Cultural Family History Essay free essay sample

Sto lat, sto lat, Niech zyje, zyje nam. Sto lat, sto lat, Niech zyje, zyje nam, Jeszcze raz, jeszcze raz, Niech zyje, zyje nam, Niech zyje nam! As a child I heard this jumbled collection of words flying out of my family’s mouths in song, directly after the celebration jingle ‘Happy Birthday’. Other children would ask me what it meant and all I could comprehend was that it was Polish. I was mildly aware while growing up that I had European family members and ancestors but as I transitioned into adulthood it became less of an understanding and more apart of who I have became today. This essay is going to explore the last four generations of my mother’s side of the family and our own cultural family history. As well as employing forms of cultural and ethical analysis from our two texts and other academic sources, the essay will be demonstrating how my family history has incorporated elements from various cultures around the globe. Remembering the days of old where my family began, goes much further back than my particular research in this essay. Although, where I have chosen to start appears to have the most impact on my life. To begin, the scene is set in 1933, Krochcice Poland when Alois Glosnek was born to Stefan Glosnek and Elizabeth Nee Pielat, starting one of the many stages of their family. It is important to note that Kochcice was a part of Upper Silesia, which was inhabited predominantly by ethnic Germans as opposed to Poles. (Russell 1941) Agnieszka was born in 1935 and then Jadwiga, in 1936. On September 1st 1939 Germany invaded Poland and men went to war. Most Silesians, because of their German heritage, were conscripted to the German army. (Lukas 1997) Stephan went to fight in the war as Elizabeth was left to, alone, parent their three children. Due to the war, Stephan was not home as much as he would have preferred. However he was made happy as during the war the third sister, who is now my grandmother, Ella was born in 1943. As the war progressed, there was a vicious back and forth battle between the Germans and the Poles and subsequently the Russians. Later in 1943, Stephan was no longer able to return home to his family as German men, including Stephan’s brother, were killed if they tried to return home. He had two choices, risk returning home and facing new certain death or leaving his family and starting a life elsewhere, which ultimately became his decision. After the war ended in 1945, Stephan wandered Europe trying to figure out what to do and decided on joining the Secret Service. Three years later he made the decision to come to Canada and after his arrival he tried to contact his family but was unable to for a very long period of time. Alois, Agnieszk, Jadwiga and Ella and their mother Elizabeth lived a hard life during this time without Stephan for fifteen years from 1943 to 1958. After a lot of persistence Stephan eventually was able to find his family. Following his discovery of his family he made plans to reunite the entire family. Elizabeth and her four children arrived in Canada on December 14th 1958. As I have often heard, coming to Canada was the best decision they had ever made because they were able to reunite with their husband and father that they had not seen for such a long period of time. After hearing of this â€Å"new† life developing in Canada many Europeans wanted to come over seas as well. The Ochman and Tomasevic family followed in 1960 and Helcia arrived a few years later after the untimely death of her mother Nicia. This portion of my essay relates to the â€Å"Old† culture, examined by Hopper, transnationalism and touching on a diaspora community. â€Å"Old† culture, according to Hopper is based on territory, boarders or nations. Countries and nation states have given you citizenship and community, home is referred to a single place and many are confortable with their stable identity. (Hopper 2007) This was life for Stephan and Elizabeth before they traveled to Canada and following their immigration they flipped the idea of â€Å"old culture† on its head. It is understood that the new conceptions of immigrants no longer reflects on the permanent rupture, of the uprooted, the abandonment of old patterns and the painful learning of a new language and culture. Though, Stephan and Elizabeth did struggle, they became the new kind of the migrating population. Composed of those whose networks, actions and patterns of life incorporate both their host and home societies. Their lives cut across national boundaries and bring two societies into a single social field. It is known that the new conceptualization is needed in order to understand the experience and consciousness of this new migrant population. This conceptualization is transnationalism, building a social field that links their old country of origin and their new county of settlement. (Schiller, Basch Blanc 1992) These transnational diaspora communities develop for multiple reasons including, family, economy, and religion; for my family it is specifically how Stephan and Ella are defined. Times were good in Canada, the Glosneks built successful lives for themselves and their growing families and had often spoke of their time apart as a vacation compared to the extreme hardship they had actually experienced during those years. In 1959 Ella Glosnek met Anton Sinko at a church dance in Stratford Ontario, undoubtedly sparks flew and they were married within the year. Anton, my grandfather, was born in Yugoslavia in 1933 and was twenty-six years old when he immigrated to Canada alone in 1957. Ella only being 16 at the time was ready to bare children and soon enough Joe Sinko was born in 1960. Ella and Anton continued establishing their family with the birth of Frank in 1961, Donna, my mother, in 1962, John in 1966, Fred in 1967 and finally Dave in 1972. Their lack of schooling in Europe made it difficult to find a stable job but Anton found work at FAG Bearings in Stratford while Ella was home with the six children, which made for a very busy household. In 1976 tragedy struck when John was given a particular vaccine that caused him severe brain damage. He was hospitalized and was later declared mentally and physically handicapped from the reaction. This was a complicated time for the Sinkos, especially for Anton and Ella, for they were never exposed first hand to an individual with such impairment. Life continued on, houses were built to accommodate the large family and visitors. Anton and Ella traveled back to Europe frequently with full suitcases packed full of Canadian goods to visit relatives and others still living in the village. Soon enough, their children were getting married and creating their own families, almost doubling the already large, Sinko family. In 1978 Stephan Glosnek passed, then Elizabeth in 1988 both from old age. It was a tough time for everyone who had settled in Stratford, for those two were the pioneers for their new lives in Canada. A door had closed for their family history but the amount of doors that were opening full of their descendants was surely astounding. After their immigration and as they started to stabilize their families, this section of my paper connected to Hoppers â€Å"New† culture, Westernization of their Polish traditions and Glocalization. The shift to â€Å"new† culture according to Hopper focuses on deterritorialization, the Glosnek and Sinkos place in the world was a question. They were exposed to dual citizenship, communities, multiple meanings and a fluid identity. (Hopper) Their lives shifted particularly in the Westernization of their Polish culture. Their children new multiple languages, there was a dominance of the nation state, wage labour, market economy, civil democracy and the neglect of non-western cultures. Glocalization is understood in terms of expansion, rather than belonging to one or two stable groups, people often have complex relations. The Sinko family experienced ex marital partners, multiple sets of in-laws, neighbors, friends, and workmates with different walks of life. Not only were there communities in the flash, they was also widespread, fragmented, loosely bounded family that were in contact with them through, phone and eventually in the 60s, computers. This was a new world for Anton and Ella and their children growing up but with time they learned to cope with the rapidly changing life style. In 1989, Donna Sinko was married to Jeff Wood, a Stratford native with family from the United States and Scotland. Donna, with encouragement from her mother, was prepared to start a family as quickly as possible after marriage. James Wood was still born in 1991 due to a placental abruption, causing an unbelievable amount of blood loss and damage to Donna leaving her in the hospital for six months. After recovery, I, Shaina Wood was born in 1993, completely healthy and as chubby as can be. Following closely behind and really tipping the scale was my little brother Jeffrey Wood Jr in 1995, completing the Wood family. Thinking as far back as I can remember the Polish traditions have influenced my life in many different, yet significant ways. My grandpa always referred to the grandkids as different animals; he always would call me his little â€Å"Koza† meaning â€Å"goat† in Polish and my bother was forever a â€Å"Prosic† meaning, â€Å"pig†. Unknowingly, I was able to learn many polish words this way. Any celebrations with my large family were noted for copious amounts of food and drink over the course of two days. The first day was the actual celebration and the following day everyone was to come back for leftovers. One significant dish my Grandma has always made is â€Å"Kloski†, a round potato dumpling of deliciousness. I have very fond memories of all the woman of the family in the kitchen before the meal, slaving over the stove and counter and my female cousin and I were always deemed the â€Å"Kloski rollers†. Older male cousins would partake in â€Å"Kloski eating contests†, downing about 20 smothered in butter and gravy. I realize now that there had to be not a single health conscious person in that house at the time. Family feasts are my most vivid memory and with the passing of Anton Sinko in 2007 and Ella in 2012, my mother and I have continued on the tradition. Over the years the Sinko name has established a catch phrase due to the size of individual physique, amount of food per helping, the size of how much love is in our hearts or amount of anything in general; it is referred to as â€Å"Sinko size†. This comes after small, medium, large and extra large and it means much more than measurements. This section of my essay can be closely related to hybridity, because of the mixed cultural heritage. Neverdeen Pierce argues it is possible to detect forms of cultural mixing across continents and religions dating back many centuries. Intermeshing a range of influences, mixed cultural heritage and intermingling of cultural influences with a hybrid result. (Hopper 2007) The Polish traditions were brought here in first-hand 1958, and in 2014 they still linger. The fuse of both Canadian and Polish backgrounds is a hybrid construction that is currently and will hopefully always remain my lifestyle. To conclude, my European family and ancestors is a large part of whom I am today as well as my family. This research and written essay has helped me explore the last four generations of my mother’s side and our own cultural family history. As well employing forms of cultural and ethical analysis from our two texts and other academic sources and demonstrating how it has incorporated elements from various cultures around the globe through old and new culture, transnationalism, diaspora community, westernization, glocalization and hybridity. I am thankful for this assignment, for the opportunity to go in depth about my beautiful, fascinating family heritage story. I will always pass this story along but hopefully someday have a large family to start my very own story. Na zdrowie! Bibliography