lørdag den 1. april 2023

A ~ Ancestors - Aner

     Hver dag klokken 12 (undtagen søndag) kommer dagens A-Z indlæg hvis der altså kommer et.
     Temaet for i år er
Resilience som teamet har valgt, og jeg har valgt undertemaet Blomster, træer og forfædre, så lad os se, hvad der falder mig ind til det tema.

     Og bemærk venligst at jeg har slået kommentar-moderation til i hele april. Kommentarer, der bare gør reklame for egen blog, vil ikke blive vist her. Denne meddelelse er også en del af bloggens header.


A - Z

  Every day at noon (except Sundays) a new A-Z post goes live - or no post today.
  The theme for this year
is Resilience as given by the team, with the subtitle Flowers, Trees and Ancestors.

And please note that for the duration of this challenge comment moderation is enabled. I do not know itf this goes against the rules of the A-Z Challenge. but I am adverse to "promotional omments".
The rules say: "It [thelink] must go to a PUBLIC blog where anyone doing the challenge may COMMENT WITHOUT LOGGING IN, SIGNING UP, or SUBSCRIBING."
Nothing about moderation, so I think it's OK.
This notice can also be found under the header.


A for Aner

A er for Aner, et andet ord for forfædre. Min interesse for forfædre er ikke af gammel dato. Den stammer fra min historie om Susan på Enhjørningegården. Dette afsnit beskriver Susans oplevelser - og også mine.
     Hvis du skulle have lyst til at læse mere om Susan og hendes bedrifter, har hun sin egen blog. Unicorn Farm. Det er ét rod og på engelsk det meste. Jeg
er ved at skrive det om til en bog eller to. 
     Her er den relevante bid om aner og en nysgerrig tante:


"Nå, så du er Susan," sagde tante Jemima, da Susan og de tre troldmandsbørn ankom til Tryllekunstnerhuset.
"Ja," svarede Susan og nejede for damen. Hun sad i en gyngestol, og var ikke nær så afskrækkende som Susan havde forestillet sig. For det første var hun lille. Endog mindre end Susans mormor, og for det andet var hun tynd, smuk og helt hvidhåret. Hun var klædt i en sort fløjlskjole med stivede, hvide kniplinger og lignede nærmere en engelsk dronning eller noget fra et gammelt maleri end en afskrækkende arvetante. Susan havde forventet sig noget i stil med sin egen tante Cleo med cerutter og det hele.
"Hvem i din familie er så magikere?" spurgte tante Jemima, da Susan havde sat sig til rette i sofaen. "Det er min mormor og ganske få andre også," svarede Susan helt i overensstemmelse med sandheden. "Jeg ved ikke så meget om min familiehistorie. Min moster, som altså ikke er en heks, fordi hun er for trist, har forsøgt at lave slægtsforskning, men hun kom ikke ret langt."
"Hvor besynderligt," sagde tante Jemima. "En trist heks, der ikke er en heks, og ingen aner."
Susan hviskede til Lis: "Hvad aner jeg ikke?"
Lis bed sig i læben for ikke at grine: "Nej, aner ... det er bare et fint ord for forfædre," hviskede hun til Susan.
"Tak." hviskede Susan tilbage.
"Jo, jeg har aner," sagde Susan. "Bare ikke så mange, eller rettere ..." Susan tøvede.
"Tal bare frit, mit barn," opfordrede tante Jemima hende.
"Jo altså min moster, hende den triste med slægtsforskningen. Hun nåede ikke ret langt. For min morfars mor tilhører De Vandrende, født et eller andet sted på en landevej i Sverige mellem Haparanda og Helsingborg. Og min mormors familie - det er dem, hekseriet stammer fra - der nåede hun tilbage til min tip-tip-oldemor - og hun var altså en heks. Men så nåede hun ikke længere, for så var kirkebøgerne væk. Præstegården der i sognet brændte, og med den kirkebogen. Det var ikke længe efter den brand at den lov blev indført om at alle kirkebøger skulle føres i to eksemplarer, der ikke måtte opbevares under samme tag."
"Ja det er jo en artig historie," sagde tante Jemima og rystede på sit hvidhårede hoved. "Så er det altså lidt svært at finde ud af, hvad du er for en slags heks."
"Hun er en supergod heks, tante," sagde Heidi.


A for Ancestors

A is for Ancestors. My interest for ancestors is quite new, spurred on by my telling of Susan on Unicorn Farm and that nosy Aunt Jemima. I cite the relevant paragraphs here in a sligthly revised edition.

If you want to read the whole, jumbled story (I
am making it into a book or two with heavy revisions) go here: Unicorn Farm,

"So you are Susan,"Aunt Jemima said,  as Susan and the three wizard children arrived at the Magician's House.

"Yes," Susan replied, curtseying to the lady. She was sitting in a rocking chair, and was not nearly as imposing as Susan had imagined. She was small. Even smaller than Susan's grandmother, and she was thin, beautiful, and completely white-haired. She was dressed in a black velvet dress with starched, white ruffles and mother of pearl buttons and looked more like an English queen or something from an old painting than an intimidating aunt. Susan had expected something like her own aunt Cleo, cheroot and all.

"Now who in your family are the wizards?" Aunt Jemima asked when Susan had settled on the couch.

"My grandmother is, and quite a few others, too," Susan replied quite in accordance with the truth. "I do not know much about my family's history. My aunt, who is not a witch because she is too sad, has dabbled in genealogy, but she did not get very far."

"How strange," Aunt Jemima said. "A sad witch who is not a witch and has no forebears."

Susan whispered to Lis, "What kind of bears?"

Lis bit her lip so as not to laugh: "No, not bears at all ... it's just a fancy word for ancestors."

"Thank you," Susan whispered back.

"Yes, I have ancestors," Susan said. "Just not that many, or rather ..." Susan hesitated.

"Speak up, my child," Aunt Jemima urged her.

"Well, my aunt, and her genealogy. She did not get very far. For my grandfather's mother is a Wanderer, born somewhere on a country road between Haparanda and Helsingborg in Sweden. And my grandmother's family - these are the ones where the witchcraft comes from, and she found my grandma's great-grandmother - she's a witch. But then she did not get any further, because the parish registers were gone. The rectory had burned, and with it the registers. Not long after this fire a law was made, requiring all parish registers to be kept in duplicate and not under one roof. But too late for my ancestors."

"That is quite a story," Aunt Jemima said, shaking her white-haired head. "But it makes it a little hard to figure out what kind of witch you are."

"She's a super good witch, Auntie," Heidi said.

10 kommentarer:

  1. I think she's going to give Aunt Jemima a difficult time :-)

    Ronel visiting for A:
    My Languishing TBR: A
    Accomplished Athena

    SvarSlet
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    1. Aunt Jemimia will thaw to Susan later on in my story.

      Slet
  2. Love it. And wish (how I wish) that I knew my ancestors.

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    1. I don't think I really know my ancestors, but at least I now know where and when a bunch of them were born, lived and died.

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  3. We don't know much about our ancestors, either. I'll admit there's not much time to devote to such a search right now.

    Thank you for the Susan story, i always enjoy reading about her.

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    1. I can only do it because all registers are digitalized. No travelling involved, I can sit at home. It's more like doing a puzzle or solving a crossword actually.

      Slet
  4. Love this and I have a feeling a way will be found so Susan can learn about her ancestors. Like Elephant's Child, I never knew any of mine although I do have names and birthdates.

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    1. Names and dates are all I have as well. Only when I come very close to my own time, the parents of my grandmother, I have more than the meagre facts.
      Susan's ancestors are mine ;)

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  5. Sad witch? So being sad does not make her a witch? It sounds like Susan has an interesting ancestry.

    Have a lovely day.

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    1. Oh, it's from one of my unpublished chapters. Sorry. I sometimes forget what has been posted here, and what not. Right form the beginning the apprentices of Unicorn Farm are taught that magic is a happy art.
      Susan's ancestry is the same as mine ;) just with some magic added.

      Slet

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