What's in a name?
It’s great that an everyday thing such as a name can tell such a rich history. Names nowadays have lost a lot of their meaning but in certain cultures this is not the case. My name however does not belong to a particular culture it is a peculiar mix of East and West. Shoghi is a Persian name, in Farsi it translates into “one who longs”. In my formative years the only thing I was longing for was for my classmates to stop making fun of my unselected moniker. Growing up in a mainly Latino neighborhood in Brooklyn and being Latino myself the name calling was incessant. But to be fair, what self-respecting 10 year old wouldn’t make fun of my name? I figured the best thing would be change my given name, but as the years passed me by so did the less mature. Most people I am introduced to now don’t burst out laughing when they hear my response to “What’s your name?”
I would be the first to admit that being Latino and having a Persian first name is rather strange. This odd fact however has given me many a chance to tell a bit about my parents, in particular my mother, to whoever is willing to listen. My mother Yolanda Azucena Celleri was born in Cuenca, Ecuador of Italian and Spanish lineage. She and her 14 brothers and sisters grew up in a religious Roman Catholic household and they were all raised for the most part to be your typical pious South American Catholics. However that was not to be, some Persian missionaries made sure of that.
My mother and most of her sisters and brothers were “converted” to the Baha’i Faith almost 40 years ago (the Bahai’s would rather use the phrase “declared their faith” instead of “converted” but that is neither here nor there) by those abovementioned missionaries. One of the major figures of this religion was Shoghi Effendi hence my first name. He was assigned to be the administrator (or “guardian” as he is called by his adherents) of The Bahai faith after the son (Abdul Baha) of the prophet (Baha ullah) died early last century. This religion started in the mid 1800s in Persia (modern day Iran) after the enlightenment and the start of the industrial revolution. The Bahai Faith has a host of beliefs that are more 21st century Western Europe than 19th century Iran. These include: the equality between men and woman, the elimination of racism and the “harmony” of religion and science. I still don’t quite understand the latter but I would be the first to admit that the Bahai belief system smacks more of modernity than the Inquisition. I do believe however that this has more to do with the date of its inception than it being better than any other dogma.
At this point of my life I am an atheist and naturally don’t subscribe to any religion, but I do admire the aforementioned principles of the Bahai faith. I have noticed that the Faith (or more accurately the principles listed above among others) has shaped my outlook on morality and life, most notably my strong anti-racist and anti-war stance.
On to the family name: Fret. This explanation is a bit murkier as you will see. My dad is (in my estimation) a very typical Puerto Rican in his age group (early 70s). He is very religious (he has been a preacher in the Pentecostal sect for 20 years), loves sports-in particular baseball and boxing, and has a very conservative outlook on life and politics (see above religious affiliation). We never ever see eye to eye on anything expect that Alex Rodriguez is an unbelievably overpaid baseball player. The only thing setting him apart from other Puerto Ricans is his last name, Fret. Upon questioning him about this, all he divulges is that his dad’s family came from an “island in the Mediterranean that used to be owned by the Spanish but isn’t anymore”. Apparently my father isn’t as interested in our family history as much as I am. Thankfully I am a sucker for history and maps and deduced that this can only mean Corsica, the birthplace of Napoleon.
Corsica has been ruled by the Romans, the Vandals, and the Moors. As a matter of fact the flag for the island nation is a white background with a moors head on it, on this flag the moor is wearing a white bandana on his forehead. The significance of the bandana is in its placement: the fact that it is not being used to cover the moors’ eyes is important. The covering of the eyes by the bandana was a symbol of subjugation whereas the wearing of it on the forehead was and is a sign of defiance, for this reason it’s definitely my favorite flag.
Upon further investigation I found that in the mid 1800s (before the Spanish lost control of the Caribbean and after they lost control of most of South America) the Spanish Royal family had offered thousands of rural Roman Catholic families of non Hispanic descent to move to its colonies with an offer of free land. This was because Spain had feared that it was on the verge of losing these colonies as it had lost South America to the great Bolivarian wave of independence. The Royals thought that moving ardent Catholic farming families to very arable land could help keep their remaining colonies in the fold. So because of this thousands of poor pious families made the move to warmer climes (many came from Corsica but others came from Ireland). Once they got to the islands (such as Puerto Rico or Cuba) they got free land. The only catch was that they were to be Spanish subjects and swear loyalty to the Spanish Royal family, and of course the Pope. This wasn’t much of an issue at the time: the Corsican families were fleeing a “wine famine” and the Irish a “potato famine”. They were very lucky to move to say the least.
At the beginning more than 400 families left Corsica for Puerto Rico and luckily I found a list of these families’ names. The closest thing to Fret was Fraticelli and Fratacci. Perhaps there was a second boat with a Freticini on board, who knows. What I do know is that I feel lucky that I am able to somewhat track back my family heritage. Due to colonialism and slavery some of us don’t know where our names or even or families come from. That would be unimaginable for me.
