a joyous Kwanzaa to you

Habari gani?
(Swahili for "What's the news?" and a daily Kwanzaa greeting)

Friends, I have found my new favorite holiday; read on, and I believe you will quickly understand why.

I'm not sure how I have passed by Kwanzaa for the last two decades without discovering the incredible values it celebrates. But this year (tonight, in fact) - for some reason - I decided to enlighten myself and read a little bit about it. What I read rocked my socks. I could write a bunch about it (and I may in the future), but for right now, I think I'll let some info from a well-organized website enlighten you instead (click on the title of this blog entry to go to the website yourself). This truly is amazing. I am in awe. It gives me hope for the future; if only Kwanzaa values would begin to be celebrated on a large scale not only this week but every week . . . Imagine what a different world we might have. For those of you who have no idea what Kwanzaa is and for those of you who thought Kwanzaa was just for African-Americans, please read on . . . I think you will be challenged and blessed. And for those of you who have known the truth all along, please share the beauty of this holiday with the world around you. Now, without further ado, here's a bit of info for you:


THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT:
(i.e. where it comes from)

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor of Africana Studies at California State University. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits."

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms [Swaziland] or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa). Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:

-a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;

-a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;

-a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;

-a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and

-a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.


THE PRESENT SOCIOLOGICAL CONTEXT:
(i.e. who celebrates Kwanzaa today)

Kwanzaa is clearly an African holiday created for African peoples. But other people can and do celebrate it, just like other people participate in Cinco de Mayo besides Mexicans; Chinese New Year besides Chinese; Native American pow wows besides Native Americans. The question is, under what circumstances? There are both communal and public celebrations. One can properly hold a communal celebration dedicated essentially to community persons. But in a public context, say public school or college, we can properly have public celebrations which include others. How this is done depends on particular circumstances. But in any case, particular people should always be in control of and conduct their own celebrations. Audience attendance is one thing; conducting a ritual is another.

Any particular message that is good for a particular people, if it is human in its content and ethical in its grounding, speaks not just to that people, it speaks to the world. The principles of Kwanzaa and the message of Kwanzaa has a universal message for all people of good will. It is rooted in African culture, and we speak as Africans must speak, not just to ourselves, but to the world. This continues our tradition of speaking our own special cultural truth and making our own unique contribution to the forward flow of human history.



KWANZAA PHILOSOPHY:
(i.e. what Kwanzaa is all about)

Dr. Maulana Karenga, the holiday's founder, designated seven principles, one to be celebrated on each of the seven days of Kwanzaa:

Dec. 26 - Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Dec. 27 - Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Dec. 28 - Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Dec. 29 - Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Dec. 30 - Nia (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Dec. 31 - Kuumba (Creativity)
To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Jan. 01 - Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.


The last day of Kwanzaa (sometimes called the Day of Assessment or the Day of Meditation) is the first day of the new year, January 1. Historically this has been for African people a time of sober assessment of things done and things to do, of self-reflection and reflection on the life and future of the people and of recommitment to their highest cultural values in a special way. Following in this tradition, it is for us then a time to ask and answer soberly and humbly the three Kawaida questions:

Who am I?

Am I really who I say I am?

Am I all I ought to be?


And finally, here is the meditation - first in Swahili and then in English - that is often used on the Day of Assessment:

The Odu Ifa
by Eji Ogbe

K'a má fi kánjú j'aiyé.
K'a má fi wàrà-wàrà n'okùn orò.
Ohun à bâ if s'àgbà,
K'a má if se'binu.
Bi a bá de'bi t'o tútù,
K'a simi-simi,
K'a wò'wajú ojo lo titi;
K'a tun bò wá r'èhìn oràn wo;
Nitori àti sùn ara eni ni.

Let us not engage the world hurriedly.
Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently.
That which should be treated with mature judgment,
Let us not deal with in a state of anger.
When we arrive at a cool place,
Let us rest fully;
Let us give continuous attention to the future;
And let us give deep consideration to the consequences of things.
And this because of our (eventual) passing.