I feel bad for the people whose heritages have been erased.

@revenant Yeah, Sami.
My grandmother was Lulesami, but ended up a victim to "Norwegianization", got a Norwegian name, and kept my mom from learning the Lulesaami language or interacting with Lulesami culture in fear of ruining her life like hers had been by Norwegian government.

There was this whole thing for huge chunks of Norwegian history where they tried to get rid of the Sami people, regarding them as a "mentally handicapped" wild people. In an attempt to get rid of this "madness", Sami kids would get Norwegian names, be taken to Norwegian-only boarding schools, punished for partaking in Sami culture, etc.

So I'm 1/4 Lulesámi, enough to be allowed to have Sámi as my side language instead of New Norwegian, enough to become a Reindeer herder with no issues, but it sucks never knowing if I'm learning correct information or not.

What if my grandma's family had a dialect that's lost to time now, and I'm learning the Saami's answer to Oxford English? I can never know 😩

@NorthernRoses that's true. Bit of a hole in your heart.

@SW-User the slow slash and burn too..you know the everyday wearing down of cultures from something...