Skip to main content

Kwanzaa and the Holidays

I took the below description of Kwanzaa from this site: http://www.tike.com/celeb-kw.htm I hope they don't mind, but I could not find a way to contact them. I was thinking about diversity and the different holidays that are represented during this season. I was interested in seeing what Kawanza was. It is really a impressive holiday with each day having a different value, which has real beauty for oneself and the world one lives in.

Personally, I have never been fixed on one holiday. Though I was raised with Hanukkah--which is the Jewish festival of lights and lasts eight days--while my Mom was sick and in the hospital, an Italian woman and her son came to live with us. During that time, we celebrated X-mas and had a Christmas tree. So X-mas became part of my life really early. In high school, though I lived in a prevalently Jewish neighborhood, we were off from school on Christmas. Christmas became a time of giving and sharing, and I often went to Christmas parties and exchanged present with friends. Kwanzaa is also a time of feasts and gift giving, but the days that pass during the week of celebrating each have a guiding principle.

It is interesting to note that both Kwanzaa (Boy, I keep wanting to put an 'a' after that 'k'.) and Hanukkah use a Menorah though the Jewish holiday is a day longer and has a central candle holder to light the others from. Take a look at these principles of Kwanzaa. I think it will bring something to your holiday season.

Kwanzaa is based on the Nguzo Saba (seven guiding principles), one for each day of the observance, and is celebrated from December 26th to January 1st.

  • Umoja (oo-MO-jah) Unity stresses the importance of togetherness for the family and the community, which is reflected in the African saying, "I am We," or "I am because We are."
  • Kujichagulia (koo-gee-cha-goo-LEE-yah) Self-Determination requires that we define our common interests and make decisions that are in the best interest of our family and community.
  • Ujima (oo-GEE-mah) Collective Work and Responsibility reminds us of our obligation to the past, present and future, and that we have a role to play in the community, society, and world.
  • Ujamaa (oo-JAH-mah) Cooperative economics emphasizes our collective economic strength and encourages us to meet common needs through mutual support.
  • Nia (NEE-yah) Purpose encourages us to look within ourselves and to set personal goals that are beneficial to the community.
  • Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) Creativity makes use of our creative energies to build and maintain a strong and vibrant community.
  • Imani (ee-MAH-nee) Faith focuses on honoring the best of our traditions, draws upon the best in ourselves, and helps us strive for a higher level of life for humankind, by affirming our self-worth and confidence in our ability to succeed and triumph in righteous struggle.
BTW: On the Fraklin Covey website, there are tips for the holidays to keep it peaceful. They mention setting priorities and not to cram everything under the sun in. They also talk about finding ways so different people's needs are met from those who like the partying it up to those that want quiet family time. Creatively honoring people's diverse needs can be a challenge and sometimes really hard to do.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Truth Or Consequencies

I wrote this essay as a comment to articles on the following site: http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/archives/2007/02/ One might not think so, but there is a relationship, between trans fat, global warming and the drunk driving issue. Unfortunately, I think that the problem has to do with education. These days in school, we are so afraid to step on someone's toes, so we avoid teaching morals in school, and why should we? Are you shocked? Read further. It has always seemed quite interesting to me that no one can come up with a simple means to start teaching community, integrity, self responsibility and the like to young children from their very first textbooks. I don't see that the word God has to be in there or in order to do that. All great religions teach a core of values that cross borders. There are values that are there in the constitution and the creation of America . By the way, a constitution created by people (whether or not you want to call it a dem...
1 comment
Read more

Finding Agreement

Someone made a comment as to my using 'We' on the list of questions a few posts back. I used the word we in reference to we, as the human race! This is a semantic disagreement. It was 'We' not leaving myself out. If I say, "How long is the human race going to", it is a bit cold, depersonalized and it is sounds like I am leaving myself out. I then could be accused of thinking myself superior. If I would say, "How long are the the Jews or the Muslims or the Christians," it is separating myself from them. Now, think about this in reference to religious works that were written hundreds and hundreds of years ago, which we expect to translate literally and were often times written in poetic language. If you add to this that we are all in human form and the consciousness of spirit has to filter down through a mind of certain time period's knowledge and experience, even in saints, and then add to that, holy books were often written way after the ...
Post a Comment
Read more

More Monkeys and Synchronicity

Well, it has been more than busy the last few days, but amidst a car that broke down, extra things for the end of season at my job, etc., I sat down for breakfast with a friend at a coffee shop that has a garden out back and a book library to boot. One side of the coffee shop is all full length windows, so, even sitting on bookside, we could look out at the garden which was now decorated with elves. We ordered, and, as I sat there, I got this nudge to take further purusal of the books by my side many of which were dated to say the least. The last time I had been there I had pulled out some of their vast collection of National Georgraphics. National Georgraphics were the start of my adventures. My unmarried uncle, who had lived upstairs from us with my grandparents, had a vast collection of them, and I would look at them in wonder and amazement. I now looked at something else in wonder and amazement. There squeezed in, on its side, between some hardcovers, well worn a...
Post a Comment
Read more