Cultural Heritage: Yay or Nay?

[MysticalMama]

I've been trying to formulate an answer to this thread for a while, and I'm just gonna punt and say what I've got: this is not a correct question, and I cannot answer it as phrased.

Ancestry is complicated.

I very much agree with you here. My ancestry is a big jumble of Europeans, besides the fact that a few branches of my family were wanderers, and spent a lot of time entering and being kicked out of various European nations.

I do follow more European spiritual traditions than any other culture, but honestly I think this is because that's what I was exposed to when I started on my Pagan path, and so that is what I feel comfortable with. However, I also take a great deal of my spirituality from the land around me - and I'm surrounded by a prairie that doesn't have any real European equivalent. I have no Native American ancestry, and am loath to copy the practices or beliefs of any tribe. But my family has lived in this area for many generations now, and in honoring the spirits of the land I know I am honoring my ancestors who first came to stake their claim in a strange and unfamiliar place.

So, my ancestry had little to do with my choice of path - but now that I'm on the path I've chosen, I am glad that it's one I can use to connect to my ancestors.

[SatSekhem]

All of you have given me some kickass responses! Keep it up!

[catja6]

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

Nope, not so much. My Dad is a Croatian immigrant, and his family has some German somewhere from waaaaay back in the day, with the only remnant being the family name; there are a lot of mixed feelings about that in the family, because that German name helped keep them alive during WWII, but they identify firmly as Croatian. On my Mom's side, her mother's parents emigrated from Scotland and her father's from England and Wales, and she still has lots of family scattered all over the UK. On my end, I'm really interested in Slavic, Germanic. Celtic, and British paganisms, but I find myself more drawn to the folk traditions and customs than to actual religious practices. Religiously, it was always the Greeks and to a lesser extent the Romans for me; like others have said, that's part of the common cultural heritage of the West.

[Nyktipolos]

I'm just, kind of, taking a poll about the pagans on the site who utilized their cultural heritage to find a path versus those who haven't.

So.

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

Originally, no. I was raised completely ignorant of my native heritage, and I had little interest in most Celtic religions and folklore. My interest was primarily was in Greek religion, with some passing interest in Slavic and Kemetic religions as well.

It hasn't been until the last year that I did a lot of genealogical research and was accepted by my local Metis federation that my spiritual path took a 90 degree turn and what I practice now looks pretty radically different than I thought it would several years ago when I started. I mean for starters, just participating in indigenous practices is an act of protest, of fighting colonialism, racism, and prejudice inflicted upon my people. I didn't have the same reaction at all when I was just your generic neo-Pagan struggling with Wicca.

(That being said, dealing with depression and other issues have resulted in me not doing much of anything because I don't have spoons. I'm pretty much purely in a research phase at the moment.)

[SatSekhem]

(That being said, dealing with depression and other issues have resulted in me not doing much of anything because I don't have spoons. I'm pretty much purely in a research phase at the moment.)

Here's a spoon.

[dreamweaver]

I'm just, kind of, taking a poll about the pagans on the site who utilized their cultural heritage to find a path versus those who haven't.



So.

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

No, not at all. My ancestry is German. I've looked into Germanic/Norse paganism but it somehow didn't click for me. Since I was a child I've always loved Greek mythology which has partly influenced my path. Apart from that I just feel this path is right for me.

[Adrianne Boudreau]

I'm just, kind of, taking a poll about the pagans on the site who utilized their cultural heritage to find a path versus those who haven't.

So.

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

I'm a hereditary witch. My although my family is primarily Christian, many people in my family including my grandmother practiced magic. Although, they practice more a mixture of folk magics such as Voodoo, Hoodoo, or Santeria. My mother still practices Candle magick from time to time. Growing up, I was very put off with my extended family's use of magick, which was often used for evil purposes. So I grew up with the phobia of folk magic, and ended up in Wicca, then later goddess centered paganism.

It took me a long time to realize that any type of magick is not inheritably good nor evil, it was the way my family was using the magic that was wrong. I also used to feel like an outsider because I am African American, and I was practicing a religion that was European in origin.

[PlaceboArtist]

I'm just, kind of, taking a poll about the pagans on the site who utilized their cultural heritage to find a path versus those who haven't.

So.

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

Kind of. Both sides of my family have traceable ancestry from the Norse invasions of England, though this didn't so much spark my interest in Heathenry as confirm it. Besides, I have influences from Kemeticism - which is nothing to do with my heritage - and even theories from novels - which is nothing to do with anyone's heritage!

[Sharysa]

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

I didn't, as much as I'd have liked to. My entire direct family is Filipino, so when I started losing my faith in Catholicism, I tried really hard to find something about the pagan culture of the Philippines that caught me on a spiritual level, but nothing connected aside from the respect for the Diwata/fairies.

Also, there was nothing that connected with my seemingly mismatched loves of music/performing and history, and when I found out that the Irish bards were trained in those specific areas, I knew that was the path for me.

[outlaw393]

I'm just, kind of, taking a poll about the pagans on the site who utilized their cultural heritage to find a path versus those who haven't.

So.

Did you base your pagan path off of the cultures in your family tree or not?

Yes. I based my search for my pagan path based on what blood I share with said gods.

I figured, if those gods call me, ok cool. The Norse gods called me then. I am 1/2 Scandinavian.

(The other half is German and a tiny bit of English)