my Ancestry

Throughout my life my ancestry has played a big part in my life and continues to be a big part of it. One of the main reasons that it is so important to me is that i was born in South Africa and moved to Canada when I was 7 years old and I still have lots of memories from there. One my father's side we are German and on my mother told me that she's not really too sure what her ancestry is but she is pretty sure that it is Belgian.

My dad told me that his great grandfather and grandmother were the first ones in our family to head down to south africa because they were searching for a new life in a better climate and ended up loving it and stayed. He and his wife lived through the Boer war which started in 1899 and ended in 1902.

On my mother's side her ancestor had been there longer than on my dads side, about 100 years more, and went same reasons they were looking for a new start and better life. They also lived through the Boer war.

Living in canada now for the last ten years we have all noticed many differences between the  two countries like the foods and even which side of the road they drive on. My ancestry is an important part of my life as I no longer live in the country I was born in and it helps me feel connected to my family and who I am    

Works Cited

Boer Commando. Wikipedia, www.google.ca/search?q=boer+war&rlz=1CAZZAC_enCA582CA582&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJibig4ZLYAhVs04MKHeCKCEUQ_AUICigB&biw=1366&bih=629#imgrc=IzlXa4LOZTOSrM:. Accessed 18 Dec. 2017.

Rindel, Tania, and Andre Rindel. Interview. 13 Dec. 2017.  

A South African Tradition: Biltong

In South Africa there are a group of people who are known as the Afrikaans and they are settlers who came to South Africa in the late 1800s and were mostly from dutch descent but there are also some from German and French descent. When they settled they needed a way of preserving meat since there was no refrigeration or ice to freeze meat and preserve it. Their solution was to put salt and different spices on the meat and then hang it in a dry dark place thus creating biltong.

The purpose of having Biltong now in modern times is for snacking on since we can now preserve meats better ways. There really is no specific right time to eat biltong because you can eat it anytime of the day. It is usually eaten during social occasions and during rugby games. I feel like it also serves a purpose of bringing people of the Afrikaans culture closer together as biltong is unique to our culture.

The practice of making biltong is passed on from generation to generation mostly from the fathers to their sons. I learned how to make this from watching my mom and dad make it and asking questions along the way. We also make the drying box that we use to dry the biltong in. I think it is important that this tradition be alive in my culture as it helps my family and I connect with our culture and where we came from.

https://www.google.ca/search?rlz=1CADEAC_enCA768&tbm=isch&q=biltong&chips=q:biltong,g_1:south+africa&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwirzfXYp5HXAhXo54MKHSxkCmAQ4lYIJSgA&biw=1366&bih=629&dpr=1&safe=active&ssui=on#imgrc=jHK0mWC1vInl1M: