Meshchan in the nobility
In the West, genealogical bureaus dealing with the compilation of pedigrees have been operating for a long time, say, in the USA the work of a specialist in archives costs from 20 to 75 dollars per hour. There are such enterprises in Russia as well, although more than a third of them are concentrated in Moscow, and since 1997 - in Ukraine. At the end of the investigation, which costs about three thousand dollars, you will be handed your pedigree in the form of a luxuriously designed book or picture in a heavy frame. Not everyone can afford to spend money on the services of a specialist, so many look for their roots themselves, and dig up to the most interesting things. One of my namesake created a website that collects information about the various branches of our family name. Thanks to him I know that my distant ancestors were most likely from the Novgorod principality, and at the end of the 17th century they went to serve to the southern borders of Muscovy. But I was so lucky with the name: it is not so common that namesakes appear accidentally. And how to be some Kuznetsov or Shevchenko, who in every yard - any number? The other side of the fashion for genealogy is the desire of the beau monde to flaunt a noble lineage. Loving successful businessmen and secular ladies, as if casually say in an interview that their ancestors on one of the lines - princes or counts. From the Ukrainian celebrities, for example, Natalia Mogilevskaya raises her family directly to Peter the Grave itself, Katya Buzhinskaya comes from a Polish noble family, and Svetlana Loboda also got an ancestor with her own coat of arms. Well, if the coveted ancestors with blue blood are not in any way, then you can become the proud founder of a new dynasty - for example, buy a noble title. Several years ago on the site of a Russian noble society "The New Elite of Russia", the title of the prince cost 12,000 euros, the count - 8,000, the baron - 5 and a half thousand. True, now no trace of this society was found on the Internet. But it is quite possible to apply to the same genealogical bureaus to compile a draft of the family coat of arms according to all the rules of heraldry. How can I not remember the classics - "Meshcherin in the nobility" Moliere is relevant at all times. However, not all prosperous seek to establish a dynasty. For example, one of the richest people on the planet, investor Warren Buffett, is going to leave only one percent of his fortune to his children - the rest will be created by the charity foundation he founded. In the opinion of such as Buffett, children should not use what their parents earned, be it money, connections or titles - they should do everything themselves and not wait for gifts from fate. However, this is more like an American point of view: our newly-made millionaires are much more amorous. Seekers of their roots are so desperately digging in the past, as if their future depends on it. It's as if our common goal is to get to Adam and Eve to make sure that all people are brothers, not only in a metaphorical sense. Why do we need all such time-consuming excavations among the archival dust? What benefit do we derive from the information about our great-great-grandfathers-after all, they are by no means the nobles at all?
Secrets of Forgotten Ancestors
Heads of genealogical bureaus say that their clients are, first of all, mature, established personalities. It's not that young people are less interested in their ancestors and genealogy in general. Just a surge of interest in the distant past (if the composition of the genealogical tree was not a tradition in the family) usually falls on one of the age-related crises. The crisis is the time when a person updates his identity, realizing that the next stage of his life is over, and we need to look for something new. Turning to the history of his ancestors, he seeks an answer to the questions: "Who am I? Where am I from? Where do I go? "This is especially true in our time, when the links between generations are weakened, and many important documents are lost as a result of a series of wars and revolutions. Indeed, the 20th century saw many genealogical trees scattered into chips. Actually, this process began in the late XIX century, when many families moved from villages to cities, and in the latter the class barriers gradually blurred. After the revolution, the process accelerated: many concealed the fact that they came from nobles or clergy, or hastily emigrated, losing important documents, photographs and family relics along the way. The Civil War, and then the Second World War, left millions of children without fathers. Orphans were raised in foreign families or in orphanages, sometimes forgetting that once they had real parents. In the 60s and 70s, young people also actively moved from villages to cities, creating families and settling in a new place. As a result, in the modern world, especially in megacities, there are few families who have lived in the same place for at least three generations in a row. Globalization is also contributing to the gap between generations: today's young people, especially creative professions, prefer to become citizens of the world, moving from place to place and living abroad for a long time. However, social freedom, so desirable for many, sometimes weighs us down. And then we begin to dream of traditions, a predictable way of life, solid rules that have been tested for centuries. In this respect, compiling a pedigree or simply talking with older relatives is an effective help. Learning more about life in the past, we compare it with the present and reflect on what values of our ancestors it would be good to take in the present. And the more successfully and orderly our present, the more clearly we feel the yawning hole in the past, which must be filled in order for the life to finally find harmony. Apparently, therefore, celebrities dream of ancestral aristocrats - their glorious deeds could confirm the success achieved in the present. This same desire to tell the whole world about the achievements of their ancestors can also testify to the uncertainty in their present situation: is not a fake, unreal success, for the confirmation of which it is necessary to dust off the family portraits, authentic or fictitious? However, now the whole planet is a rather unstable and unsafe place, so the need for a quiet harbor, a family nest is very relevant. We live in a world of media images invented by marketers. These images, which are submitted as standards - such a modern woman should be, and such a man - entangle us, confuse us, make us feel our inferiority, if we do not conform to the ideals imposed on these or those parameters. In search of something authentic, the present, we aspire to touch the history of our ancestors. The same trend underlies retro fashion, vintage, handmade: in the media world, people begin to dream of lasting truths, and are looking for them in the past, which for the same reason is strongly romanticized. It is no accident and in psychotherapy, the popularity of methods related to the study of family relations is growing.
Voice of blood
Women often become interested in the past of their family when they create their own - for example, while waiting for a child or already on maternity leave. Maternity, as it were, activates in us the archaic destiny of a woman - to be the guardian of the family. In ancient times the family was led by the mother, and not by the father, as now. It's amazing that this tradition was preserved among the Jews, despite the fact that their culture is rather patriarchal. Our ancestors proceeded from the simple truth that the father of the child may be unknown or not at all the person with whom the woman linked her destiny - but everything is clear with her mother. Studying her family tree, the future mother seeks support and support for the young family in the generations of her ancestors, especially along the women's line. The search for connections with ancestors best suits the need, which psychologists call the sense of membership - a sense of belonging. This ineradicable need, by the way, is also exploited by marketers: remember how much advertising sells not so much cosmetics or food as an accessory to a certain group, an elite consisting of beautiful, prosperous and successful people. In obedience to this feeling, teenagers gather in groups and informal parties, and adults unite on the Internet in forums and in thematic communities. But intuitively we always feel that the most indestructible bonds are the bonds of blood. Knowledge of their ancestors helps us to always feel their invisible support, this is a kind of conversation through the ages with long dead, but very close people. Sometimes genealogical research leads to completely unexpected results - from intricate stories of life, reminiscent of adventure novels, to the remnants of family values. But more often returning to places associated with our ancestors does not give any bonuses, except emotional ones, but they turn out to be so powerful that almost everything that we felt before them fades before them. The psychologist told me the story of a woman from a family of Ukrainian immigrants who grew up in America, but one day she decided to find her roots and for this purpose came to Ukraine. Walking through the hundred-year-old garden that her great-grandfather planted, she experienced the strongest delight, the brightest experience, comparable to the mystical or religious. It turns out that the past, wrapped up in a mysterious veil, contains a powerful charge of energy, which will not slow to share with inquisitive researchers. It is the presence of this precious energy that makes it impossible to consider work on your genealogy as a waste of time. And it does not matter at all whether the ancestors were famous for something or were vegetated in obscurity, had a family coat of arms, or even could not read. We ourselves choose what we invest in: achieving and perpetuating one's name - or in relationships, to help people. Our ancestors also made a choice. Studying your genealogy, you can find many examples of how our modest ancestors invested in relationships, helped others, just were kind and honest. And you can say to yourself: I do not have a coat of arms, but I'm not "Ivan, not a kinship" - I was born thanks to many generations of worthy people. This is a support that we will never lose.
Pedigree in vitro
Your pedigree can be made not only by historians, but also by doctors - by one single analysis. Genetics allows not only to predict the possible development of hereditary diseases, but also shed light on your origin. The term "genomics" appeared in September 1990, with the launch of the Human Genome Project. However, the formation of this science occurred much earlier - when it became clear that in human diseases it is necessary to search for the "gene track". The most modern analysis of the genome is performed by saliva, and it is enough to do it once in a lifetime. It is carried out using biochips. The essence of this technology is that on a chip (it can be compared with a payment in radio electronics) in a certain order, "sewn" pieces of DNA. Depending on the capacity of the biochip, we can simultaneously count several million SNPs (variable points of the genome). They affect the formation of a genetic predisposition to a number of diseases. Reading of personal data makes it possible to identify with genetic relatives based on identical DNA on the maternal line, and for men also on paternal haplogroups (repeating DNA). Success in decoding the human genome allows you to find your relatives among most Asian, African and European peoples, and also determine where your ancestors came from. The fact is that the human genome has changed evolutionally, mutations have appeared and "fixed" in it, along which it is possible to trace the migration of the human race. Knowledge of your origin is also important for determining the predisposition to certain hereditary diseases. It is known that some ethnic groups are more prone to genetic diseases than others. For example, cystic fibrosis is typical for people of European descent, and the hereditary disease of Nijman Peak is a particular danger for Ashkenazi Jews. Genomics allows you to assess the risk of sudden death - the so-called "sudden death syndrome" occurs due to mutations in the genes involved in the regulation of the cardiovascular rhythm. The attending physician from your genome can learn not only about the predisposition to diseases, but also the reactions to medications, resistance to HIV, individual lactose intolerance, abilities for sports and much more.