Learning to honor my heritage

Well, I didn't meet my goal to finish that book. I'll have to work harder. However I didn't want to just wait until I had read the book to update this blog. I've been meaning to do some variation on here for some time. The best I can do for today is talking about something I'm still trying to learn how to do: honor my heritage. 

Some time ago, I was visiting a museum close to where I currently reside. There I found something that talked about how a person honored their heritage by participating in the Scottish Dance. That has helped them to feel closer to their ancestors. That reminded me of a video I saw at the Family History Library in Salt Lake City, about a boy who learned they were of Scottish descent and decided he wanted to learn to play the bagpipes. It took him a while, but he refused to quit, and his actions led to his sisters learning to do Scottish dances as well. 

Sadly I've known for a while that I was of Scottish descent, but I've never really done anything to honor that heritage. I didn't learn to play the bagpipes, I haven't learned any dances. I'm even willing to try haggis, but I still haven't. If only heritage honoring is a class you can take at school, or a college elective. 

Right now the only way I've been able to do anything to honor my heritage was to start doing family history and genealogy. Yet there are times when I fear that's all I'll ever be able to do, and I want to be able to do more to honor my heritage. Sadly every time I ask nobody seems to have any suggestions other than just adding sources to RootsMagic, FamilySearch, and Ancestry. 

So as a result I've been trying to figure out on my own how I could honor my heritage. I love good stories so I've been trying to read up on the books and tales told in the countries my ancestors came from. Sadly I haven't done a lot of Scottish stories, but I have been looking at lots of stories from England. That country has a rich heritage of storytelling. Many of the classic stories come from England, but I already covered how in a previous blog post. I have also been buying DVDs that have stories that are somehow connected to England and Scotland. I just hope I'm going about it the right way. 

Another way I'm trying to honor my heritage is with the world building I'm doing for my books. I've been looking at the legends and stories of the places where my ancestors lived to get ideas as to how to build up the world of Dymos. I've gotten a lot of magical and prehistoric creatures for those places, but I'm also trying to build the culture similarly. I haven't been able to find any good books that could help with that, but I'm going to keep looking. Hopefully as time goes on I'll be able to find more ways I can honor my heritage. Maybe I should practice making Shepherd's Pie more. 

Review: The World of Ice & Fire gives a vast history to a vast world

Hi everyone. I got another book read that I am going to review today. After weeks of reading, I finally finished The World of Ice & Fire.

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Story:
Unlike most stuff I read this doesn't really have a narrative to tell. However it is still interesting to read what is essentially supposed to be a history book for George R. R. Martin's world of Westeros. Going back to a time before men, Martin tells the history of Westeros and several other lands that serve as the setting for his epic fantasy series. This book also recounts the history of each of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, from the time when they were first settled up to the end of the Mad King's reign. We also get to learn of the lands beyond Westeros, and get some of their history as well. The addition of the illustrations helps to create the image of the events of Westerosi history for those who are getting into the books.
I am greatly impressed with the amount of imagination and creativity Martin put into his fantasy world. There are some things about parts of Martin's world that I don't like, but I understand the point that this is a different world. People will have customs and traditions that I won't agree with, just like people in ancient times didn't agree with some of the ideas that other nations had. Since this is the history of Westeros it's no different than if a person were reading about the Pharaohs of Egypt or how people lived in Medieval Europe. Reading this made me reflect on the history I've been creating for my books, and showed me that I probably still have a lot of work to do to make things fun for readers. Probably not for younger readers, but adults who love fantasy and/or are fans of Martin's books or the show Game of Thrones will want to add this book to their library.
Caution:
Incest is part of a family's history, though the effects of such a way of life are shown later in their history. Various kingdoms and people are mentioned as taking people as salt wives and concubines. There is a picture that, although faint and not clear, depicts the worship of a love goddess on an island. Some illustrations show cleavage and some outfits are reminiscent of Princess Leia's metal bikini. Wars and battles are listed.
Lessons:
We have such a vast world with complicated histories and cultures. We should seek to learn as much about the histories and cultures of another nations as well as our own.

Review of Beautiful Scars

I know I said I was going to do a certain blog post. However I finally finished something I've been meaning to do so I'm going to do a review on that now. This review is for the book Beautiful Scars.

This book gives the life story of Tate Publishing author Patti Chiappa. She speaks of her childhood and the fun times she had with her family growing up. However as life would have it it didn't last. There came a time where she went through hard times by other people. From what I've read to call them bullies would be the understatement of the millennium. However through the years Patti received help from family and friends to get through her hard times and she was rewarded with wonderful blessings as she turned to The Lord for help and guidance in her life.

I really sympathized with Patti as I read her story. I know what it's like to be bullied and let me tell you if you've never been bullied it's not something you want to experience. However the things she went through made my experiences seem like little more than an argument on the playground. The depression that came as a result of the inhumane treatments she was given is also something that came to me because of low self esteem. Patti's message in the book not only shows us where we can look for comfort, but the dangers of putting others down and making them feel like something less than human. If you need to find a book to teach others about the dangers of bullying look no further because this is definitely one to use. 

I also enjoyed how she included the story of her family in this book. I've gotten into doing family history and genealogy and one of the things I've been wanting to know is what my ancestors were like. I want to know more about what they liked, what they didn't like, how they interacted with each other, what some of their dreams and fears were, etc. Here Patti gave answers to several of those questions about her own family that I know descendants will love and thank her for. 

Results: Five out of Five Stars

The wait is over.

Thank you all for your patience with this post.

Okay, now it's time for me to update this blog. You're all probably wondering where I've been for the last two years. Well, here's the answer: I've been serving as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I've been serving in the Family and Church History Headquarters mission of the church. It's there where we help people to do their family history. I served there helping to correct information in Family Tree.

What is Family Tree? Family Tree is this website where you can work on finding records for your ancestors. It allows you to do either a pedigree or fan chart view of your family tree. You can also post photos and stories of your ancestors on there. And here's the part many should like:

It's all free!

Anyway, so I've gotten to become interested in doing Family History and learning about my ancestors. I learned that many of my English ancestors were blacksmiths. I've also learned of some of the trials and challenges my ancestors had to go through. It's all so fascinating about what you can find in your family history. If you'd like to try out Family Tree go to www.familysearch.org and click on Family Tree at the top. You will have to register before you can use it. It's a service that is available to all people. I would highly recommend using it. I know my life has been better since getting into my family history.