. I don’t know any Finnish or any Gaelic; I don’t
eat foods from either country, and I certainly don’t have any tales
of the family back in the “old country”. For many years, I
didn’t even give a second thought to anything in my background.
After all, I was just “me”.
But since I’ve started traveling some
of my “old” countries (and, I’m guessing, since I’ve started
to get older, despite my best efforts to stop it) I’ve started to
wonder a little about all the little ingredients that were part of
the recipe that became “me”. I find parts of it kind of
interesting, too. I’m both Irish and Swedish because a young Irish
man married a young Swedish woman over 100 years ago at a time when
young Irish men didn’t usually marry young Swedish women. One of
the ancestors of that young Irish man may have been a poet back in
the old country. And one of my long-ago English ancestors had
children who were circus clowns or who ran away to join an elephant
act in a carnival.
See? It explains a lot about me, doesn’t it?
So if you happen to be one of those
people who has Finnish blood or Irish blood (or, if you’re lucky,
both) enjoy the next few days. Wear purple and/or green. Try not to
drink too much. And if you do, remember--drink lots of water before
you go to bed that night. Lots and lots of water.
At least that’s what someone once
told me. . .
Anyway, happy St. Urho-Patrick Daze.
And if you have more than just Finnish or Irish in your background,
enjoy celebrating the days devoted to those countries, as well!!!
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