Today I Visited My Ancestors’ Burial Mounds

in #americaningermany5 years ago (edited)

Growing up in Wisconsin, in the United States, there was an abundance of American Indian sacred sites, reservations, and burial mounds.

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Entrance to one of the few remaining burial mounds of my pre-Christian ancestors.

As a child, I loved to visit these areas and had a great amount of respect for them. They were beautiful, powerful, and influential to me. I always felt that these places were indeed special and a solid connection to the past, but not my own.

My heritage is German and there is also an abundance of Germans living in Wisconsin as well, so we have established our own areas that we consider special and sacred. My family arrived in the United States in the 1840s and we have lived in the same 40 Square mile area ever since. Until now.

We have returned to Europe.

Even with this established 150+ year history in the United States, I never felt at home. I have felt, and I still feel, very American merely detached to the place (or the land) where I was born. I am proud of our Nation I fought for it in the Afganistan war, but the truth is something deeper was always missing and I noticed that when I saw the sacred sites of the American Indians.

This missing connection, I have found here in my ancestral homelands of Northern Europe.

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Today, I live among the spirits of my ancestors and our native land. I have lived here for two years and she still whispers to me in the wind and I hear the call of the raven that my ancestors have heard for thousands of years.

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The smell of split German hardwoods burning in my fireplace triggers memories so old, that I know they are ancient. And I know this because before living here I have never smelt this particular smoke. It is unique, it is ingrained in my ancestral memory.

This land is sacred to me and there is a connection to it that can only be felt through the blood of its native inhabitants. Sadly, most of its native inhabitants today have long forgotten, but I have not.

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I always felt shame and remorse for what happened to the native people and their culture in the Americas, and now in my adulthood, I know the same genocide happened to my people too. 1000 years of "willful” conversion, is what we are taught, but sites such as these remind us of the suffering and brutality that brought Christianity to Europe.

This burial site is located 5 miles from the Danish border and even though they have done a nice job of preserving and rebuilding the site they still fail to share the complete history.

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What the sign doesn't say is that those stones weren't moved they were built into churches on top of the sacred sites to force the people to forget who they are and forget their connection to the land and the ways of their ancestors.

But not me.

I may not know how to practice my religion the way my ancestors did but our Native spirit is alive in me. It called me back to my native lands and it begs me to preserve her for my descendants as well. Our history was written by male Christian priests so much is lost to their interpretation and censorship.

I am no longer blinded by the light gods of the Middle East, I see my ancestors path and do my best to honor them by walking it as well.

I was only able to visit this ancient site for a few moments today, but the feeling of connectedness to the past is stronger than ever.

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It is great that people are finding being connected to something meaningful again. I steer clear of traditions and gods, but nature and the history it carries always adds value to experience.

Thank you very much! I believe the whole point to our existence is our relationship with the earth and each other and my wish is that everyone is able to find some sense of belonging. Thanks for stopping by!

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I see now why your march madness story was so powerful - it was your truth! I am so happy you have found your way to your true homeland. This is a very beautiful post. Thank you for being so generous with yourself.

Thank you very much! Yes, it made it much easier to convey :) glad you stopped by! Are you going to give it a go this March madness? Honestly I think I am finally getting my creative juices back I was drained for months after that. I wasn’t enjoying writing very much.

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Goodness that is not for me! I've pulled back from steem since the fork - it's too frustrating to make even less on many hours of work. Curating for several hours a day more does not make up the difference even my lowest paying posts lost, probably because I avidly still support my little friends whose posts make .50 on a good day. I was upset about HF21, but then I also got a large part of my life back.
I'm so glad I thought of visiting you while this post was still in play. I almost never look at my feed.

You definitely deserve that Silver North German / Viking coin I have for you. The address has changed I believe ? I wanna send it to you for free. DM me the address please . I have an old address in L...stedt.

What coin??? That's amazing thank you!!! Yes it is changed ill message you right away. You definitely made my day! 😃😃😃

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Thank you for your very interesting article.
I also find the historical buildings very interesting.
Visiting the ruins and remains of ancient cultures is always an exciting journey.
We can learn a lot from our ancestors.
I wish you all the best.

Thank you very much for reading my article! I am glad you enjoyed it and wish you well too!

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Very cool, would love to visit one of those sites.

Thank you! I hope some day you will!

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I know the feeling that you are talking about. I have felt a deep deep connection to my ancestors for a long time. I am so happy for you that you were able to return home. I look forward to the day that I can visit Scotland, Norway, and Denmark. You have a great way with words and explaining this phenomenon of the soul. Cheers my friend!

Thanks a lot! I sure hope you get to visit. I think it's important for us as Europeans to embrace our culture! So glad you stopped by!

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please consider using the #creativecoin tag on your creative posts! our curators are actively looking for and promoting creativity in all of its many aspects!

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Tried it out on my latest post! Thank you!

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Howdy sir badger! What an amazing structure that is, is that a burial site? It's a shame that almost all the original sites were destroyed.

Yup, it's a really old burial ground. 3-5000bc I believe