Canadian Identity

For my Canadian identity collage I drew the four flags of my heritage (and Canada’s) those flags are Irish, Serbian, Italian, and Scottish.

On the top left corner I have put the Irish flag. Under the Irish flag I had put a potato, a pot o’ gold, and a can of Guinness. I had put the Guinness under the Irish flag because Guinness is an Irish alcohol and the Irish are also stereotyped as drunks, the potato is on there because of the significance of it to Irish history. In the years 1845-1852  there was a famine in Ireland known as “The Great Famine” or “The Great Potato Famine”. 1 million people were left dead in the 7 years of famine and Ireland’s population dropped by 20-25% due to deaths and emigration. I placed the pot o’ gold on the collage because the Irish are often depicted in media as leprechauns.

Just to the right of the Irish flag is the Serbian flag. Under the Serbian flag I put a cigarette and a black cat. I don’t know anything about the Serbian culture but my research told me that the Serbians are typically heavy smokers and believe in a lot of superstition.

The next flag is the Italian flag. Under the Italian flag I had put a plate of lasagna, a mustache, (but the very specific thick mustache) and the name “Mario”. The lasagna has significance because the Italian are known for their pizza but more importantly, their spaghetti… I however am known for bad drawings so I drew lasagna to symbolize pasta in general. The (very specific) mustache is on there because of the infamous Italian, Nintendo game character “Mario”. “The name Mario” has been put on there ALSO because of the Italian, Nintendo game character.

In the top right corner we have the Scottish flag. The flag has three symbolic Scottish things under it. The first one is a sheep put on there with only one reason in mind… one of my friends said there’s a lot of sheep in Scotland. The Kilt is on there because it was common to wear them in Scotland in the 1720s, when the british military used them for their uniforms. The bagpipes were placed on this collage because the Scottish would play them at military funerals.

LASTLY THE CANADIAN FLAG! Placed in the top-middle of the collage, the Canadian flag is evidently the largest for one main reason, Canada is my home, my birth place, and the country I was raised in. Under the Canadian flag we have Poutine and a Tim’s cup along with the most graceful sentence to ever come out of a Canadian’s mouth… “Poutine and Tim’s eh? Well how aboot that?” The significance of the absolute legend of a sentence is just how nicely it wraps up the Canadian culture, with the poutine being a stereotypical food of ours and the fact that there’s a Tim Horton’s on almost ever corner how could I not put those two on my Collage? To have “Eh” and “Aboot” in a sentence is just so… elegant and it truly captures the Canadian vocabulary.