kilts, horseback riding and genetic memory

[Troy]

I think there is something to genetic memory as I think I have expeireinced it, myself. But, on thr other hand, why does this genetic memory only take us back to the beautiful Highlands? Why doesn't anyone have a genetic memory of our more distant Celtic past migrating westwardly across Europe? Does anyone?

I grew up knowing that I was of Cornish extraction on my father's side, but knew absolutely nothing about my mother's background.

When I was about eighteen I discovered Irish music, and gradually began to develop an interest in all aspects of Irish history and culture. When I was in my mid-twenties I overheard my father telling a friend at a party that I was going to Ireland later that year, and that he wasn't surprised at all because he had always understood that I had an "Irish connection" on my mother's side.

I'm now 40, and it was two years ago that I discovered that my mother was raised by her maternal grandmother who was born in Australia to Irish parents. Apparently my mother identified herself as an "Irish Catholic"!

Now, none of this proves that there is such a thing as 'genetic memory', because Irish music is wonderful, and many people with not a drop of Irish blood have a great interest in Irish culture. What I can say, though, is that I spent my entire early adulthood being drawn towrds "Irishness" without knowing that I was of Irish extraction.

Regards,

Troy

[Bellfree]

i guess the most interesting example of "genetic memory" is that of a friend, now deceased, who invented a one-handed canoe paddle for use while fishing. He actually had it patented but never developed the idea commercially. A couple of year later, he was in Scotland rummaging in an antique shop when he discovered a similar paddle, not of modern plastic but wood, and was amazed. Then he said he turned it over and written on the other side was the maker, a man with the same last name: Proctor. He said the hair stood up on the back of his neck.