Untangled Roots
Louisiana Roots
By Shanna
“Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.
Jeremiah 6:16
In today’s world there is a disconnect with tradition, holidays like Thanksgiving is less about family and more about sales. We are losing our roots and heritage.
Around the world, in most cultures, ancestors are honored, it is a part of their heritage. America has sadly lost this, perhaps the trend of ancestry dna test will change this. Let’s not forget our roots and honor those before us.
My journey started innocently with a “fun” DNA ancestry test, after my friend had done one. Little did I know the adventure I was about to embark on. I was born in New Orleans Louisiana, to which I have a deep love for. It is my souls true home. What I was to soon uncover explains this deep connection, far more than I would have ever imagined. It took two long months before receiving my results. I had no idea this was about to change my life.
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Marcus Garvey
As I looked through my DNA results, I quickly discovered that my race wasn't what I had thought.
My Dad’s family was Czechoslovakian so his migration and results were easy to follow, no surprises there.
However on my moms side, generation after generation we were from Louisiana. I was told my whole life, we were French and Italian. Yet, one would perhaps assume that more than this was a great possibility, so I was surprised, but not shocked.
I was born in New Orleans, La, my parents met on a Riverboat. My love for New Orleans runs as deep as the river I’ve always said I owe my life to. I love everything about it, from the food, the music, the history, traditions and even the humidity! (Ya, you heard me right!)
Turns out my roots however, ran far deeper than I knew in the Deep South. My ancestors are from the Louisiana Cajuns and French Creoles, and this came with new large extended family. I was matched with over 900 validated DNA relatives, I had never heard of, and most of them had the same French Creole last names.
This was a lot to take in, however this was only the beginning of a very long journey, one that was intense, yet extremely healing.
With this news and with much curiosity, I was lead to explore my family tree and ancestry. However it this journey could’ve end med there… I hit a dead end almost immediately into putting together my family tree and there it was.
After weeks and hours of investigating, I would uncover an 80 year old secret that would not only effect my life but my entire rather large family.
I’d learned that those before me had changed their names, to hide their race, “passing as white”. I had never felt more confused.
Up until that moment the past had never been that much of importance to me.
I have always been very spiritual, my spiritual connection is my comfort zone, confidently knowing my soul entered this body.
Now questioning what made this body? Who do I give thanks to this earthly vehicle, this human shell? My DNA, my mother, father, and those before them, my ancestors. Who are they, what were their story, what did they have to go through that I am here today? What strengths and weaknesses have been passed down, what traits, characteristics, sufferings that may effect who I am today? How their battles and triumphs effect my genetic code? Will this effect my descendants?
These are questions that kept me up at night and I needed to know, no matter how the knowing came... I needed to know.
I set out on a quest, a pilgrimage to try to understand what hardships led to this denial of a cultural, heritage, race and I needed to know why? I wasn’t angry but more less felt lost, and very determined to find the truth.
I remember people saying “it doesn’t change who you are,” yet I felt that in so many ways it did. It wasn’t the race part that bothered me, it was the history of an entire culture stolen and forgotten.
I came to the realization that had one of my ancestors choose a different path, I may not even exist.
I wanted to empathize with the choices and decisions that were made. I was faced with having to accept and understand that my ancestors were born in a time period that I find it hard to relate to.
Their unknown challenges especially in the deep south were far from anything I had ever experienced in my life. With new eyes I now had an understanding that it was because of this, whether fate, forced or by choice, that I nor my family know such hate today.
My first thoughts an assumptions, were ignorant, based naively on judgements, I had been conditioned to. I had to educate myself and discover the ugly truths, to genuinely capture the true pain, fear and suffering of this unfamiliar time and place to connect and truly understand. I went through a roller coaster of emotions, this is not for the faint hearted. Our past generations have faced and overcome so much for us to be where we are today.
I believe they choose me, I was awakeand ready to receive. They were calling me to heal generations. To honor and acknowledge their victories and well as their struggles, this brings meaning and purpose to all they endured and passes this knowledge and strength from one generation to the next.
This knowing did not come easy, but through this I have experienced a sense of grounding and stability, an awaking of the Root chakra, a sense of belonging and a oneness with the earth. fie the first time I felt a deep earthly connection to the land from which I came from. This discovery came with so much wisdom and knowledge and has forever changed me.
My ancestors have spoken and I have discovered a part of me I never knew existed, vital to my self realization and spiritual growth. Finding a voice within myself that had be quiet for generations. Awakening to an appreciation of freedom, that I'd never truly understood. Learning to forgive and yet not to forget that through all both good and bad that I've come to know of my ancestors, I now have a better understanding of who I am today.
This has been the deepest healing that I have experienced in my life. I feel proud, honored and blessed to a chapter of the many stories that make up a beautiful family legacy, I am but a small part of a greater story, one that will continue to grow, stronger, wiser and better than the last. I had been on my personal journey of healing, and I was open, balanced, ready to receive and accept. But true healing within had to take place prior to this work or I would have not been able to truly grasp the importance and meaning of this deep spiritual healing.
Below is a link to listen to my mini series Untangled Roots on my ancestry.
If you have any questions about my journey, I’d love to share, also I am now offering the CLEAR workshop Ancestry Healing Guidance.
*If you’re searching for Louisiana ancestry, I have many references and recommendations.
