Celebrate: Kwanzaa
Post on 15-Feb-2016
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CELEBRATE KWANZAA
DO YOU CELEBRATE KWANZAAHere's how to tell.
If you answer YES to any of the following questions then you practice the principles of Kwanzaa
Do you strive to maintain unity in your family
Do you set goals and act upon them firmly in spite of opposition or difficulty
Do you help your friends at work, church, school, or in your community
DO YOU CELEBRATE KWANZAAHere's how to tell
If you answer YES …Do you belong to any organization that
strives to make your neighborhoods clean, and safe
Do you help plan, participate, organize or support activities that benefit our children
Do you believe that YOU CAN make a difference
KWANZAA Dr. Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in
1966 focused on African/African-Americans celebrating themselves and their history, rather than simply imitating the practices of the dominant society
As an African/African American celebration Kwanzaa brings a cultural message speaking to the best of what it means to be African/African American and human in the fullest sense
The original time frame for the ceremony and celebration is December twenty six (26) through January one (1) in any given year
KWANZAA
The name KWANZAA derives from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", "first fruits”
Swahili language evolved out of East Africa regions colonized by Dutch (Holland, Germany, Netherlands), Middle Easterners, Indians, and Portuguese; with its core emanating from the BANTU people of that region
KWANZAA…organized around five
fundamental activities: the gathering of family, friends, and
community; reverence for the Elders and
Ancestors commemoration for the past, learning
lessons and emulating achievements of historical figures;
commitment to the highest cultural ideals, for example, truth, justice, respect for people and nature, care for the vulnerable, and
celebration of the “Good of Life”
KWANZAA
Kwanzaa is celebrated through rituals, dialogue, narratives, poetry, dancing, singing, drumming and other music and feasting
Central practices are the Pouring of Libation
Lighting of the Mishumaa (seven candles) of Kwanzaa
KWANZAACentral
practice is the Pouring of Libation
Tamshi La Tambiko Means Libation statement
The pouring of a liquid in reverence to our ancestors is an intricate part of the celebration
KWANZAA
The philosophy behind the creation of Kwanzaa is KAWAIDA
KWANZAA
Kawaida is a philosophy of culture and social change
Defines culture as most important component in positive developing of people
Marcus Garvey, quoting an African Proverb said, “A people that do not know their own history are like a tree without roots”
DO YOU CELEBRATE KWANZAA?
Lighting of the Mishumaa (7 candles) of Kwanzaa
Suggested goals
Restore lost history and culture
Serve as moral guide for community
Contribute to the development of African centered values
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
The Seven Principles found in the practice of Kwanzaa
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 26
UNITY to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community,
nation
Serve as moral guides for the community
Family unity maintaining family identity
and togetherness balancing family priorities
with support for individual needs
creating daily routines as well as special traditions and celebrations
affirming members, connecting to family roots
is a feeling that all can depend on each other in “good” times and “bad” times.
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 27
(KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH) SELF-DETERMINATION
requires that we define ourselves, name ourselves,
create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
KUJICHAGULIA
Restore lost history and culture Enslavers came with two great
weapons, gun and bible. If you were not humbled by their “one and only god” you were pummeled to death by their guns
They engaged in a method of mental conditioning called “memory replacement”.
Our’ memories “lifted out” enslavers’ memory inserted in
That’s why people of African heritage living in the United States can not remember their connection to the continent Al-kebulan (Africa)
As a people of African Heritage we must recover our memory, history, culture, our ways of behaving
We must reconstruct the best of our History and Culture
Restore lost history and culture
Particularly as a group, called African Americans, we have not looked at ourselves “naturally” since the psycho-social historical trauma of enslavement took place
We have taken the naturalistic observation of Euro-American scientist and their armchair theorizing and have arbitrarily attributed that reality and those hypothesis to ourselves
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 28
(OO-GEE-MAH) COLLECTIVE WORK AND
RESPONSIBILITY) To build and maintain our
community together and to make our Brother's and Sister's
problems, our problems and to solve them together
COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY African is not just an identity, but also a destiny and
duty, i.e., a responsibility, in other words, our collective identity is a collective future
There is a need and obligation for us as self-conscious and committed people to shape our future with our own minds and hands and share its hardships and benefits together, we are collectively responsible for our failures and setbacks as well as our victories and achievements
As long as any African anywhere is oppressed, exploited, enslaved or wounded in any way in her or his humanity, the principle rejects the possibility or desirability of individual freedom in any unfree context
We are each cultural representatives of our people and have no right to misrepresent them, or willfully do less than is demanded of us by our history and must accept and live the principle of shared or collective work and responsibility in all things good, right and beneficial to community.
DO YOU CELEBRATE KWANZAA?NGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 29
(OO-JAH-MAH) COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together
UJAMAA
COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS A commitment to the practice of shared social wealth
and the work necessary to achieve it. Social wealth belongs to the masses of people who
created it; no one should have such an unequal amount of wealth that it gives him/her the capacity to impose unequal, exploitative or oppressive conditions on others
Without the principle and practice of shared wealth, the social conditions for exploitation, oppression and inequality as well as deprivation and suffering are increased.
Don’t shop, purchase, frequent, and contend with people, structures, or elements where you are NOT treated or served with dignity or represented in employment
Do not support any person, place or thing where ethnicity, class, and gender makes a difference where treatment make a difference
If there is doubt do without
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 30
(NEE-YAH) PURPOSE To make our collective
vocation the building and developing of our community in
order to restore our people to their traditional greatness
NIA
DERIVING PURPOSE FROM CULTURAL HISTORICAL IDENTITY
The principle of Nia makes us conscious of our purpose in light of our historical and cultural identity
It is this identity which gives us an overriding cultural purpose and suggests a direction
Cultural and historical identity is a necessary reference to and focus on generational responsibility
African philosophy teaches, we are first and foremost social beings whose reality and relevance are rooted in the quality and the kinds of relations we have with each other
A cooperative communal vocation is an excellent context and encouragement for quality social relations
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
December 31
(KOO-OOM-BAH) is the special spirit of creativity
and ingenuity that affirms the contributions of our ancestors, our entire community, and influential
leaders
KUUMBA
PRACTICE CREATIVITY EVERY DAY
The Principle has both a social and spiritual dimension and is deeply rooted both in social and sacred teachings of African societies
Commitment to being creative within the context of the national community means leaving our community more beneficial and beautiful than we, i.e., each generation, inherited it
KWANZAANGUZO SABA
LIGHTING OF THE CANDLES
January 1
(EE-MAH-NEE) FAITH To believe with all our heart
in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the
righteousness and victory of our struggle
IMANI
FAITH IN OURSELVES IS KEYEssentially a profound belief in and
commitment to all that is of value to us as a family, community, people and culture
This logically leads to a belief in the essential goodness and possibility of the human personality
Let us dare struggle, free ourselves politically and culturally and raise images above the earth that reflect our capacity for human progress and greatness
EDUCATE: Yourself, Children, A Generation
KWANZAA is practiced all year long
Make it a part of your LIFESTYLE.
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CELEBRATE: KWANZAA
Celebrate EducationThe Greatest Gift of All
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