What’s What?
I’ve always wanted to know “where” I came from. Just like seeing is believing, knowing is freeing. I took the My Heritage DNA test a while ago and ended up with results that have been on my mind ever since. Growing up, outside of my immediate family and members of my family that I knew, I really didn’t know where my ancestors came from so among other things, I didn’t know the answers to questions I had always been asked: what are you mixed with?, are you Blasian?, a Pacific-Islander?, and the infamous, are you mixed with Asian? Since I didn’t know for sure, I just always said no and claimed Black, period.
My first surprise was that I’m only a very small percentage of Asian. And since it is inevitable for Black Americans to have mixed DNA, overall, I was very pleased with my results.
My DNA Ancestry Results
I am still 100% DeAira however I am made up of several different ethnicities:
The experience
The experience was cool. The process was simple, easy, and the turnaround was relatively quick (around 3 weeks). The results are concise, straight to the point. MyHeritage labels the results as “ethnicity estimates”, which basically means the percentages tell you, approximately, how much of your DNA comes from various parts/regions of the world. I felt the most comfortable giving them my DNA as opposed to the numerous companies to choose from after doing my own Googles. Read and learn more about what they do and how they do it here.
The reason
The reason I wanted to take the test was as simple as the process: I’ve just always wanted to know. I’m still growing up but I feel like younger me would have appreciated knowing, especially growing up as a young woman in America. The more and more I learn about Black and African history beyond what we were taught, the more I side eye America and its version of events.
So, what is DNA?
Some time during the process, I googled DNA so I could have a better understanding about what it is exactly. Maybe it’s because Biology wasn’t my favorite subject, but DNA isn’t the most straight forward subject to explain nor understand. Out of all the definitions of DNA provided on the first page of Google, I liked nature.com’s definition the best:
Deoxyribonucleic acid, more commonly known as DNA, is a complex molecule that contains all of the information necessary to build and maintain an organism. All living things have DNA within their cells. In fact, nearly every cell in a multicellular organism possesses the full set of DNA required for that organism.
But what, exactly, is DNA? In short, DNA is a complex molecule that consists of many components, a portion of which are passed from parent organisms to their offspring during the process of reproduction. Although each organism’s DNA is unique, all DNA is composed of the same nitrogen-based molecules. So how does DNA differ from organism to organism? It is simply the order in which these smaller molecules are arranged that differs among individuals. In turn, this pattern of arrangement ultimately determines each organism’s unique characteristics, thanks to another set of molecules that “read” the pattern and stimulate the chemical and physical processes it calls for.
Nature.com
What’s Luxe?
Almost right after I got my ancestry results, corona came around, and since then, the pandemic and life has happened, so I haven’t gotten the real chance to explore my newfound ethnicities in a more physical way. In a spiritual sense, ever since I found out my ancestry DNA, I’ve been stepping into ‘glorious global goddess energy’. I appreciate and respect all of my ancestors but Nina Simone’s “Young, Gifted and Black” lives in my head rent free as a reminder of the resilience, strength, grace, and beauty of my African ancestors.
The first chance I get to explore and have adventures in the physical world, I know that Nigeria is at the top (if not first) on the list of international places to visit. Long ago, before taking my DNA ancestry test, I made a decision to not visit Europe before I visit Africa and although that still stands, learning that I’m not 100% African has not only been bittersweet and inevitable but it has also opened up my travel list tremendously.
Right now, MyHeritage is not having a sale on their kits ($79). I do not pay full price for anything so I always recommend waiting for a sale, which they’re always having, where you can expect to pay around $49 + applicable taxes and fees.
If you sign up for Ebates (or Rakuten) and take advantage of getting cash back on your purchase, they’re offering 2.5% cash back right now. Click here to visit/bookmark MyHeritage. Click here to sign up for Ebates and get $30 from Ebates when you spend $30 (ain’t nothing wrong with breaking even!).
Have you taken a DNA ancestry test before? What were your results? Were you surprised?! Which company did you send your saliva to?! Are you interested in taking a DNA ancestry test??? I would love to be nosey and talk about it so let me know in the comments below!
