Caption: What clues do your ancestors’ hold for you to thrive?
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The future of my Grandmother’s line rests in the ovaries of three young women. Whether they choose to have children will determine whether our indigenous roots, part of the genetic code that brought us here to live in this moment, survives.
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I have been tracing my lineage on all sides, over continents, through ship records, across seas and mountains and far-reaching islands. Where records fail, I sift through memories for stories told, craft projects done with family, family food traditions for clues of locations.
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I turn to DNA ancestry for confirmation of what I’ve discovered. A recent clue felt like a huge pay dirt. I was looking through Instagram for places to visit in western Mexico when I stumbled across this image (above). Wham! Those were fun yarn projects my Grandma and I used to make and decorate the house, Ojos de Dio, eyes of God.
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These eyes are a traditional art form of indigenous Huichol people from that region. They also create paintings from yarn, another craft project we did together. The visionary art was a form of communication and can also depict visions received during peyote journeys.
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As my DNA ancestry strengthens through more distant relatives being tested, I continue to see strong correlations with the migration of my family from Guatemala to western Mexico and into the US over the last 300 years.
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The importance I’ve placed on learning about the roots of a lineage that may have near end point, is to honor and remember to appreciate all the struggle and hardship these ancestors endured to survive and thrive for us to be here in this time. And #latinxlivesmatter and #indigenouslivesmatter ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I am so grateful for my life as I see families separated, tens of thousands heading north to attempt refuge from such violence against their indigenous way of life.
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