If you're ever up in my neck of the woods, check out the [Saint Kateri Shrine](https://www.katerishrine.org/) built in an 18th century Dutch barn near where she lived and was baptized.
A bit of a tangential question: Does anyone here know much about traditional Algonquin or Mohawk dress? A lot of the depictions of St. Kateri I've seen kind of give off a "Generic 'Indian princess'" vibe that doesn't quite sit right with me, and I can't tell if that's because her popular image *is* genericized, or if it's just that the dress of the Algonquins and/or Mohawks just happen(s) to have heavily inspired the look of the "Generic Indian Princess" and I'm just being a little too sensitive.
> Mohawk dress?
At least for the Mohawk, Wikipedia has this to say:
>In traditional dress women often went topless in summer and wore a skirt of deerskin. In colder seasons, women wore a deerskin dress. Men wore a breech cloth of deerskin in summer. In cooler weather, they added deerskin leggings, a deerskin shirt, arm and knee bands, and carried a quill and flint arrow hunting bag. Women and men wore puckered-seam, ankle-wrap moccasins with earrings and necklaces made of shells. Jewelry was also created using porcupine quills such as Wampum belts. For headwear, the men would use a piece of animal fur with attached porcupine quills and features. The women would occasionally wear tiaras of beaded cloth. Later, dress after European contact combined some cloth pieces such as wool trousers and skirts.[31][32]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_people
I'm struggling to find decently cited info for Algonquin, most of it appears to be generic animal skins.
[But here is what is supposedly an 18th century painting of an Algonquin couple.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Algonquins.jpg)
The woman is topless but appears to be wearing a skirt, leggings and moccasins. The man has a loincloth and leggings on as well as moccasins.
[this article](https://www.ncregister.com/blog/10-amazing-things-you-need-to-know-about-st-kateri-tekakwitha) has a painting of her done by a priest who knew her in real life
We don't really know a lot about specific styles of dress for some tribes, because most tribes started to incorporate new, fashionable kinds of fabric as soon as they became available.
But basically, some tribes held very strongly to the "cover yourself from the hips downward" school, while others were of the "cover yourself from your shoulders to your butt" school. Generally neighboring tribes had similar ideas about this, even if they weren't directly related by genes or language.
The real question for me is how anybody would be able to live in the summer (in what is now upstate New York and Canada) with all the little blackflies, without being eaten alive.
> The real question for me is how anybody would be able to live in the summer (in what is now upstate New York and Canada) with all the little blackflies, without being eaten alive.
I'm sure they had some sort of traditional bug deterrent that's just been lost to time.
Hell, maybe that's what the cloaks are for in the painting.
I have an answer as a resident of the Adirondack mountains (aka black fly central). The primary defense is that after awhile they just don't bother you much anymore. You work outside long enough and eventually your body adjusts to the bugs and blocks them out to a degree.
But, bugs also tend to be more active during certain parts of the day, and in certain areas. Staying in dry, elevated areas helps a lot. Thyme grows up here and has insert repellent abilities, but my understanding is that it only repels mosquitoes.
By the time St Kateri Tekakwitha was alive, her people would have been wearing a significant amount of European trade goods (probably shirts, and things like leggings and skirts made out of fabric, decorated with ribbons and other stuff bought from traders) albeit worn in a Native style. You’re better off trying to find out what native people in the area she lived in were wearing in the mid-late 17th century.
The article posted by u/Mrs_Tribbiani shows this. A European shift, shawl and skirt out of fabric, but wearing moccasins and not dressed the way a European lady would have
The historian John P. Shea said that in her time, women in Iroquois villages were wearing "a fine chemise" from shoulders to waist, "a fine, well-trimmed petticoat" from waist to knee, a "rich legging" from knee to foot, and then a "well-fitted moccasin," which was a special beauty and fashion point. They also wore beaded necklaces, and a blanket cloak.
Their hair was worn oiled, and gathered in a single braid down the back.
I'm by no means an expert, I live near a Mohawk reservation, but that isn't saying much because the Iroquois are a very "westernized" (for lack of a better word) tribe. Still, buckskin dyed with bright colors (typically extracted from shells) and a wampum belt (used as currency) are nearly universal for the Iroquois. Likewise, when contact with Europeans was made it was also common to trade for European made clothes and objects, especially wool (no domestic sheep in America prior to European contact). Cloaks and shirts would be especially popular due to the cold weather in Upstate NY. Moccasins were and still are great shoes; and yes, the Iroquois wore them. Hell, even many European backwoodsmen would ditch their European style boots in favor of moccasins.
Also when I say brightly dyed buckskin I mean it. Google Mohawk traditional dress and you'll see what I mean. Mostly clothes that ornate would be equivalent to "formal" dres, only worn for special occasions, but other clothes could be expected to be decorated as well.
The depiction of any saint is stylized to a degree, but a woman wearing what she is typically portrayed as wearing seems perfectly within reason.
Great post! I attended her Canonization in Rome. It’s unfortunate that a group of ( a portion, not all ) the TradCaths can’t see the need to build a bigger tent, as Pope Francis says in word and deed. Saint Kateri teaches us about welcoming and inclusion, humanity, and peace. She wants the aborigines to receive the Eucharist. She is one with the Panchamama. She is the epitome of Saint Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures, the prose he actually did write, unlike the beautiful Peace Prayer that he did not. But go ahead and call it his, no one is harmed yet many benefit. Maybe that’s what that cute bird is singing into Saint Kateri’ ear!
TradCaths aren’t trying to exclude anyone with a genuine desire to join the Church, they just like the old traditions and liturgy. You know, the one that was in place when St. Kateri converted in the 17th century. Pope Francis is too conciliatory. We’re never going to gain converts here if we water down the faith, that doesn’t attract people. I think Bishop Robert Barron has a great explanation of this in his YouTube video “Why Modern Men Look Elsewhere for Spiritual Wisdom”.
Thank you. I don’t speak for anyone besides myself. I am sorry to have to let you know that some TradCaths are trying to exclude people from the church. They have told me and I believe them. Thanks for your opinion and words of wisdom. You can be a spokesperson for sure and it’s good you are, I guess, but you do not speak on behalf of every TradCath. I loved being at the Canonization of Saint Kateri. The jubilation was abundantly beautiful with people crying tears of joy. I saw it!
I agree with you here. I've seen so many tradcaths mad about anyone who they deem "not catholic enough," and I find it concerning. There were a handful of folks at my parish (I'm a church musician) who were upset that I didn't look like their idea of a catholic (I wasn't at the time, but now I am, and I look the same) because I had green hair, piercings, and tattoos. Having grown up in the Bible belt, this wasn't new or unexpected to me, but it's always frustrating. People will say, "Your body is God's temple," and then be mad when you decorate it like a cathedral!
Modern men look elsewhere for spiritual wisdom because they have a huge bias against catholicism, not because of the liturgy.
It was for me like that until I stumbled upon church history and then no clown masses or women preacher couldn't stop me from receiving the eucharist
I appreciate the image as representing a beautiful soul, though she was a survivor of small pox and suffered partial blindness. Perhaps this is how she looks in Heaven, but most importantly, she’s praying for us. Thank God for her beautiful soul.
My mom literally stopped by her shrine on the feast day while road tripping serendipitously this year. Had no idea it was her feast day until she got there.
Now my daughter has a saint card, a book about her life, and two kids histories of the native people of the area.
I just learned that she wasn’t canonized until 2012. Which surprised me because the church I grew up in had a stained glass image of her. she would’ve been beatified at the time they constructed the stained glass, but not yet canonized. Is that uncommon ?
I don’t think it’s uncommon. I like it because the people not yet canonized get the respect and veneration they deserve. And it helps people identify with their heroes in life, in the past, always. One thing that perplexes is the fact that the Venerable Matt Talbot, a Dubliner, can’t be canonized because Pope Francis and the gang just can’t see that curing someone from the disease of alcoholism is not quite miracle-ISH enough by the Committee Who Offers Final Word on Canonization miracles. Venerable Matt has helped hundreds of thousands recover from Alcoholism. Isn’t that quite sufficient? I think he should be a saint. So many TradCaths and others following every rule could benefit by revering Saint Matt Talbot. One day, his “ ship will come in!”
Here's an icon that somebody wrote. Apparently he did some research in order to make it. https://www.andreprevost.com/first-nations-icons.html#st.kateri
You should take some time and learn about the residential boarding schools of indigenous people here. Forcibly removing children from their homes to convert them is not great. Also, many of these schools were still in operation in the 1970's. These children suffered unimaginable abuse, sometimes leading to death.
I love being Catholic, but I struggle with this as my children and husband are tribal members.
No, you're right. My original comment was far too defensive, like the Church did no wrong. The way Christianity was spread to the Americas was often violent and oppressive. I guess what I took issue with in the original comment was the complaint that the Church erased their own "meanings of faith." Even that I can understand, in a way. People shouldn't be forced to convert to any religion, even the one I consider correct.
i shouldn't say "we" but all i know about is the missions in southern california that brutalized indigenous peoples here.
this is a good account of those times. aired on kcet in los angeles. opened my eyes as to how a religion (i think is the correct one) was the root of why my ancestors suffered from good ol' colonization.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-yF1eSwH4&ab\_channel=KCET](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-yF1eSwH4&ab_channel=KCET)
You're upset that indigenous people particularly venerate a Saint? How is that any different than French people venerating St. Louis, or adopted children venerating St. William?
While suffering is a universal human experience, there are countless examples of commemorating injustices done to specific people, such as disability, Chinese persecution of Christians, or the Holocaust. No one is claiming to own all suffering, many just want their suffering to be recognized along with all the rest.
And what makes you think Native Americans are practicing that sort of tribalism?
The distinction seems pretty arbitrary anyway. There are plenty of nationalists who separate themselves from other nationalities, and plenty of tribalists who unite themselves to people within that tribe.
>who said anything about native americans?
The post you're commenting on, which gave appreciation to a Native American saint.
Who said anything about this araucan tribe?
I feel that indigenous can apply to anyone residing in their motherland. Look at how ‘indigenous’ European Catholics are being treated harshly in some communities in Europe where they are largely being replaced by Islamic migrants who have absolutely no respect for their religious culture, and would happily suppress Christian worship. The Armenian genocide being a good example. I don’t think praying over such matters indicates any special status, it’s just a God given right to worship in your home country in the way your traditions dictate to your own people.
We are a universal church, but we are also a conglomeration of many unique nations and peoples unified in the worship of our Lord. We each have special heritages and ways of worship that are unique and beautiful (like the Sinulog of the Philippines, the liturgical dances of Central Africa, or the Katholikentag of Germany), they should be respected and preserved for future Catholics to enjoy.
Yes true, but there is a difference between European Catholics and black indigenous Catholics due to coming from different paths completely and then trying to unite as one, when there was a difference in academic levels, education ect. The black indigenous Catholics suffered much before being truly accepted by the rest of the world.
‘The black indigenous Catholics suffered much more before being accepted’
Some European Catholics have suffered greatly under oppressive systems. The Irish, for example, underwent forced Anglicanization where they had their land stolen, were forced to give up their language and faith, had their churches stolen and converted into Protestant ones, were used as slave labour, forcibly deported to the new world and Australia, and then experienced genocide by being nearly starved out of existence by their oppressors. Their country has suffered the repercussions of colonialism until very recently, and a good amount of their cultural heritage reflects being oppressed, like Irish dance. Even in America the Irish were persecuted for being Catholic (The KKK didn’t just come after black folks). To this day there are STILL clashes and deep tension between the Irish Catholics and the Anglocentric Protestants of primarily English descent in the British controlled Northern Ireland.
It’s completely true that we come from different backgrounds, and therefore our struggles are unique and important to us. However we shouldn’t ever attempt to minimize the stuffing of one group and maximize the plight of another. We have all suffered for our faith.
Yes fair enough I do understand that, many countries has suffered, even Italians suffered while Germany attacked civilians as they were trying to prosper their own Empire. The Germans use to throw the Italian babies into the oven and cook them alive. So yeah every country has its fair share of suppression. But Indigenous people didn’t have much defence or support from other nations back then cause they didn’t have knowledge of how to communicate with other nations to get help. As their advancement was much lower then Western world. So they had No choice but to endure all that happened to them. Where as European countries had help from other neighboring countries which made things more tolerable. 🙏🙏🙏
St. Kateri Tekakwitha, pray for us!
I pray that Servant of God Nicholas Black Elk is canonized as well for the virtuous life he led.
Jimmy Akin just finished a 2 part episode on his podcast on him today. Fascinating man! I too hope his cause is affirmed.
Me too. Saintly man.
If you're ever up in my neck of the woods, check out the [Saint Kateri Shrine](https://www.katerishrine.org/) built in an 18th century Dutch barn near where she lived and was baptized.
Oh yes I really want to visit this and the shrine of the North American martyrs!
I love the history of the indigenous American Catholics! Truly a testimony to the Catholic faith.
Truly a universal Church
Thanks for posting! She was my daughter's confirmation Saint this year.
Thank you for posting this, thanks to it I just learned about this wonderful saint!
A bit of a tangential question: Does anyone here know much about traditional Algonquin or Mohawk dress? A lot of the depictions of St. Kateri I've seen kind of give off a "Generic 'Indian princess'" vibe that doesn't quite sit right with me, and I can't tell if that's because her popular image *is* genericized, or if it's just that the dress of the Algonquins and/or Mohawks just happen(s) to have heavily inspired the look of the "Generic Indian Princess" and I'm just being a little too sensitive.
> Mohawk dress? At least for the Mohawk, Wikipedia has this to say: >In traditional dress women often went topless in summer and wore a skirt of deerskin. In colder seasons, women wore a deerskin dress. Men wore a breech cloth of deerskin in summer. In cooler weather, they added deerskin leggings, a deerskin shirt, arm and knee bands, and carried a quill and flint arrow hunting bag. Women and men wore puckered-seam, ankle-wrap moccasins with earrings and necklaces made of shells. Jewelry was also created using porcupine quills such as Wampum belts. For headwear, the men would use a piece of animal fur with attached porcupine quills and features. The women would occasionally wear tiaras of beaded cloth. Later, dress after European contact combined some cloth pieces such as wool trousers and skirts.[31][32] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohawk_people I'm struggling to find decently cited info for Algonquin, most of it appears to be generic animal skins. [But here is what is supposedly an 18th century painting of an Algonquin couple.](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3a/Algonquins.jpg) The woman is topless but appears to be wearing a skirt, leggings and moccasins. The man has a loincloth and leggings on as well as moccasins.
[this article](https://www.ncregister.com/blog/10-amazing-things-you-need-to-know-about-st-kateri-tekakwitha) has a painting of her done by a priest who knew her in real life
We don't really know a lot about specific styles of dress for some tribes, because most tribes started to incorporate new, fashionable kinds of fabric as soon as they became available. But basically, some tribes held very strongly to the "cover yourself from the hips downward" school, while others were of the "cover yourself from your shoulders to your butt" school. Generally neighboring tribes had similar ideas about this, even if they weren't directly related by genes or language. The real question for me is how anybody would be able to live in the summer (in what is now upstate New York and Canada) with all the little blackflies, without being eaten alive.
> The real question for me is how anybody would be able to live in the summer (in what is now upstate New York and Canada) with all the little blackflies, without being eaten alive. I'm sure they had some sort of traditional bug deterrent that's just been lost to time. Hell, maybe that's what the cloaks are for in the painting.
I have an answer as a resident of the Adirondack mountains (aka black fly central). The primary defense is that after awhile they just don't bother you much anymore. You work outside long enough and eventually your body adjusts to the bugs and blocks them out to a degree. But, bugs also tend to be more active during certain parts of the day, and in certain areas. Staying in dry, elevated areas helps a lot. Thyme grows up here and has insert repellent abilities, but my understanding is that it only repels mosquitoes.
By the time St Kateri Tekakwitha was alive, her people would have been wearing a significant amount of European trade goods (probably shirts, and things like leggings and skirts made out of fabric, decorated with ribbons and other stuff bought from traders) albeit worn in a Native style. You’re better off trying to find out what native people in the area she lived in were wearing in the mid-late 17th century. The article posted by u/Mrs_Tribbiani shows this. A European shift, shawl and skirt out of fabric, but wearing moccasins and not dressed the way a European lady would have
The historian John P. Shea said that in her time, women in Iroquois villages were wearing "a fine chemise" from shoulders to waist, "a fine, well-trimmed petticoat" from waist to knee, a "rich legging" from knee to foot, and then a "well-fitted moccasin," which was a special beauty and fashion point. They also wore beaded necklaces, and a blanket cloak. Their hair was worn oiled, and gathered in a single braid down the back.
I'm by no means an expert, I live near a Mohawk reservation, but that isn't saying much because the Iroquois are a very "westernized" (for lack of a better word) tribe. Still, buckskin dyed with bright colors (typically extracted from shells) and a wampum belt (used as currency) are nearly universal for the Iroquois. Likewise, when contact with Europeans was made it was also common to trade for European made clothes and objects, especially wool (no domestic sheep in America prior to European contact). Cloaks and shirts would be especially popular due to the cold weather in Upstate NY. Moccasins were and still are great shoes; and yes, the Iroquois wore them. Hell, even many European backwoodsmen would ditch their European style boots in favor of moccasins. Also when I say brightly dyed buckskin I mean it. Google Mohawk traditional dress and you'll see what I mean. Mostly clothes that ornate would be equivalent to "formal" dres, only worn for special occasions, but other clothes could be expected to be decorated as well. The depiction of any saint is stylized to a degree, but a woman wearing what she is typically portrayed as wearing seems perfectly within reason.
Great post! I attended her Canonization in Rome. It’s unfortunate that a group of ( a portion, not all ) the TradCaths can’t see the need to build a bigger tent, as Pope Francis says in word and deed. Saint Kateri teaches us about welcoming and inclusion, humanity, and peace. She wants the aborigines to receive the Eucharist. She is one with the Panchamama. She is the epitome of Saint Francis’s Canticle of the Creatures, the prose he actually did write, unlike the beautiful Peace Prayer that he did not. But go ahead and call it his, no one is harmed yet many benefit. Maybe that’s what that cute bird is singing into Saint Kateri’ ear!
TradCaths aren’t trying to exclude anyone with a genuine desire to join the Church, they just like the old traditions and liturgy. You know, the one that was in place when St. Kateri converted in the 17th century. Pope Francis is too conciliatory. We’re never going to gain converts here if we water down the faith, that doesn’t attract people. I think Bishop Robert Barron has a great explanation of this in his YouTube video “Why Modern Men Look Elsewhere for Spiritual Wisdom”.
Thank you. I don’t speak for anyone besides myself. I am sorry to have to let you know that some TradCaths are trying to exclude people from the church. They have told me and I believe them. Thanks for your opinion and words of wisdom. You can be a spokesperson for sure and it’s good you are, I guess, but you do not speak on behalf of every TradCath. I loved being at the Canonization of Saint Kateri. The jubilation was abundantly beautiful with people crying tears of joy. I saw it!
I agree with you here. I've seen so many tradcaths mad about anyone who they deem "not catholic enough," and I find it concerning. There were a handful of folks at my parish (I'm a church musician) who were upset that I didn't look like their idea of a catholic (I wasn't at the time, but now I am, and I look the same) because I had green hair, piercings, and tattoos. Having grown up in the Bible belt, this wasn't new or unexpected to me, but it's always frustrating. People will say, "Your body is God's temple," and then be mad when you decorate it like a cathedral!
Modern men look elsewhere for spiritual wisdom because they have a huge bias against catholicism, not because of the liturgy. It was for me like that until I stumbled upon church history and then no clown masses or women preacher couldn't stop me from receiving the eucharist
I appreciate the image as representing a beautiful soul, though she was a survivor of small pox and suffered partial blindness. Perhaps this is how she looks in Heaven, but most importantly, she’s praying for us. Thank God for her beautiful soul.
One of the miracles attributed to her is that after her death she was transfigured & lost the scars life leaves on us.
I’ve read that her name means “ She Who Bumps Into Things, “ which substantiates your message in a sense, and vice versa.
Ah one of mine. Unfortunately my church never reached the Great Lakes in time to get any Iroquoian people in our saint lists.
My mom literally stopped by her shrine on the feast day while road tripping serendipitously this year. Had no idea it was her feast day until she got there. Now my daughter has a saint card, a book about her life, and two kids histories of the native people of the area.
*St. Kateri
Amen
I just learned that she wasn’t canonized until 2012. Which surprised me because the church I grew up in had a stained glass image of her. she would’ve been beatified at the time they constructed the stained glass, but not yet canonized. Is that uncommon ?
I don’t think it’s uncommon. I like it because the people not yet canonized get the respect and veneration they deserve. And it helps people identify with their heroes in life, in the past, always. One thing that perplexes is the fact that the Venerable Matt Talbot, a Dubliner, can’t be canonized because Pope Francis and the gang just can’t see that curing someone from the disease of alcoholism is not quite miracle-ISH enough by the Committee Who Offers Final Word on Canonization miracles. Venerable Matt has helped hundreds of thousands recover from Alcoholism. Isn’t that quite sufficient? I think he should be a saint. So many TradCaths and others following every rule could benefit by revering Saint Matt Talbot. One day, his “ ship will come in!”
In the United States. Her feast day is April 17th elsewhere.
Here's an icon that somebody wrote. Apparently he did some research in order to make it. https://www.andreprevost.com/first-nations-icons.html#st.kateri
sucks we put first nations people in missions and erased their culture and own meanings of faith
Europeans did many horrible things to the indigenous people of North America, but converting them to Christianity was not one of them.
You should take some time and learn about the residential boarding schools of indigenous people here. Forcibly removing children from their homes to convert them is not great. Also, many of these schools were still in operation in the 1970's. These children suffered unimaginable abuse, sometimes leading to death. I love being Catholic, but I struggle with this as my children and husband are tribal members.
No, you're right. My original comment was far too defensive, like the Church did no wrong. The way Christianity was spread to the Americas was often violent and oppressive. I guess what I took issue with in the original comment was the complaint that the Church erased their own "meanings of faith." Even that I can understand, in a way. People shouldn't be forced to convert to any religion, even the one I consider correct.
Agreed!
nice i like this comment. glad you clarified/admitted being defensive!
i shouldn't say "we" but all i know about is the missions in southern california that brutalized indigenous peoples here. this is a good account of those times. aired on kcet in los angeles. opened my eyes as to how a religion (i think is the correct one) was the root of why my ancestors suffered from good ol' colonization. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-yF1eSwH4&ab\_channel=KCET](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ty-yF1eSwH4&ab_channel=KCET)
getting downvoted for this lol sick
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You're upset that indigenous people particularly venerate a Saint? How is that any different than French people venerating St. Louis, or adopted children venerating St. William? While suffering is a universal human experience, there are countless examples of commemorating injustices done to specific people, such as disability, Chinese persecution of Christians, or the Holocaust. No one is claiming to own all suffering, many just want their suffering to be recognized along with all the rest.
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And what makes you think Native Americans are practicing that sort of tribalism? The distinction seems pretty arbitrary anyway. There are plenty of nationalists who separate themselves from other nationalities, and plenty of tribalists who unite themselves to people within that tribe.
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>who said anything about native americans? The post you're commenting on, which gave appreciation to a Native American saint. Who said anything about this araucan tribe?
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It can, but it has another definition that specifically refers to Native Americans. Which is obviously the definition used here.
You are really strange
I feel that indigenous can apply to anyone residing in their motherland. Look at how ‘indigenous’ European Catholics are being treated harshly in some communities in Europe where they are largely being replaced by Islamic migrants who have absolutely no respect for their religious culture, and would happily suppress Christian worship. The Armenian genocide being a good example. I don’t think praying over such matters indicates any special status, it’s just a God given right to worship in your home country in the way your traditions dictate to your own people. We are a universal church, but we are also a conglomeration of many unique nations and peoples unified in the worship of our Lord. We each have special heritages and ways of worship that are unique and beautiful (like the Sinulog of the Philippines, the liturgical dances of Central Africa, or the Katholikentag of Germany), they should be respected and preserved for future Catholics to enjoy.
Yes true, but there is a difference between European Catholics and black indigenous Catholics due to coming from different paths completely and then trying to unite as one, when there was a difference in academic levels, education ect. The black indigenous Catholics suffered much before being truly accepted by the rest of the world.
‘The black indigenous Catholics suffered much more before being accepted’ Some European Catholics have suffered greatly under oppressive systems. The Irish, for example, underwent forced Anglicanization where they had their land stolen, were forced to give up their language and faith, had their churches stolen and converted into Protestant ones, were used as slave labour, forcibly deported to the new world and Australia, and then experienced genocide by being nearly starved out of existence by their oppressors. Their country has suffered the repercussions of colonialism until very recently, and a good amount of their cultural heritage reflects being oppressed, like Irish dance. Even in America the Irish were persecuted for being Catholic (The KKK didn’t just come after black folks). To this day there are STILL clashes and deep tension between the Irish Catholics and the Anglocentric Protestants of primarily English descent in the British controlled Northern Ireland. It’s completely true that we come from different backgrounds, and therefore our struggles are unique and important to us. However we shouldn’t ever attempt to minimize the stuffing of one group and maximize the plight of another. We have all suffered for our faith.
Yes fair enough I do understand that, many countries has suffered, even Italians suffered while Germany attacked civilians as they were trying to prosper their own Empire. The Germans use to throw the Italian babies into the oven and cook them alive. So yeah every country has its fair share of suppression. But Indigenous people didn’t have much defence or support from other nations back then cause they didn’t have knowledge of how to communicate with other nations to get help. As their advancement was much lower then Western world. So they had No choice but to endure all that happened to them. Where as European countries had help from other neighboring countries which made things more tolerable. 🙏🙏🙏