How My Irish Heritage Has Affected My Life

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I have many nationalities, among these are Irish. Scottish, german, Belgian, Norwegian, Swedish and Native American. History is important, especially when it comes to your family. If we ask a family member about our roots, we can learn about ourselves. By asking many of my family members, I have learned many things about me and my family. To start with, Irish people are known for their sense of humor, their hardworking, loyal, love tall tales, and especially the love of their family. There are also many stereotypical characteristics that we are given such as: all Irish people are drunks (now I can not totally argue with that because most Irish people do enjoy their alcohol), we all have red hair, that the way we speak is so beautiful and poetic …show more content…

It has affected my speech as well as my looks. As a child and still today, I have carried a light Northern Irish accent with me. This affects your speech because in the Northern Irish accent a word like “the” or “though” will have the “th” sound become a “d” sound. If you have a Southern Irish accent you tend to stretch out your vowels like “o” or “a”. Regardless if you have more of the Northern Irish or Southern Irish accent, there are different parts of country that have been influenced by part of the United Kingdom. My heritage has also had a big part in my looks. I have green eyes, and people who have green eyes are typically from a European descent. Most Irish people have blue eyes, but a majority of them have green. Irish people typically have darker blonde, brown, or black as well as red hair. I have dark blonde hair with a good amount of red as well. I am also fair skinned and have freckles across my nose and cheeks, like most common Irish …show more content…

Today St. Patrick’s day celebrates the Irish culture with dancing, parades, wearing tons of green and all kinds of special foods.Although originally, it was a day in which was held as an important religious day to celebrate the teachings of St.Patrick. As he is also the Patron Saint of Ireland. St. Patrick's day was also a big celebration in our family, along with this holiday was my grandpa's birthday. There is a ton of interesting things I have learned about the Irish parts of my roots. For example, in 1845 my Great-great-great grandmother, Anna Drum, was 13 years old when she was a stowaway on a ship to the United States from Ireland. This was during the Potato Famine or as some people would call it the “Great Potato Famine.”. The Potato Famine, was caused by a fungal disease in potatoes, and potatoes being Ireland’s main source of food caused a major problems for the natives. For the first year, there was not a significant on the island but the year following wiped out all of the potatoes crops. The fungal disease started to spread and get worse making the already existing problem

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