Pondering - Kwanzaa

Here is my first blog for the new year, part of my New Years blogging challenge which I'll abbreviate in my subjects as (ayp) for "Are you pondering" paying homage to the classic cartoon Pinky and the Brain... and the line often said "Are you pondering what I'm pondering Pinky?" So without further ado...




What is Kwanzaa... and how did it start.



So Kwanzaa is sort of a holiday joke... People know about Christmas, Chanukah, New Year's, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day as the major holidays of the winter season. Kwanzaa though... well its usually only mentioned jokingly or in a negative way. Heck even the Canadian holiday, Boxing Day, seems to get more respect than Kwanzaa here. Which got me to thinking... what do I know about Kwanzaa... the answer was little to nothing, so let’s find out some facts.



For starters Kwanzaa is an African American holiday that was designed to celebrate/promote family, culture, and community and covers a week long period from December 26th to January 1st. While most holidays have a long history of tradition, Kwanzaa has been around just over forty year, first invented in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga a professor of Black studies at California State University. He was inspired to create Kwanzaa as a means to promote African American unity, following the Watts Riots.



The Watts Riots occurred in the Watts suburb of Los Angeles in the summer of 1965 and were a large scale race riot that was sparked when Lee Minikus, a California highway cop pulled over a black man named Marquette Frye who was driving under the influence, and wouldn't let Frye's brother drive the car home (choosing to have it towed instead). A mob formed as the events unfolded and a riot broke out, that would last six days in which thirty-four would die, over one thousand would be injured and almost four thousand would be arrested!



Kwanzaa's celebration activities are based on traditional harvest celebrations from African groups such as the Zulu and Ashanti and the name Kwanzaa is Swahili for "first fruits". Activities include; drumming, singing, dancing, story reading, and a large meal know as the Karamu on December 31st. Kwanzaa also has a strong tie in to the number seven... Its seven days long, each night they light one of the seven candles and talk about one of the seven principles... each of which is represented by one of the seven symbols.



The Seven Principles are:

Unity

Self-determination

Collective work and responsibility

Cooperative Economics

Purpose

Creativity

Faith



The Seven Symbols are:

Mazao (crops; fruit, nuts and vegetables) - which symbolize the foundation of Kwanzaa as a harvest celebration and the foundation of family that these festivals traditionally represented.



Mkeka (place mat) - This is what the other symbols are set on during Kwanzaa, and is made from material that is supposed to come directly from Africa. The McKee is supposed to represent the history, tradition and culture of Africa.



Vibunzi (an ear of corn) - This represents fertility and reproduction of the family. One ear of corn is placed on the Mkeka for each child in the family, if there are no children in the family then two ears are placed on the Mkeka to symbolize how each person is responsible for the children of the community from the old African saying "It takes a whole village to raise a child"



Mishumaa Saba (Seven Candles) - Of the seven candles there are three red, three greensand one black candle. The black candle (representing unity) is placed in the center and lit on the first night. The three green candles are placed on the right and represent: Purpose, Collective Work and Responsibility and Faith. The red are placed to the left and represent Self-determination, Cooperative Economics, and Creativity. The Mishumaa Saba has dual purposes, one is to represent the sun and the light it provides from which everything grows and comes from. The other purposes is expressed through the colors red, green and black which come from the flag of Marcus Garvey (of Back to Africa movement fame for you history people). Red represents the god of fire, Black the people and Green the earth.



Kinara (Candle holder) - this represents the original stalk from which everyone comes from and ancestors, it can be any shape, color, size or material... as long as it holds seven candles.



Kikombe Cha Umoja (Unity Cup) - Used for the libation ritual during the big feast on the sixth day (Karamu). The libation ritual is a traditional African ritual is for the living dead whose souls are still on the earth. The cup is passed to each family member during the feast to promote unity; the last bit of the drink is poured for the host who sips it and then passes it to the oldest person and ask for their blessing.



Zawadi (gifts) - given to members of family to promote achieventment and commitments that have been met. It also represents unity and family as well as accepting responsibility. People are encouraged to give homemade gifts and not store bought ones as homemade are believed to have more meaning and avoid the chaos that holiday shopping promotes.



There you have it... all you wanted to know and more about Kwanzaa!