Living Melting Pot: Embracing Cultural Differences

I consider myself a melting pot when it comes to my ancestry - a mix of Polish, German, Austrian, English and Slovak all wrapped up into one. Even though I am a mix of ethnicities, its amazing how much each one has influenced my life in terms of food and family tradition.

My ancestors settled in the mountains and valleys of Northeastern Pennsylvania as coal miners and farmers. In the small city near where they settled, groups of immigrants separated into different neighborhoods which included their owns churches, bars and stores. There is actually one street that has a German Catholic Church and an Irish Catholic Church less than a half block away. However, as time has gone on and the emphasis on ethnicity has diminished, these groups have slowly mixed together, blending food and traditions.

My father is mostly Polish and English. My mother is German, Austrian and Slovak. Even though these are mostly eastern european countries, the traditions vary greatly. An example is that on Christmas Eve, my father, sisters and I do not eat meat as it is a Polish tradition (technically the true Polish tradition is to have a dinner of fish (including carp which the Polish associate with being lucky) called a Wigilia.) My mother is not held to this restriction as she is not Polish.

When I was younger, I didn't realize that certain foods and traditions that were normal to me were not commonplace in other parts of the country, or even other parts of the state. This became extremely apparent when I went to college and asked my roommate (from another area of Pennsylvania) what her favorite type of pierogie was and if she was looking forward to the summer church 'bazaar' (church picnic held to raise money with food, games and raffles). To say she was extremely confused is an understatement.

Pierogies, potato pancakes, haluski, kielbasa, pigs in a blanket (no, not hot dogs in a crescent roll - this is beef and rice wrapped in cabbage cooked in a tomato sauce also called golabki), and cirak (slovak easter cheese) are all foods that I grew up eating and did not know that a majority of americans had no idea what they were.

One of the more interesting traditions that recently was popularized is that of 'Krampus'. My mother's family, however, did not call him Krampus, but referred to him instead as 'St. Nick' or the 'Belsnickel'. The tradition that we followed was that on the night of December 5th (December 6th is St. Nicholas day) the children would put their shoes outside the front door. If 'St. Nick' or the 'Belsnickel' deemed the child good, the shoes were filled with candy to be found the next morning. However, if the child was bad, the shoes were filled with coal. If the child was really bad, 'St. Nick' or the 'Belsnickel' would take the child away in a sack that he carried along with the chains that he rattled against the house. I didn't really think much of this tradition until I watched the movie Krampus with my husband (who is English and Irish in his ancestry) and asked him if he put his shoes out on St. Nicholas day. He looked at me like I had five heads and stated he had never heard of that tradition before and certainly never participated in it as a child.

Even though to some the food and traditions that I grew up with might be considered odd, and in some cases even scary, I wouldn't trade them for the world. I celebrate many traditions from different cultures and they have given me a deep respect for the culture of other countries and ethnicities, no matter how different from my own. In a time where there is such division in our country, embracing our differences and sharing our traditions is vital. If long ago different immigrant groups could eventually come together and create a diverse melting pot, there is no reason why it can't happen against today.