Articles: Roots, Veneti

Between the sixties and the seventies, I spent about eight years in Madagascar as a lay missionary. I was astonished by the knowledge the Malagasy have of their family history. The recollection of their genealogy goes way back, generally up to the seventh ancestor, in same cases even to their fifteenth. They knew their family roots very well. My knowledge of the history of my family stops short at my two grandfathers, my father’s father and my mother’s father.

In reading the Gospel of Matthew, in chapter 1-17, Jesus’ family tree goes from Abraham to Joseph and Mary, for at the end it says: “…the sum of generations is therefore: fourteen from Abraham to David; fourteen from David to the Babylonian deportation; and fourteen from the Babylonian deportation to Christ.” Woooooooha…forty-two generations!!!

Then in Luke’s Gospel in chapter 3: 23-38, it goes even further. “When he began, Jesus was about thirty years old, being the son, as it was thought, of Joseph who was the son of Heli…” [v.23], and traces the lineage back to “Adam, son of God,” [v.38.] How many generations are there? Sorry, but I lost count.

Now here in Australia there is very little history; it goes back less than 250 years. Look around you; anywhere you go in Australia, there are just a few monuments or memorials that remind you of the past - the first fleet or World War I and World War II. That is all.

It’s sad really, because where there is no history there is no knowledge of your past. With no recollection of your past, it’s like living in a vacuum. Or you are like a sheep in a big fold.

For long time, I thought belonging to a country which had given you a birthplace, to be important to anyone living on this earth. However, I discovered only recently that to know the origin of one’s own people, namely, the roots, it’s even more important.

I am an Italian. I am also a Veneto from Adria, which is the most ancient town in Italy - even ancient Rome was built five centuries after Adria was founded by the Etruscans[1] - or by the Greek hero Diomede[2], depending on what version of history you follow.

Not only did I learn that Adria has almost three thousand years of history, but the Veneti, the people from the region of Veneto in the northeast of Italy, predated any other ethnic group in Europe[3], even the Celts.

I have always thought that Italy had a long and very interesting history for Italians to be proud of. Even so, it’s known to the historians that the Italians are a mixture of several groups of people with different historical backgrounds. Today there are twenty regions in Italy and each one of them with its own local dialect. But Veneto, or better to say the Venetic language and culture, because of its rich history, is number one in importance today[4] - maybe equal or even more important than the Etruscan.

How ironic for me to say that today! When I was a teenager and living in Adria, I was ashamed of my own cultural heritage. One of the reasons I was ashamed was that I could not speak Italian properly – most of the Veneti never spoke a word of Italian in those days, for it was a foreign language to them. Moreover, even when I tried my best to speak a passable Italian, people from other regions detected my Veneto accent. They would say, “You are a Veneto, aren’t you? I caught your accent from your first word.”

I found this situation frustrating to the point that at the age of eighteen, I stopped speaking the Veneto dialect altogether, even at home. My parents and relatives did not take this lightly, for they saw my new attitude as a sign of superiority on my part.

“What do you think you are now, you smart arse!” they snapped at me fiercely.

Today, after so many years, I really regret having no longer spoken my own language. I lost entirely the ability to speak Veneto, even though I understand it, or most of it, anyway.

Conclusion

The opposite may also be true, “He who doesn’t know his past has no future.” It is like going in a journey without destination, or around in circles and ending up where one started - not a very nice prospect really.

For in much wisdom is much grief; and he who increases knowledge increases pain.

...but the excellency of knowledge is that wisdom gives life to those who have it.

[1] The Etruscan city of Adria ("Hatria") underlies the modern city, three to four meters below the current level – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adria.

[2] See: Ancient Venets - http://www.veneto.org/history/venetic.htm.

[3] See: http://www.veneto.org/history/venetic.htm; also: Paleoveneti - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adriatic_Veneti

[4] See: http://www.veneto.org/history/venetic.htm