Merry christmas and everything else. BTW here's a brief description of Kwanzaa for those that don't know it's origins. It was started in 1966.
A Brief History of the Holiday of Kwanzaa
Written by Nomen nescio Friday, 07 December 2007 Everyone knows about the Christmas season and the well know traditions and Christian beliefs that are brought along with it. Everyone knows that it is also the time for Hanukah to be observed. Not many people know about the other traditions and holidays that are around during this festive time of year, namely the seven day African-American traditions of Kwanzaa that take place from December 26 to January 1.
Kwanzaa was started in 1966 by an African-American man named Ron Karenga, with the intent to in his words to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.
This holiday was off to a rough start in the beginning years and into the 1970s, partly due to it being celebrated by a minority group in the nation, but mostly due to the controversy that the founder produced. Being a convicted felon who spent time in prison because of a felony assault and false imprisonment for assaulting and torturing, a lot of things that Ron Karenga had to say were discounted as the rantings of a mad man.
Upon Rons release from prison, he tried starting the holiday up again with Seven Principals of Blackness which are to be followed strictly during the seven day festivities.
They are:
1.) Unity; To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
2.) Self Determination; To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.
3.) Collective Work and Responsibility; To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers and sisters problems our problems and to solve them together.
4.) Cooperative Economics; To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
5.) Purpose; To make our collective vocation the building and development of our community in order to restore out people to their traditional greatness.
6.) Creativity; To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
7.) Faith; To believe in all of our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Much like how Christmas is decorated for, the Kwanzaa practicing people decorate their houses with African art and colors. A Kinara is a large part of the Kwanzaa celebration. A Kinara is a seven holed candle holder, where each candle stands for one of the Seven Principles of Blackness, there are three red candles, three green candles and one black one in the middle. One is lit every day, starting with the black center candle.
During these seven days, the African-Americans feast and spend time with their families, much like the other holidays of the season.
merry xmas
