Recipe for Me

Mardi Gras two weeks away, I decided to break my heritage down as if it were a mixed drink. This is as accurate as I am currently able to calculate it:

24 parts Polish or Russian (depending upon where the border was drawn at a given moment in time)

16 parts Transylvanian (could similarly say Hungarian or Romanian, but in this case there is a name for the geographic region)

8 parts Lithuanian

(or 48 parts Jewish, but while I identify with the tribal aspects of the religion, I also see value in remembering which nations my ancestors came from, as their experiences differed.)

7 parts British

6 parts Dutch

Dutch can have one of two meanings, and in this case, I'm mixing both. My Van Every ancestors are generally thought to have come from the Netherlands, but some researchers think it is equally likely that they were German. I have other ancestors who were definitely German, or at least Alsacian, while Alsace was under the control of Germany.

3 parts Native American (another tribal culture, a mixture of Choctaw and Cherokee)

Shaken, not stirred.

A complicated mixed drink, to be sure. However, I am 100% American in nationality, and 100% Jewish both religiously and tribally.

Note: Naturally, Mardi Gras is a local custom for me, not a religious custom. St. Louis likes to celebrate its French heritage, and our Mardi Gras celebration is generally considered to be the second largest in the nation.