My Heritage
Over the Christmas holiday, I got the coolest grab bag gift – a DNA test kit from MyHeritage!
I’ve always been curious about my heritage, and if there was a chance I was mixed with any other ethnicities. I heard once that someone in our extended or distant family had Polynesian roots, which piqued my interest (because who doesn’t want to be related to Moana?!)
The test itself was really simple – just a swab of the inside of your cheeks.
After 4-6 weeks of processing, I received my results. Check out the fancy presentation they put together!
For those who didn’t click the link, my heritage is *drumroll please*:
84.7% Filipino, Indonesian, and Malaysian
12.3% Chinese and Vietnamese
1.1% North African
1.0% Nigerian
0.9% Central American
My reactions:
- I’m not Spanish?! Considering Spain conquered the Philippines a couple centuries back, and how my maiden name is Spanish sounding, I thought I’d have some Spanish blood in me.
- I’m surprised that Chinese and Vietnamese are grouped together. I don’t know much about the science around ethnicities, so I’m wondering why that is.
- I’m 2.1% African! How cool is that?
- I’m curious about this 0.9% Central American estimate. I can only imagine what happened long ago that made someone from Central America connect to someone in Africa or Asia to get to me, centuries (or millenia?) later.
I really wish I could learn more about my ancestry. According to my mother, the Philippine town she grew up in was both occupied and bombed during World War II by the Japanese, and the building that housed all of those ancestry records was destroyed.
Luckily, she still has photos of my great-grandparents, which I’ve seen and remain fascinated by. I just wish we had more than that.
I’d love for my son to take this DNA test in the future. My husband apparently has Chinese blood, so I’m curious to know what my son’s ethnicity estimates would be!