Skip to main content

KWANZAA

[courtesy of google images]

The middle school I attended was steeped in the kwanzaa tradition. From the names of our class groups, to the call-and-response affirmation that got students motivated for the day, I was immersed in an atmosphere that encouraged me to learn about and love who I was and where I came from. I was even a dancer at the Kwanzaa family celebrations held during this time of year.  At the time, I simply loved dancing, but the performance was a piece of a greater whole. Now, a decade later, I have found myself trying to reconnect to these traditions. It started a couple of weeks ago when I was looking through Maya Angelou's website. I learned of a documentary titled The Black Candle that she narrates which details the history and traditions of Kwanzaa. In reading through the seven principles of Kwanzaa, I was immediately taken back to my middle school experience, where Kuumba, Umoja, and Nia were the names of the teams in which we were divided. Once I began walking down memory lane, it was hard to get off of it!

Part of that trip involved reacquainting myself with the purpose of Kwanzaa. In reading different websites, including the official Kwanzaa website, I was reminded that Kwanzaa is a seven day celebration from Dec 26th-January 1st. Each day is dedicated to one of the seven principles--(Unity (Umoja), Self-Determination (Kujichagulia), Collective Work and Responsibility (Ujima), Cooperative Economics (Ujamaa), Purpose (Nia), Creativity (Kuumba), Faith (Imani)-- geared toward improving community and family life. There are also key symbols, including seven candles, one lit for each day. The final day of Kwanzaa is the day of meditation where people are encouraged to reflect on their lives and where they want to go. As I am all about self-reflection, I was struck by this part of the tradition and how it coincides with the first day of the new year. Perfect timing. Thinking about your personal answers to the key three questions, "Who am I?", "Am I really who I say I am?" "Am I all that I ought to be?" on the first day of the year has the potential to help you set goals for the rest of the year to work toward. Love it! This was the jist of what I took from my research, but I encourage you all to tune into The Black Candle as I hope to do this week. It is being screening on STARZ on cable at these times. Also, find a Kwanzaa celebration in your area and go to it! I used to love dancing, particularly for the clothes we used to wear. The colors were beautiful, and, of course, I was doing my thing! :) I was more than pleased to find out about Kwanzaa 2012: First Fruits of the Harvest at the American Museum of Natural History this Saturday! I plan to go. Will I see you there? What are your plans for this week?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the Kitchen...

...is unfortunately a place I have yet to say I can throw down in :\ I'm working on it though! For the past 14 months, I have consistently had to grocery shop and cook for myself. I've managed pretty well, but I'm at my limit when it comes to penne pasta with meatballs or lentils and rice. So, I've recently decided to switch my style up. After weeks of smelling the amazing aroma of colleagues' lunches, I finally decided that I wanted what they had and needed to learn how to make it. About a month ago, I went to a friend's house to learn how to make her lunch: Red Curry and Rice. It took me awhile to finally attempt it, but Sunday was the day. What I realized about myself as a cook, and maybe about life in general, is that I prefer exact measurements. Therefore, this food adventure was a fun leap out of my comfort zone as my friend's recipe had very little measurements! To start, I got all my ingredients:  chicken breasts (cut up) mixed veggies ...
3 comments
Read more

It started with a tampon.

Belgrade Lakes, ME Or, maybe it was before that when I signed up for swim classes, which later led to the reason I even had to consider a tampon. Either way, something changed, and I had the best experience of stepping on the other side of fear and finding that it wasn't all that bad. It's actually thrilling. The swim classes that is. Not the tampon. The tampon was quite weird and rather anti-climatic - but convenient. And I didn't die from toxic shock which is great (that's for another post!). Swimming, though, has been incredible fun. Two classes down, six more to go and I have felt so light and free. As a child I loved going to pools and was completely comfortable with the fact that I couldn't swim in them. That never stopped me from doing all types of other things like jumping in, doing handstands, and doing what I could swimming underwater - all while staying in the shallow end. But somewhere along the way, that carefree part of me got dr...
Post a Comment
Read more

What's up with Blacks & Black History Month?

[courtesy of google images] I attended a workshop back in the Fall where the presenters focused on vicarious traumatization experiences of African Americans via media protrayals. It was an interesting presentation, but what stuck with me most was  a tangential conversation that came up during the audience discussion. I forgot how it started, but there came a point when one of the presenters shared a story of how her son came to her with questions about why everyone at school was talking about Martin Luther King, Jr as if he is the only successful black person. The presenter concluded her disclosure saying that Black History Month just doesn't make sense in the context of today. The idea of talking about the first Black person to do this or do that limits the truth that many more than just one Black person has been successful. Therefore, she does not engage in Black History Month celebrations or acknowledgements. While I can agree with the notion that discussing the histo...
2 comments
Read more