Jaci Dawn

I have a lot of weird possessions, so this is just “one of many”. Some I inherited from my parents and some I picked up, all on my lonesome – or with the aid of my husband, who is also drawn to weird possessions.

Weird possession du jour: a carved wooden snake. It’s 20″ long, and appears to slither across the floor.

I don’t know who carved it. I am certain it came from either the Wilcox side of my lineage or the Cusick side. Basically, it was in my father’s family, not my mother’s more Scots side of the family tree.

For that matter, although we celebrate the Scots/Irish, my DNA tells a very different story. The Scots and Irish were simply more recent immigrants to the United States, or the prouder of the lineages that came down through the ages. I can trace the Cusicks back to Ireland, and the Melroses back to Scotland. The Wilcoxes and Robinsons come from a much more diverse (albeit, very white) nationalities. The closest my blood line gets to possibly being mixed with anything less than Northern Europe is the 13% Iberian Peninsula.

Seriously. Europe West – 40%. That would include the Dutch (Van Esseltyne would be a huge hint to Dutch ancestry, and probably why I own a set of adult wooden shoes and a set of toddler wooden shoes).  30% Great Britain, which includes the more recent Scotland arrivals of the 1800s.. 7% Ireland (probably all Cusick). 6% Scandanavia. 4% Finland. I’m going out on a limb here and guessing the Finnish and Scandinavian happened during all the many raids and pillages of great Britain. I mean, what is Great Britain, anyway, except a hodge-podge of Europe West, Scandinavia, Norse, and Roman?

But I digress. The snake.

It seems to have a very Norse personality, don’t you think?

Hell, I have no idea. I don’t know who sat on the porcah and did wood working. Who might have hammered scales into a piece of wood and carved a face into it, then handed it down to the next generation. Why my dad saved it.

It’s kind of cool, though.