Page 7 | I'm adopted and recently found out that I am one quarter Sámi

Natsku · 29/06/2020 16:53

Might be a dialect difference, some things are said very differently in different dialects in Finland.

Abbazed · 29/06/2020 22:09

Op can I ask what you look like?

VenusClapTrap · 29/06/2020 22:22

I think there maybe is something in the genetic memory theory. I have always felt drawn to the Nordic countries, and many years ago I visited Finnish Lapland through work. The whole time I was there, people I met kept assuming I was Norwegian. When I asked one of them why they thought this, I was told I had Norwegian features.

There is nothing in our family history that would suggest a link to Scandinavia, so I just put it down as one of those funny things.

I recently did a DNA test through Ancestry, and it came back 9% Norwegian.

SnackSizeRaisin · 29/06/2020 23:13

I have an eastern European grandparent. My mum did a 23 and me test and they were able to identify the exact region of the eastern European country where my grandparent was from. In contrast, I did an ancestry test which came back as 20% Eastern European/ Russian, so a lot more vague (admittedly I have a less strong genetic link). My point being was that I was impressed by 23 and me's accuracy

How can it be that accurate? I would smell a rat. A DNA test cannot prove where your grandparent lived. That's ridiculous. Anything more specific than a vague region is not possible, and even that is assuming people of one area never moved from that area. Your grandparent could actually have lived somewhere completely different from his distant ancestors.

SnackSizeRaisin · 29/06/2020 23:21

I recently did a DNA test through Ancestry, and it came back 9% Norwegian.

So you are 91% not Norwegian, yet your features look strongly Norwegian?

It's more likely that you are in Norway so people assumed you were Norwegian. I mean why would they assume otherwise? If I see someone white in the UK, I would assume they were British before thinking they were foreign, just because that is nearly always the case. They don't need to have specific British facial features (what would that even look like? Pale perhaps...but that could apply to lots of countries)

I think this DNA testing is largely rubbish

ArgumentativeAardvaark · 29/06/2020 23:54

*It's more likely that you are in Norway so people assumed you were Norwegian.+

@snacksizeraisin the poster who told this story was in Finland, not Norway. The Finns told her she had Norwegian features.

VenusClapTrap · 30/06/2020 06:42

Thank you, Argumentative. Yes, I was in Finland.

Gloschick · 30/06/2020 07:32

@SnackSizeRaisin

I have an eastern European grandparent. My mum did a 23 and me test and they were able to identify the exact region of the eastern European country where my grandparent was from. In contrast, I did an ancestry test which came back as 20% Eastern European/ Russian, so a lot more vague (admittedly I have a less strong genetic link). My point being was that I was impressed by 23 and me's accuracy

How can it be that accurate? I would smell a rat. A DNA test cannot prove where your grandparent lived. That's ridiculous. Anything more specific than a vague region is not possible, and even that is assuming people of one area never moved from that area. Your grandparent could actually have lived somewhere completely different from his distant ancestors.

23 and me have collected DNA from thousands of pockets of populations across the world where those families have always been from that area. If your DNA matches one of those pockets then I think they can be that specific - as with the OP. They say it only gives you an idea where your ancestors lived 200 years ago, so we are not talking about viking heritage etc. My mum deliberately didn't give them any extra detail and her surname is English, but they still identified where her parent was from down to the equivalent of West Sussex.

Original poster

KolyaReindeer · 11/11/2020 19:46

@KolyaReindeer

I am very dark, is this a problem?

OP posts:

Original poster

KolyaReindeer · 11/11/2020 19:55

Thank you all so much.

OP posts:

GirlCalledJames · 11/11/2020 20:10

@Gulabjamoon
But not sure they’re imprinted in our DNA just yet.
Epigenetically they are and the traces of hunger suffered in the concentration camps has been found in descendants four generations removed, for example.
Also, there is more than one Sami language so there may be multiple correct pronunciations.

user1471565182 · 11/11/2020 20:39

Im fascinated by Sami people. I make a lot of their crafts myself (knives, clothes and reindeer leather work). There were cases all over Finnmark of Sami children being taken away from their parents and their culture being supressed, maybe that has something to do with your origin?

user1471565182 · 11/11/2020 20:45

A couple of short things worth watching-

-About a photographer who stayed with Sami for years

-About this great reindeer herder guy.

And I can especially recommend Ray Mears Bushcraft episode in Sweden which is mostly about the Sami, their crafts etc.

user1471565182 · 11/11/2020 20:47

Sorry posted the 2nd one twice by accident

ViciousJackdaw · 11/11/2020 23:43

I'm not certain these kits are all they're cracked up to be. Here's a couple of articles on them if you've got a spare few mins to read:

www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2018/aug/11/question-ancestry-does-dna-testing-really-understand-race

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/tBX9dq9V9qWV687ddP6lK9/dna-ancestry-kits

Janegrey333 · 11/11/2020 23:52

@KolyaReindeer

Name changed because I would never hurt my parents but what do I do with this information?

I am living proof that nature outweighs nurture as I have always had very specific interests that my parents and big sister did not share - mostly large animal/snow related. Bizarre but genuinely true!

Apparently when I was born I had blue black hair and I have very dark brown eyes and a very rare Rh Neg blood group too. Until I did a DNA test I just thought that these things happened randomly but I googled pics of Sámi people and one of them looked more like my sister than my sister does!

As above, what do I do with this info, how do I process it? I love my Mum and Dad and my Sister but I cannot help but think that my 'heritage' needs acknowledging as well.

Renée Zellweger has Sami heritage.

Janegrey333 · 12/11/2020 00:00

Almond shaped eyes.

I'm adopted and recently found out that I am one quarter Sámi

joanwinifred · 12/11/2020 00:14

I'm half Sámi.
If you want to know more the best thing to do would be to travel to a Sámi region - but it depends on what area your family would have come from, as culturally there are some differences between areas.
I think the only way to truly get an experience of this would be to travel there.