Exploring their roots
Kids find richness in preserving ethnic heritage

By Andrew LaCombe, 15, and Justine LaViolette, 15, with contributions from Emma Roy; 13, Kasaim Koonala, 12; Carlie Coccia, 11, and Charles Coccia, 9.

"As Americans, we all come from different places,” says Johanna Andronis, 18, of Marquette. “The one thing that we’re always taught in school is that nobody is the same. And I think that heritage is the one way that people can really spread out and diversify themselves.”

The Upper Peninsula has a rich ethnic heritage stemming in large part from immigration from many European countries in the 1800s. Finnish, Swedish, Irish, Italian, and many other cultures converged during the mining and timber booms. The influence is still evident in popular foods such as pasties and cudighi and in pastimes such as skiing and going to sauna. But as generations pass, it’s easier to lose sight of where we came from. 8-18 Media spoke with three youth whose families make preserving ethnic heritage a priority.

Greek, Slovenian and proud of it
Heritage is important to Andronis and her family. Her father, Paul Andronis is of Greek descent and her mother, Lynn Andronis is of Slovenian descent. Their grandparents immigrated to America.

As part of her ethnic upbringing, Andronis has learned a little of both the Greek and Slovenian languages. Another important aspect of her heritage comes from her family’s involvement with the Greek Orthodox Church of the Assumption in Marquette. The church doesn’t offer regular weekly services because there isn’t a priest at the church, but when there is a service, about twenty families get together afterwards in the basement and share a meal. Andronis plans to pass on ethnic traditions to her children.

“I’ve been taught in all of the original ways and I think it’s important to keep them alive,” she said.

The contributions that Greeks have given the world, like modern literature and science, make Andronis proud of her Greek heritage and motivate her to preserve it. But unlike her, there are people that don’t care much about their heritage.

“They’re missing one layer of themselves, and they’re missing the chance to explore some richness in that layer,” said Jon Saari, a retired Northern Michigan University history professor. He taught regional history classes and a course on Finnish immigration in the United States. This made him interested in the “ethnic story” of the Upper Peninsula.

Saari defines ethnic heritage as someone’s national origin. Ethnicity is one of many aspects that make a person who they are, he said.

“You have to make the choice for it to mean something in your life,” he said. “You choose whether you’re going to use that connection to another place, in my case to Finland or Germany, and actively do something with it in your life, learn the language and the country.”

Saari said that an interesting part of preserving heritage is discovering family history and what life was like for ancestors.

“You have the Finnish-American history, which is essentially U.P. history and regional history,” he said. “That is fascinating because it gives you a feeling of knowing more about the place where you live and understanding what your grandfather’s life was like, where they came from.

“Imagine if you had no grandfather. That’s what it’s like for second-generation immigrants. Their parents came from somewhere else, and they’re born here, and where are their grandparents? Back where they came from. Most of them never got to see those people. There were breaks in families.”

Saari said there are good reasons to care about ethnic heritage and to preserve it.

“Your starting point in life comes with ethnicity,” he said. “It’s a chance to deepen yourself through traditions as an adult. It makes your life richer to have that connection with places.”

Without preserving the connections to Greece and Slovenia, Andronis’s life would undoubtedly be different.

“I probably would not be as close to my family as I am, like extended family,” she said.

Music strengthened the tie between Andronis’s dad and his family.

“My yiayia, my grandma on my dad’s side, was actually going to be a concert pianist, but she gave that up to have a family. My dad plays the piano, and he was going to be a concert pianist. He stopped to go back to college. And then he played in a Greek band with his brother and a couple of his cousins.”

“My Big Fat Greek Wedding” is a 2002 movie that tells the story of a large, boisterous Greek family preparing for a wedding. Johanna said her family is remarkably similar to that family.

“All the things that they were doing we were watching, my family and I, and we were saying, ‘Wow, we do that.’ My family is almost identical to that family except for we’re not so Greek-centric as they are. And we roast lamb in the backyard instead of the front yard,” she said.

A way that Andronis’s family connects with their heritage is by eating foods native to Greece about three times a week.

“Spanikopeta, which is spinach pie. Lamb,” she listed. “Once in a while my mom gets crafty and makes pasticcio, which is Greek lasagna. Other than that, just like traditionally prepared chicken (dishes) and meats.”

A Norwegian influence
Stina Jackson, 10, daughter of Jim and Anne Jackson of Marquette, is Norwegian on her mother’s side and Scottish and English on her father’s. Her mother moved to the United States from Norway when she was a teenager. Ethnic foods are also important to the Jackson family.

“Whenever I have a sleepover I ask my mom to make Norwegian waffles. They’re just waffles with sugar in them, but they’re shaped differently,” Jackson said.

A lot of Jackson’s friends ask her questions about Norway.

“They ask me how do you say words and what’s it like there,” she said.

One of the things that makes Jackson proud of where her mother came from is the clothing Norwegians wear.
“ Every once in a while we go to one of the festivals and wear clothing that they wear in Norway,” she said. “It’s mostly like wool, and they have a dress with an apron on it.”

She plans on passing down the traditions she has learned to her own kids someday.

“I think it’s important for them to know what their heritage was like,” she said.

100 percent Finnish
Jed Johnson, 11, of Marquette is 100 percent Finnish.

“No German, no Spanish, no French,” he said. “All my ancestors came from Finland.”

Johnson’s parents, Tom and Heidi Johnson are third generation Finnish-Americans. To learn more about his Finnish heritage, Jed Johnson attended the Salolampi Language Camp, part of Finn Grand Fest 2005 in Marquette last summer.

Salolampi, a program of Concordia Language Villages, offers summer camps where youths ages seven to eighteen learn the language and culture of Finland. An abbreviated version was held during the festival to give kids a sample of Salolampi.

Activities at the camp included games, art and singing. About fifty kids attended three-hour sessions of the three-day camp. Many kids came with their families from all over the country. Johnson was one of only a handful of participants from the area. His favorite part of his first Salolampi experience was pole walking, a common Finnish activity.

“In Finland gas prices are very high, so walking to work or wherever Finlanders are going is becoming more popular,” he said. “So they just developed pole walking just as an entertainment and exercise.”

A major part of any culture is the language. At Salolampi, Finnish is taught through immersion.

“They didn’t speak English unless it was an emergency,” he said. “They always spoke Finnish, and that’s how we learned it, just like how we learned English when we were little.”

Johnson, who has relatives, including his grandma, that speak Finnish, would like to become fluent in the language so he can go to Finland and speak it there. He’s eager to continue learning about his heritage.

"I think it’s very important,” he said, “because I wouldn’t like to forget about all my ancestors that came from Finland.”