Day 76 - seeing green

 Today is the 6th say of the 11th week, the 17th day of the 3rd month, the 76th day of 2023, and:

• Campfire Day
• Corned Beef and Cabbage Day
• Doctor - Patient Trust Day
• National Preschool Teachers Appreciation Day
• Red Nose Day
• St Patrick's Day
• Submarine Day
• Transit Driver Appreciation Day [usually the 18th unless that day is a weekend day] - set to commemorate the first bus line, opened in Paris in 1662
• World Sleep Day

Quote of the day:
“Wherever they went the Irish brought with them their books, many unseen in Europe for centuries and tied to their waists as signs of triumph, just as Irish heroes had once tied to their waists their enemies' heads. Where they went they brought their love of learning and their skills in bookmaking. In the bays and valleys of their exile, they reestablished literacy and breathed new life into the exhausted literary culture of Europe. And that is how the Irish saved civilization.” 

~ Thomas Cahill, American scholar and writer, known for his seven-volume history of Western civilization 

Who first made the statement that everyone is Irish on St Patrick's Day?  And why?  Because of the parades, which started in America in St Augustine in 1601?   I mean, who doesn't like a parade?  Perhaps it was because the Irish saved western civilization? 

Be that as it may, my kids and I can point back our family history, most of it passed on in passing.  Testing that oral history,  I invested in the genetic testing some years ago.  It's been interesting as they update it regularly, running new tests.  It is surprising to me that I don't have more Irish in the mix as my maternal grandfather's grandmother came over from Ireland as a girl back in the days of the potato famine.   The Welsh is no surprise since my paternal grandmother's father was a Welsh coal miner who settled in Frostburg, Maryland.  Having a large percentage of English and northwestern Europe wasn't much of a surprise given the Anglo-Saxon history and the number of Viking raids on the Celtics.  

It was a bit of a surprise the results did not show any trace of Native American heritage.  My paternal grandfather actually looked like the classic photo of a Native American, and during the summertime, was often told off for using the "white" toilets.  His people came from the Eastern Shore of Maryland and a long line of hunters/fisherman who's origins were lost back in the murky colonial beginnings, and the family has always maintained at least one man married an "Indian princess".  There are no records, of course.  When I first got the results, the caveat was that Native American DNA had not been processed enough to determine their populations, and those with trace elements were often classified as Russian or Mongolian - and indeed, through the years, that little 2% has been relabeled several times. AND just because I do not show a particular ethnicity, doesn't mean my parents didn't have it.  

Complicating the analysis is the fact that we are actually talking about two different things - ethnicity and genetics.  The latter can be used to show how you are related to whom and to what degree.  The former, like race, are social constructs that have a great deal more to do with perceptions rather than facts.  Does it make me more Irish that I was born with red hair?  It certainly seemed to, and yet I'm pretty sure the red hair and freckles came from my father's side of the family [which is Welsh while my mother's maiden name was Riley] because there are whole families of 2nd and 3rd cousins that have that exact same coloring.  Nevertheless, I wear green every St Patrick's day, supping on corned beef and cabbage when possible, altho I am not a fan of any beer much less green