The Institutional Affiliation
No matter how far life takes us, our heart still belongs to the place where we were born and raised. Times and events force people to move, change continents and countries, find a new home and, therewith, change traditions, lifestyle, themselvesNevertheless, each and every person tries to remember and find out their roots and origin. How you ever tried to imagine your family couple of hundred years ago? How would it look like, what language would you speak, what country would you live in, how would you celebrate holidays, and so on? Have you ever thought about how all of these relates to the ethnicity which, according to McGoldrick, refers to “a group's commonality of ancestry and history, through which people have evolved shared values and customs over the centuries” (2006). Nowadays America, Canada, and other big countries became residences for people with various backgrounds and origin. Traditions and cultures mixed creating an environment comfortable for everyone. Nevertheless, it is important to examine ones own values, attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors and awareness of how these connect to ethnicity and culture.
QUESTION 1 I consider my country of origin, language, religion, etc. to be an important part of my life today. I was born in Canada and live here for thirty-three years now. However, my parents are not originally from here. Back in the late sixties, they moved to Canada from Europe, in particular, Portugal looking for another life. For a better one, for a life that would provide their children and grandchildren with a sense of confidence, protection, and hope for better future. Portugal hasn't been always a prosperous and wealthy country it is now. More than a half of the century ago, Europe was in an economic and political crisis. The situation in many countries was uncertain, people had no jobs or jobs that did not pay well. Many of them wanted to protect families from poverty and misery by moving in an unknown direction. Joenia Batiste de Carvahlo, the first female lawyer in the territory of Brazil who was originally from India, once said: “Why have we as a people been able to continue to exist? Because we know where we come from. By having roots, you can see the direction in which you want to go” (2004). I agree with the author. Even though I clearly see the direction I am following, I still treasure the history of my family, my roots, origin, and their influence on my ethnicity. As far as I know my grand and my great grandparents came from the same continent my parents do. They are all Europeans and me, therefore, is a first Canadian in the generation. I speak three languages: English, Portuguese, and a little bit French. My parents wanted to me to know as much as possible about their native culture so I went to a night school where I enjoyed learning Portuguese.
I and my family consider ourselves Christians same as most of the population in Canada. However, the religion handed down from the previous generations since my parents and grandparents were Christians too. Most people in Portugal profess Christianity and this is an example of my origin influencing the ethnicity. As I have already mentioned before, my parents were forced to move to another country looking for a better life. They lived in the city
QUESTION 2
called Aveiro when on its territory, as well as on the rest territory of the country lasted military confrontation for the preservation of democracy. My mother and father made a difficult decision to leave their home and go to an unknown destination hoping to find peace and quiet life.
My parents are the ones who influenced my sense of ethnic identity. They paid a lot of attention to the culture, tried to follow traditions and to preserve them. The main value which they taught me to treasure is the family. Starting from my childhood and till now, family has always been an important part of my life. I try to spend a lot of time with my children, to share the most significant moments with them, to make them realize that family is the place where they will find love, care, and protection. My mother always told it to me and my older sister. We knew that no matter what, there is a place where we will be safe and that place is called family. Family value is culturally based since in Europe, in particular, Portugal, people value family ties the most. They put it above friendship, social status, community, work, or anything else.
My sense of ethnic identity is largely influenced by my mother's desire to remember home, in particular, by following Portuguese traditions and celebrations. I remember my mom coocking dishes that were not typical for Canadian culture. I enjoyed rare treats which my mother prepared for Christmas, Easter, sometimes Birthdays or other special occasions. Canadian and Portuguese recipes differ a lot. I like both cuisines and try to diversify my family food traditions by remembering interesting recipes my mom told me. For Christmas, for example, we often have Bacalhau which is a fish dish. Fish, as well as boiled potatoes and cabbage, are the main meals of Christmas table in the country my parents come from. Octopus is a typical Christmas treat in our family. The tradition comes directly from Portugal since people there eat it a lot. Their cuisine is also characterized by variety of sweets and
QUESTION 3, 4 5
desserts. The main sweet dish for Christmas is Bolo Rei or King Pie. It is called so because of the unique and rich taste. Tasty pie with almonds, candied fruits and nuts is something everyone looks forward to having on Christmas in our family as well.
Routinely, my family cooks a lot of fish and vegetables. Besides of traditional meals such as fried beef, roast turkey, meat pie, ham pot-roast, fries, etc. popular in Canada, we like fresh and cooked vegetables, cod, sardines, chicken. A very interesting tradition which came to my family from abroad is serving vegetable whole. Habits that came to my family kitchen from the country of my family's origin gradually fade, however, I still notice that some of them rooted so deeply they are likely to survive through further generations.
According to the Statistical Portal, the largest ethnic groups in Canada (besides Canadian) are English, French, German, Italian, Irish, Scottish, Chinese, Dutch, Ukrainian (2011). Portuguese ethnicity is not so common. Nevertheless, people in my community are aware of my roots and origin. They respond to the fact positively and I cannot recall any accidents of hearing negative comments about people from my ethnic background. In the opposite, people often wonder about the difference between both traditions, culture, and morals. They wonder about celebrations in our family, borrow recipes and demonstrate tourist interest in the country.
Since my family is originally from another country I do feel that my ethnicity has been influenced by it. I am also interested in another ethnic groups and often contrast them the one I belong to. Representatives of the largest ethnic origins in Canada are quite similar to Portuguese since most of them are European. English, French, German, Italian or any other ethnicity from the same continent share a common history, religion, and values. Nevertheless, there are a few groups which I am familiar with and which interest me the most. In particular, Ukrainian. The following self-reported origin of Canadian is unique because it comes from
QUESTION 4 6
Europe as well, however, has a little in common with English, French or German. I met many people who are originally from Ukraine and must admit that they refer to their roots in their everyday life a lot. They treasure and remember traditions of their native country more than others. Perhaps, because their cultural heritage is truly unique. As I did a research on the following ethnic group, I revealed a lot of facts that surprised me and would like to share them with the reader.
First of all, this culture survived difficult struggle for its existence. The nation has always been under someone's authority and became independent less than twenty-five years ago. What's more, other countries, in particular, Russian Empire tried to destroy the culture by prohibiting Ukrainian language, schools, etc. Nevertheless, people retained the heritage and passed it to their posterity. People who consider themselves members of Ukrainian ethnicity are rich in traditions. They celebrate a lot of holidays during the year, in particular, those that are popular in the country of their ancestors. Christmas and Easter are the main holidays but fall on other dates. Besides December 25th, many people also celebrate Christmas on January 7th which is when a few countries in Eastern Europe, including Ukraine, celebrate Christmas. Some friends of mine who live in Mississauga and identify
them as members of Ukrainian ethnic group, follow twelve meals Christmas Eve tradition. It
means that they cook exactly twelve meals and put all of them on the table. They necessarily go to church in the morning and visit each other homes in the evening, greeting friends and relatives by singing carols. On Easter people go to church, they bake sweet Easter bread called paska and take it to church with them. People of the following ethnic group have their own Easter symbol. It is not a bunny but a little hen and a painted egg called pysanka. This particular tradition influenced the ethnicity of many Canadians a lot. Some of them still follow the custom of painting eggs and exchanging them on Easter.
QUESTION 4, 5 7 Another tradition that had the influence on the ethnicity of many people whose roots go back to Ukraine is an embroidery. In Ukraine, it is an indispensable part of everyday life and can be used everywhere, in particular, in design and decoration. I have seen people wearing clothes with elements of embroidery myself ad consider it to be a direct effect of the traditions of the ethnic group. Same as representatives of my ethnic background, members of the above-mentioned ethnicity value their family ties a lot. Children often continue to live with their parents even after they get married, they communicate with other relatives a lot, celebrate holidays together, visit each other, appreciate advice and opinion of their affinity. Members of Ukrainian ethnic group are very hospitable, they can visit each other without invitation are always glad to have guests in their house. This particular value attracts me to the ethnic group. Its members are willing to help a person even if they do not know it well, to share or borrow anything, to offer help if needed. The group is characterized by rather informal communication style between its members, both at work and outside.
I believe that my life could have been different if I was from that culture. People who come from Ukraine and other Slavic countries are rather modest and humble. They rarely move and prefer to put up with hardship than to go in an unknown direction. I assume that if I
was from that culture I wouldn't have had much chance to actually move to Canada or another country. Most probably, I would have been a resident of one city or region for my whole life, worked hard and did my best to give my family a decent life. Even today, the economic and political situation in Ukraine is much worse than it was in Portugal when my parents left it. Nevertheless, people rarely migrate to another continent. They go to Poland and other European countries to work but still come back and build their life at home. People from other cultures, in particular, Portuguese, are more mobile and open to adventures.
On the one hand, I adore people who identify themselves as members of Ukrainian
QUESTION 5 8
ethnic group. They are hospitable, spiritually rich, many of them are very talented, good at dancing, singing, arts, etc. On the other hand, I am glad that I belong to Portuguese ethnic group which shaped my lifestyle and made me the person I am today. What's more, courage and spirit of my parents brought me here, to the country I like and belong. At the same time, my parents saved traditions and customs that remind me of our family's roots and complement my inner world.
CONCLUSION
The fact that I belong to the ethnic group made me loyal to everyone despite any belonging to country, culture, or religion. The story of my family taught me not to make hasty decisions or assumptions. It helped me to realize that everyone is different. Not only in the appearance but in many other ways. Most people expect others to act, talk, and behave in a certain way. We often wonder if someone acts absolutely different from how we think we would have acted. My ethnicity made me closer to other people, open and more understanding. I consider it to be an advantage which helps me to accept the actively growing diversity of problems and personalities.
I met a few people who had difficulties communicating with people with different backgrounds. I even saw a very good specialist who, despite his experience, got puzzled every time he had to deal with a person from a different ethnic origin. He tried to learn about as many ethnic groups as possible, spent hours searching, making parallels, comparing and contrasting, coming to his own useless conclusions, trying to learn something which doesn't belong to science. I met a lot of people from my and other ethnic groups during my life. When I was a child, my parents' friends use to come over to our house for a weekend, mu night school professor was from Pakistan, many people I went to school and college with came from European and Chinese ethnic groups. Step by step, as I turn pages of my life, I meet more and more people who surprise me with their unique backgrounds.
Even though “no therapist can become an expert on all ethnic groups”, I think I found a way to do it and, the secret is – no secret (McGoldrick, 2006). We must examine ones own values, attitudes, assumptions, and behaviors and awareness of how these connect to ethnicity and culture. As soon as we do it and let ourselves be “open to cultural variability and to the relativity of our values”, we became wise enough to break stereotypes, move forward and see the “worlds of others” (McGoldrick, 2006).
Reference page
Batiste de Carvahlo, J. (2004, November 13). Using Courts in Brazil to Strengthen an Indian Identity. New York Times. Retrieved February 12, 2016
Gulamov, S. (2014, May 7). Understanding National Identity: Ukraine's Ethnic Diversity. EastWest.ngo. Retrieved February 10, 2016
Krasnozhon, L. (2014, March 13). The Ethnicities of Ukraine are United. Forbes. Retrieved February 10, 2016
McGoldrick, M., Giordano, J., & Garcia-Preto N. (2006). Ethnicity and Family Therapy. In Guilford Publications. New York, NY: Guilford Publications.
The Statistical Portal. (2011). Canada: Ethnic groups 2011. The Statistical Portal official website. Retrieved February 11, 2016
