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El Dia de los Muertos

El Dia de los Muertos

by Justin Durand

Day of the Dead

Halloween should be the genealogists’ holiday. Our Celtic ancestors believed that on this night, Samhain (pronounced sow-en), the dead walked the earth. It was possible to commune with those who had crossed over, and necessary to appease those of them who might have an idea they could return to the world of the living.

Our Norse ancestors had a similar celebration earlier in October, called Winter Nights, which celebrated the harvest and honored the disir (protective spirits). The ghosts of departed loved ones returned to feast with the living.

The Christian church took these pagan celebrations and turned them into All Saints Day (November 1) and All Souls Day (November 2), when we honor the saints and remember the departed.

The name “Halloween” is a modernized form of “All Hallows’ Evening,” and this is the night where the customs of our pagan ancestors survive. We dress up, which was supposed to deceive the ghosts so they wouldn’t try to take over our bodies. We dance around, which was supposed scare off the ghosts. We share treats, which were originally bribes to pray for the ancestors of the giver.

Pagan or Christian, every genealogist has to love a night set aside to commune with ancestors. I know I do. Besides the fun, I say special prayers on Halloween.

This year I’m celebrating El Dia de los Muertos as well. This Hispanic holiday ostensibly celebrates All Saints Day and All Souls Day, but is really a survival of an Aztec holiday that fell in August. “Dead Guy,” a skeletal statue who has an honored place in our home gets neglected, but today I’m having a friendly dialog with him.

Soda Pop

Soda Pop

by Justin Durand
PopvSoda.png

The Colorado Rockies aren’t doing so well in the World Series. First time there, maybe last time. Our boys are losing 6-5 as I write. Less humiliating than losing 13-1, as they did in the first game. I tried without luck to get tickets to today’s game. Even losing, I wish I had. The stadium is just a 15 minute walk south, and its parking lot is behind our complex.

Thinking about baseball has me also thinking about soft drinks. Which reminds me that I have a link to a map of the U.S. showing the generic names for soft drinks by county. Here in Denver, the leading term is “pop.” I call it “soda.” Must be a Utah Valley thing.

Now the game is 9-5. This is not going well.

Battle of Agincourt

Battle of Agincourt

by Justin Durand

Today is the anniversary of the Battle of Agincourt. I love this day (but don’t tell Laura). On this day in 1415, some 900 stout-hearted Englishmen defeated the flower of French chivalry. On the French side, some 7,000 dead and some 1,500 taken prisoner. On the English side, a mere 100 dead. The numbers are staggering, and give some hint how devastating it was. The French were cocky and made mistakes. And, the English used the longbow, an amazing weapon that was not considered sporting in chivalric circles. For me, Agincourt was the end of Chivalry and the Middle Ages. Thereafter, war becomes increasingly technical and brutal. Before Agincourt, war was the noble occupation of all true men. After Agincourt, war begins to be seen as inhuman. The medieval world is romantic in retrospect, and I love it for that, but I’d rather live in a moral world.

agincourt

Not a Change, Really

Not a Change, Really

by Justin Durand

oxford-ancestors

I’ve been poking into the reasons why my 1998 mtDNA test at Oxford Ancestors produced a different result than a 2007 test at FamilyTree DNA. FTDNA is standing by their results. Rebekah Canada on the Genealogy-DNA Mailing List assures me, “These days FTDNA tests for the V SNP in the coding region. If they say you are V you can count of being V.” Now, I hear from Oxford Ancestors:

“We have looked at the results for your MatriLine analysis and would advise that the position was as follows;

“A mutation at position 270 is characteristic of clade U and a position at 298 is characteristic of clade V. It was always believed in the early days that as clade U was the more common that it over rode the clade V, but more recent research has in fact confirmed that this is not in fact the case and the a mutation at position 298 is the defining one and you are therefore more correctly assigned to clade V and indeed this is where we would now place you.

“The 292 mutation would 99% of the time change the C to a T, but in your case it has changed to an A which is unusual. This mutation was automatically shown on your certificate as a T and should in fact have been shown, as you correctly say, as an A. We would also show this mutation as 2925.”

So, it seems that part of it was sloppy reporting (reported as 16292T when it should have been 16292A) and part of it was that more is now known about mtDNA haplogroups (reported as U5b when it should have been V). No apologies, but Oxford Ancestors did volunteer to send me a new certificate. Yay.