Identity Text By Jamie Simmering

Where are we from? Going into this project I knew very little about how my family got to Illinois, why, and who were the first to make a life in this area. Unfortunately neither of my parents knew much about this and with having three grandparents deceased and one with alzheimer, my sources were pretty limited.

Illinois all the way I honestly can’t say I learned anything new from asking around. As far back as anyone can remember our family has lived in Illinois. In fact, no one has really moved further than Shelbyville, so all of it is pretty central. The only reason why people would move would be for a job and even then, they were only about a two hour drive away from their home town. So what is there for me to tell?

A Brady family My dad has a total of nine siblings making it an even ten all together but only half are related by blood My grandfather was married to my grandmother Chloanne and they had a total of six children. Sadly, due to complications after the last pregnancy my grandmother died when my dad was five.

A Brady Family A few years later my grandfather met a widow named Lavergne and they soon got married. She brought along four more children making the family grow to a full dozen. Lavergne was the grandmother I grew up with and through out the years she taught me all of her traditions.

Polish Traditions Her first husband was extremely Polish, and though I don’t know any details about how his family came to America I do know many of the traditions he passed on before he died. Every Christmas and Easter with my dad’s side of the family held long held traditions, rooted in Polish customs.

Christmas My favorite traditions centered around Christmas, or more importantly Christmas Eve. Every year we would have a traditions Polish dinner which is called Wigilia. We would start the night by decorating the table. On it, around the edge, my cousins and myself would lay down hay before placing the tablecloth on top. This is a Polish tradition which is meant to symbolize Jesus being in a manger

Christmas My grandma would make dishes such as chicken, turkey, or fish and we would all gather around the table Before we were able to eat we had to be sure to set up an extra place setting and dish. This tradition was so we would be ready if a hungry traveler happened by

Easter The rest of the traditions would focus around Easter and really only included two. The first would be serving hand made polish sausage Is there a dish that one person you know makes, and absolutely no one else is allowed to attempt to make it or change it? Well that is how my grandmother was with traditional polish sausage No one could alter the recipe and she refused to by prepackage

Easter Whenever there is food, there needs to be dessert and this is where the lamb cake came in. It is a polish tradition to have a pound cake decorated like a lamb and around it is 11 colorful jelly beans and 1 black jelly bean The 11 colored ones represent the apostles while the black one represented Judas

Conclusion I was a little disheartened to learn that no one really remembered why my extended family came to Illinois and that we all just ended up staying in one spot but I am extremely thankful for the customs I do have. I’m thankful that some of my family has different ways of celebrating because it makes things all that much better And above all I happy that even though many of my family has passed away, their favorite traditions will stick around