Monday, December 26, 2011

Hind-what? For Di. :D

If it wasn't for that giant honors history project back in 9th grade, I probably would never really know Indonesian history.

Ok--so mom is from Balikpapan, Indonesia and dad is from Freeport, Bahamas.

Mom
Today the dominant religion in Indonesia is Islam, but before Arab merchants immigrated in the 14th century, the dominant religions were Buddhism and Hinduism. Indian traders brought Shaivite Hinduism around the 4th or 5th centuries while Buddhism came maybe a century after. If you encounter Indonesians, you'll notice that although they practice Islam, they all still have Hindu names and mannerisms lol. For example mom's first name is Sri which is the Hindu Javanese goddess for prosperity, also known as India's Lakshimi (Vishnu's consort).

Dad
Currently the Bahamas is Catholic (which explains why dad was Catholic first and then converted to Islam in his early teens, thanks to the Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Movement). The Bahamas was originally inhabited by the Lucayans/Taino who are basically a mixture of what we know as modern day Haiti, Dominican Republic, and South America. The Hindu history basically came from East Indians who came to Trinidad, thus "Indo-Trinidadians" and they had spread it around the West Indies. What's sad to me about this whole thing is that no one on dad's side has record of anything and there really isn't any information online. I feel like there is so much back and forth. X_x I guess it's complex because a lot of countries and cultures are meshed in. As of this morning, I learned that you can only find the names of his ancestors in England's family registries. I would ask dad, but I don't feel like hearing his emotional rants because of his intense grudge against white people. -_-' So yeah, dad's history is not recorded as well as mom's and learning about it is a work in progress.

Cool point: I learned that in addition to my Irish, Native American and obviously Bahamian/Haitian blood, I'm also from Barbados. WHOA.

Honestly I think I'm more and more like a mutt because of his side.

Ok bai.

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