I have two tattoos (my father prefers to say it's only one—inked at two different times). My first tattoo is of three shamrocks and my second, inked in Ireland, is of an Irish harp. The original shamrock tattoo is centered in the strings of the Irish harp so it does look like a single tattoo.
I chose those symbols as a tribute to my obvious Irish heritage. Just one look in the mirror and there was no question what I was. Heck, when I was traveling in Ireland, I got stopped twice by British tourists for directions. Sure, I knew that I had some Cherokee in me from my dad's side. His grandmother was at least half Cherokee, but that only made me a sixteenth Cherokee and as far as I knew the rest was Irish, with maybe a little English. My family being full of great story tellers was because we were Irish. Our being prone to debate even when in perfect agreement was because we were Irish. We were all great lovers of art and literature and history because we were Irish. This was my hypothesis, not anything my parents remotely suggested or encouraged. To the contrary, really, they had a great fondness for absorbing interesting cultural traditions from wherever we lived or visited so our family "traditions" are rooted from Hawaiian, German, British, Mexican and varied American rituals, but I digress. The point is that I was very sure of my ethnic makeup because of the way I looked. Family names like Harrison, McAnnally and Hardiman helped solidify my assumptions.
I chose those symbols as a tribute to my obvious Irish heritage. Just one look in the mirror and there was no question what I was. Heck, when I was traveling in Ireland, I got stopped twice by British tourists for directions. Sure, I knew that I had some Cherokee in me from my dad's side. His grandmother was at least half Cherokee, but that only made me a sixteenth Cherokee and as far as I knew the rest was Irish, with maybe a little English. My family being full of great story tellers was because we were Irish. Our being prone to debate even when in perfect agreement was because we were Irish. We were all great lovers of art and literature and history because we were Irish. This was my hypothesis, not anything my parents remotely suggested or encouraged. To the contrary, really, they had a great fondness for absorbing interesting cultural traditions from wherever we lived or visited so our family "traditions" are rooted from Hawaiian, German, British, Mexican and varied American rituals, but I digress. The point is that I was very sure of my ethnic makeup because of the way I looked. Family names like Harrison, McAnnally and Hardiman helped solidify my assumptions.
Then I started doing genealogical research. Good bye theory. Technically, I was not wrong about being of Irish descent. But if I choose tattoos based on pedigree, I need to add a thistle, bagpipes and a crown. For the record, it is very unlikely I will get another tattoo. And if I really want to represent my heritage, I should be sporting more Americana. It turns out, while many of my ancestors came from the British Isles, my mother's family tree goes back to the Mayflower and early colonists of Virginia and my father's pedigree includes Cherokee, several generations of Scottish and Irish Americans and, according to census records, a "mulatto" from Puerto Rico. These days when people query me about my ethnicity or heritage, I proudly state, I'm more than 400 years of American made.
For my daughters, I researched my husband's genealogy as well. My husband's side of the family made a claim about his mother's people being descendants of Pocahontas. I thought it might be just lore, but I researched my mother-in-law's ancestry using multiple sources and yielded consistent results. The claim is true. Pocahontas is a famous Native American so, so unlike many Native Americans whose family ties have been lost for a variety of reasons, her legacy is well documented and my daughters are clearly, direct descendants. His father's side of the family has a healthy concentration of Irish and German and, relatively speaking, they are recent arrivals to North America.
For my daughters, I researched my husband's genealogy as well. My husband's side of the family made a claim about his mother's people being descendants of Pocahontas. I thought it might be just lore, but I researched my mother-in-law's ancestry using multiple sources and yielded consistent results. The claim is true. Pocahontas is a famous Native American so, so unlike many Native Americans whose family ties have been lost for a variety of reasons, her legacy is well documented and my daughters are clearly, direct descendants. His father's side of the family has a healthy concentration of Irish and German and, relatively speaking, they are recent arrivals to North America.
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| Our girls |
My girls, like their mother, could as easily be cast as Scottish or Irish by first glance as they could American. But I want them to know that ethnicity and even race cannot really be determined by a glance. I want them to know that bloodline, while interesting, has precious little to do with who you are as a person. I don't want them to spend any time trying to box themselves into an identity associated with something as arbitrary skin color or race or ancestry. I want them to focus on being part of the human race and loving their fellow humans as the uniquely beautiful and remarkable people they are today.
Genealogy is fascinating and heritage based traditions can be really cool but they cannot dictate your character. You are who you decide to be, not who your parents' grandparents were. I want my daughters to understand this and I pray that they grow up into a world that finally understands this, too. And if they ever decide to get a tattoo based on their heritage…frankly, I just hope they don't decide to get any tattoos. But if they do, I hope they choose symbols that reflect how varied that heritage really is, and really small versions of them, placed somewhere discreet.
