Moroccan- Red Hair?

[Samira]

Hello
I'm not sure if this has been asked befor, but both my parents are Moroccan and have dark hair and dark-ish skin, my oldest sister was born with brown hair,my other sister was born with red hair and blue eyes and pale skin, my brother was born with redy/brown hair and pale skin and i was born with bright red hair,brown eyes and pale but easily tanned skin, i was just wondering where this decended from? if there were any websites i could look at that anyone's found i would be most appreciative!
thanks!

[nas]

Red Hair

Hello
I'm not sure if this has been asked befor, but both my parents are Moroccan and have dark hair and dark-ish skin, my oldest sister was born with brown hair,my other sister was born with red hair and blue eyes and pale skin, my brother was born with redy/brown hair and pale skin and i was born with bright red hair,brown eyes and pale but easily tanned skin, i was just wondering where this decended from? if there were any websites i could look at that anyone's found i would be most appreciative!
thanks!

Hello,
See "The Human Genome site".
Nas

[haplogroupc]

Hello
I'm not sure if this has been asked befor, but both my parents are Moroccan and have dark hair and dark-ish skin, my oldest sister was born with brown hair,my other sister was born with red hair and blue eyes and pale skin, my brother was born with redy/brown hair and pale skin and i was born with bright red hair,brown eyes and pale but easily tanned skin, i was just wondering where this decended from? if there were any websites i could look at that anyone's found i would be most appreciative!
thanks!

Samira,

Have you taken DNA tests to see what they reveal? Also, have you looked into Berber history? I think I remember reading somewhere that they were a blond, blue-eyed tribe living on the coast of Morocco before other races came along. The Berbers merged with them.

[Johnserrat]

You may be descendants of the Vandals, who were a germanic people. Attached is a blurb from http://www.wsu.edu:8001/~dee/MA/GERMANS.HTM
about their conquest of North Africa:

"Another crucial Germanic tribe,or, better yet, set of tribes, that changed the face of Europe during the migratory period were the Vandals, who originated from much the same area as the Goths. Because of either overpopulation, pressures from migrating groups, or the same general flooding of the coast of the Baltic Sea, the Vandals crossed over from Sweden around 100 BC. They began to expand across the face of Europe at the end of the second century AD. Some tribes went east into Slovakia and Hungary, but in the fifth century the Silingi Vandals joined with other Germanic tribes as well as Alanic tribes and invaded Gaul and then Spain. The Vandals were pushed out of both places by the Franks and the Goths, but here is where Vandal history gets interesting. Pressured by invasions of the Franks and Goths, the Vandals and their ragtag group of alliances crossed over to North Africa from Spain and began a war of conquest under their king, Geiseric—eventually this war of conquest culminated in the conquest of Carthage in 439.

It was in North Africa that Vandal civilization temporarily took root. They established a despotic government centered on a king and an exclusive court of nobility. Romans and the average Vandal had no voice in political affairs.

Even though the Vandals controlled the entire government, there was little cultural change in North Africa. Since the days of the Roman Republic, North Africa was largely dominated by Roman institutions and culture since it was, after all, one large province of Rome. While Roman administrators suddenly disappeared from the picture with the monarchy of Geiseric, Roman learning, art, and architecture continued uninterrupted and, surprisingly, uninfluenced by Vandal culture—the only exception to this were the weapons and some adornments which were designed along Vandal models.

It was in Christianity that North African culture changed. The Vandals had converted to Christianity in Spain at the opening of the fifth century. However, they were converted to Arian Christianity which was marked by a belief that God the Father and God the Son were distinct entities rather than a unity. This had been declared a heresy, but the Vandals had originally been converted by Arians (Wulfila was semi-Arian; by 410, the Goths were officially Arian in their beliefs). The Arian Christianity put the Vandal rulers of North Africa in conflict with their Roman church neighbors. Since Roman Christianity was the universal form of Christianity in the Vandal territories, the Vandals had to suppress it. The surprising thing about Vandal Arianism was how ineffective it was at exterminating the North African Roman church. This is due to a couple reasons. The first was that the North African Roman church had powerful and determined leaders, such as Fulgentius who had become the ecclesiastical leader of North Africa after the death of Augustine. The second was the general lack of well-educated theologians among the Vandal Arians. In disputes over religion, the Vandal Arians were hopelessly outmatched by the Roman Christians who had spent a lifetime in studying rhetoric, argument, and theology.

Just how much Vandal Christianity changed the culture of North Africa is hard to say. The Vandals were defeated by the Byzantine general, Belisarius, in 534 and the Arian church was effectively destroyed. So were all the writings of the Arian Christians—the writings of the Roman Christians, however, were preserved. So we don't have any examples of the Vandal intellectual culture for it was centered entirely on arguing the Arian viewpoint."

DNA testing could likely confirm your heritage.

John

[F.E.C.]

John, as far as I know all the Vandals living in northern Africa were slaughtered or deported after they were defeated by the Byzantines.

[Noaide]

Hello
I'm not sure if this has been asked befor, but both my parents are Moroccan and have dark hair and dark-ish skin, my oldest sister was born with brown hair,my other sister was born with red hair and blue eyes and pale skin, my brother was born with redy/brown hair and pale skin and i was born with bright red hair,brown eyes and pale but easily tanned skin, i was just wondering where this decended from? if there were any websites i could look at that anyone's found i would be most appreciative!
thanks!

This can go back as far back as the ice age, as I remember some people living in the ice age refugia in Iberia went south to North Africa and later become known as the Berbers. Some people believe this migration also continued westwards to the Canary Islands where they were known as Guanches.

Noaide

[Samira]

Hey
i checked a few sites,very interesting indeed! After speaking to my mum about it this afternoon it turns out, we have berber ancestors (ririfs),and after looking it up they were famously known for pale skin,blonde/red hair and blue or green eyes!so interesteing!would love to get a proper dna test though, anyone know of any places i can goto get one in the uk?

[Andrew M]

I'd be curious to see what your DNA results reveal. My wife matches closely with M1 mutations found in Morocco. She has been categorized as an M* though. Her nearest ancestors are from Portugal, Spain, the Azores, Brazil and France. She has brown hair with a reddish tinge (blonde when she was young) and very pale skin.

[Kaiser]

... we have berber ancestors (ririfs),and after looking it up they were famously known for pale skin,blonde/red hair and blue or green eyes!

Samira: 'Ancestry by physiology' is what our grandmas used to work with (aunt had blue eyes, father had red hair, etc). 'Ancestry by geneology' is modern stuff, so get your mtDNA (matriline) checked so that you can confirm your Berber or other ancestry. A brother would be a better choice for testing as he would be able to provide a more comprehensive picture, including both the patriline and the matriline. (Girls can test only for matriline).

Check out 'Oxford Ancestors', the leading UK-based DNA testing company. 'DNA Heritage' of USA also has a sample collection facility in UK. Both are good. Of course the world leader is FTDNA of USA.

PS: Pale skin, red/blonde/brown hair, blue/green/brown eyes: Pretty colourful ancestry!