taevachi's journal

Answers for The Friday Five for 14 March 2025.

1. How far back can you trace your family tree?
From memory, like only to my grandparents or great-grandparents ^^''' But as far as genealogy is concerned, I think my ancestors have been traced back to somewhere around the 1500s at least.

2. What is the most interesting (or strange) thing you've heard about one of your relatives?
I have a shitton of relatives, many of them have strange things but they're not that interesting. But I keep thinking back to my great-great-something-grandpa. He was born early only after 6 months. He was so tiny, they kept him in a tobacco box that was filled with sheep wool, and fed him milk by dripping it from the wool. He made it, of course since I am here, it's kind of amazing, on the countryside, without modern medicine.

3. How do you feel about legacy names like John Henry Smith IV or naming children after other relatives?
From the perspective of tradition, naming children after ancestors is beautiful. It comes from the idea that ancestors' names, and through them, the ancestors themselves, kept living on in the family. I wouldn't name anyone with a number though, like in the example "the Fourth". Nor give my child my own name, cultures are different so I feel like here if you do that it just makes you look like a narcissist.

4. Would you consider yourself and/or your family to be traditional?
Totally not. And we have a lot of traditions in the family. I am going to be building my life in the way of bringing in more folklore tradition. But some tradition is also ass, like if it's holding back progression. I have many Laestadian relatives. I'm sure they think they are very traditional, holding onto the "true traditions" or whatever. And to me, Christianity is not traditional at all so I'd say their "true traditions" are fake traditions actually. There are many ways to look at this! When does your "traditional" start? For many people, it's like the 1950s. For someone else, it's Christianity because "it's been here for 800 years!". And I'd say: "Only 800? First of all, it's only like 500-600 years at most to my ancestors, plus in the terms of time, that's like nothing! There are older traditions"

5. What is one tradition you have passed on to your children and/or plan to pass on to them?
I do not plan to have children. If I ever have any nieces or nephews though, I'd like to sing traditional myths to them.

1. If the world were to suddenly end right now, what do you wish you would have done?
I haven't even had the chance to get married yet!

2. How many times do you hit the snooze button before getting out of bed?
Often none... Because I have 20 alarms so I just keep turning them off god knows how many times.

3. What cartoon do you enjoy watching from the present (or the past)?
What. I don't understand the question. The recent cartoon that comes to mind is Tian Guan Ci Fu.

4. If you could go to any time and/or place in history, where/when would it be?
I would travel to the past of my home region to see what kinds of languages were spoken here millenia ago.

5. If your life were a movie, what would it be rated and why?
Like PG-13? Not like it's particularly exciting but I need to drop an f bomb.