Sara Oberhelman (sarmober@mars.utm.edu) from 192.239.156.36 at 09/24/98 04:29PM
comment
    I know I already posted once, but after I went a couple of discussions I have a few more things I want to add. There seems to be a big misconception to me about the north. Families are as every bit as close as they are down here. The town where I lived at was in north-central Illinois and was founded in 1836. Ottawa was very close knit as was the outlaying farming community. There were many families that had lived there for generations and passed family farms down to the generations. In town there was a close knit community of the "older" families in the community and there were families that had so many branches and intermarriages that it seemed like some people in the city were related to everyone somehow. Where I live up in Wisconsin it seems to be the same way. In our township there are a few family names that have millions of family members who farm within the same areas, and sometimes those families intermarry and stay in the same area, passing down their land to generations. Personally my father's family mostly lives in Minnesota and for holidays the majority conjugates at my Grandma's house. Although there isn't the tradition of eating things like Okra, and the like-- we still have our own traditions. The foods a bit different-- nobody eats grits, okra, etc.-- we have double baked potatoes, Brats, Kilbosa, Saurkrat, etc. I don't know about the funerals, that may be a difference in religion. That is a huge difference though. The majority of churches in Ottawa were Catholic, Luthern, and those such as First Congregational-- and in Wisconsin it's mostly Catholic and Luthern (and we do have Amish)-- but very, very few Baptist, Pentacostal, Church of Christ, etc. The length of church services where I'm from usually depends on the religion of the family and whether they request a long service, or prefer a short one-- and families respect that. It is not uncommon to have smaller funerals for family and close friends only, but we do have our fair share of long ones. Also, the cemetaries were maticulously taken care of but people did decorate graves and the decorations were left on there for a long time-- I had not heard of cemetaries that took ornaments off after a week. The north has our own culture, but it isn't so isolated as the stereo type may think. The west is a bit different-- but the north has been established for a while. My dad's side of the family has been in the Iowa/Nebraska/Minnesota area since the 1840's.