St Patrick's Day is right around the corner.
We didn't grow up with a lot of traditions
on St. Patrick's Day.
Mom would make corned
beef and cabbage, and my parents would tease
about wearing green and who had Irish blood
and who didn't, but that was about it.
So my cabbage plates, which I just adore, are
perfect for my St Patrick's Day table,
as we pull out all the stop for a lush
green table like Ireland itself.
I have been into geneology for years and years
now, and three years ago I took Ancestry.com's
DNA testing. It shows I have 12 percent Irish
blood. That is kind of fun to know.
Hubby and I decided to take the DNA testing
because when our children were little the
pediatrician asked us if we had Mongolian
or Asian blood, as the children had what is
known as a Mongolian spot - a bluish triangle
at the base of their spine. We wondered whose
side of the family it came from. Just two weeks
after we had sent off our test, while having a
family dinner, two nieces on my side of the
family said they had the Mongolian spot, so
we now knew whose side it came from.
As it turned out, I have trace amounts of 4%
from Western Asia - so not a ton of information
regarding that bloodline.
Just some shamrock beads make up our napkin ring on
the St. Patrick's Day table. Surprise, surprise, hubby is 32 %
Irish, so this table is even more meaningful for him.
For those of you who have seen the Ancestry DNA
testing commercials - a man talks about his German
heritage, how he wore lederhosen and took German
dance lessons, then found out he had no German blood.
Well, hubby's DNA testing came back the same. His
dad had always said they had a lot of German blood,
but the DNA testing showed absolutely no German
blood. When we told his dad, he was so upset and
insisted that the Shoemaker's came from Germany.
After looking it up, we found that surname is very
common in other parts of Europe. It could also come
from someone who migrated to Germany. It was fun
to see that he also had Italian/Greek blood, Finnish, and
roots from the Iberian Peninsula. Those were all less
than 5% on his side.
No wonder we love so many international foods!
So although we don't necessarily have days to
celebrate those nationalities, it is fun to pull
out the green to celebrate our Irish heritage and
to know exactly how Irish we are.
Traveling to Ireland is certainly on my
bucket list.
I will be posting this with
