Hosting a Kwanzaa celebration!
MURPHY
BROWNE
It's
beginning to look a lot like Kwanzaa! Yes African people (don't care
where you come from) it is that time of year again! Time to polish
the kinara (candle holder,) buy some red, black and green mishumaa
(candles,) roll out the mkeka (mat,) and get ready to celebrate
Kwanzaa! Remember to brush up on (practice) your Kiswahili (the most
widely spoken African language and the language of Kwanzaa)
pronunciation. It is the beginning of December so we have
approximately three weeks before the one week (December 26-January 1)
celebration of Kwanzaa starts.
In
2015 Kwanzaa celebrates 49 years of existence as it was celebrated
for the first time in December 1966. Kwanzaa is a Pan-African
celebration and includes the Pan-African colours (red, black and
green) that were chosen by the Honourable Marcus Mosiah Garvey
(considered the father of the modern Pan-African Movement) in 1920.
The Pan-African flag is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal
horizontal bands of (from top down) red, black and green. On August
13, 1920 in Article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro
Peoples of the World, during its month-long convention at Madison
Square Garden in New York City, the Universal Negro Improvement
Association and African Communities League (UNIA-ACL) formally
adopted the "red, black and green" flag. The African
countries Ghana, Kenya and Malawi, on attaining independence from
European colonization chose "red, black and green" as the
colours of their national flags while some other African countries
have incorporated the colours into the designs of their national
flags.
As
a Pan-African celebration Kwanzaa includes all Africans in
celebrating culture and acknowledging history. Africans from the
continent and of the Diaspora, of any religious or spiritual beliefs,
or no religious belief, celebrate Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is celebrated in
some Christian churches with majority African American congregations
because the nguzo saba (seven principles) resonate with African
Americans. African American professor Dr. Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga
who instituted the celebration of Kwanzaa has explained that:
"Kwanzaa is a synthesis of both the cultural values and practice
of Africans on the Continent and in the United States with strict
attention to cultural authenticity and values for a meaningful,
principled, and productive life.” Kwanzaa was established in the
USA and very soon after was celebrated in Canada. It is said that
Kwanzaa is also celebrated in Brazil, the Caribbean, Great Britain,
France, Senegal and other West African countries. I celebrated
Kwanzaa in Italy in 2007, in Guyana in 2011 and 2012. It is possible
that Kwanzaa is celebrated in many places that have so far not been
listed. In the 1997 published book “Kwanzaa, A Celebration of
Family, Community and Culture" Dr. Karenga wrote: “Kwanzaa is
celebrated by millions of people of African descent throughout the
world African community. As a cultural holiday, it is practiced by
Africans from all religious traditions, all classes, all ages and
generations, and all political persuasions on the common ground of
their Africanness in all its historical and current diversity and
unity.”
Most
Africans in the Diaspora do not speak an African language because
during the four hundred years European enslavement of our ancestors,
speaking an African language or retaining an African name was a
possible death sentence. One of the most poignant and heartbreaking
scenes from the miniseries “Roots” (based on Alex Haley’s 1976
published novel “Roots: The Saga of an American Family”) is the
scene where enslaved African Kunta Kinte is almost beaten to death
(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CpJpGF8lS8)
because he resisted accepting the name “Toby.” One of the results
of the brutality and inhumanity of slavery was the severing of the
connection between Africans in the Diaspora and our Africanness.
Learning even a few words of an African language can be empowering
and celebrating Kwanzaa is an opportunity to do so.
Kiswahili
words are used to identify the objects used during the Kwanzaa
celebration as well as the seven principles (nguzo saba.) They are
Umoja (Unity); Kujichagulia (Self-Determination); Ujima (Collective
Work and Responsibility); Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics); Nia
(Purpose); Kuumba (Creativity) and Imani (Faith.) Dr. Karenga said of
the nguzo saba: “They are all dedicated to honoring the teachings
of our ancestors in the Odu Ifa, that the fundamental mission and
meaning of human life is ‘to bring good into the world and not let
any good be lost.’ Umoja is put first because without unity we
cannot even seriously begin the project. And Imani is placed last
because without faith we can't sustain it. But without practice of
all the principles, we cannot really accomplish it.” The objects
used to decorate the Kwanzaa table includes the mkeka (mat,) kinara
(candle holder,) mishumaa saba (seven candles,) mazao (fruits and
vegetables,) vibunzi/muhindi (ear of corn,) kikombe cha umoja (unity
cup) and zawadi (gifts.) The kinara is placed on the mkeka and the
mishumaa saba are placed in the kinara with the black in the middle,
the three red to the left of the black and the three green to the
right of the black. The black candle is lit on December 26 the first
day of Kwanzaa, for Umoja, the red candle closest to the black is lit
on December 27, for Kujichagulia, the green candle closest to the
black candle is lit on December 28 for Ujima. The pattern of
alternating red and green continues until January 1 when the last
green candle is lit for Imani. The zawadi are Africentric and
educational and may include handmade gifts or books about African
history or culture.
Although
Kwanzaa is celebrated for seven days there are many Kwanzaa
celebrants who use the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) as guiding
principles throughout the year. This is encouraged by Dr. Karenga who
said: “It is important to note that the Nguzo Saba are used as
value orientation and cultural grounding in a vast number of programs
throughout the world African community. These range from independent
schools, rites of passage programs, youth development and support
programs, public school educational programs, and religious
institutional cultural programs to various economic and political
initiatives and structures. Thus, I'm confident that African people
will continue to see their value, embrace their practice and pass on
these values and the culture in which they are rooted as a legacy
which expresses and encourages the best of what it means to be
African and human in the fullest sense.”
In
the 1997 published “Kwanzaa: The Emergence of an African American
Holiday” African Puerto Rican professor Ysamur Flores Pena quoted
Dr. Karenga on Kanzaaa: “It reaffirms our commitment to the African
culture and gives us a time to come together, as was done by the
ancestors of old. We measure ourselves, the authenticity of our
lives, by how rooted we are in our tradition. Kwanzaa is a
celebration of the good, celebration of the good of our lives, the
good of our history, the good of our culture, celebration of the good
of life, the good of love in each other, building with each other,
the good of history marching towards the ultimate goal of full human
freedom”
The
celebration of Kwanzaa began 49 years ago as an effort “to create,
recreate and circulate African culture as an aid to building
community, enriching Black consciousness, and reaffirming the value
of cultural grounding for life and struggle.” The struggle
continues as we see almost everyday another video of African American
men, women and children brutalized and killed by police. In Canada
the carding which targets an inordinate amount of African Canadians
continues. Kwanzaa is one of times during the year when we can
gather, exhale and reaffirm our humanity. Celebrate Kwanzaa December
26 to January 1. Heri za Kwanzaa!
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