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Does anybody ACTUALLY celebrate Kwanzaa???

SwayzeSwayze 14,705 Posts
edited December 2005 in Strut Central
Maybe its just where I live and/or have lived, but I don't think I've ever met anybody who actually celebrates Kwanzaa. Does anybody on here do it, or know somebody who actually does?It'a always like I hear "Merry xmas, or channakuh, and or, uh... kwanzaa... huh huhh uhuh huh... kwanzaa... huh huhh uhuhh"SO yeah, straighten me out.

  Comments

  • twoplytwoply Only Built 4 Manzanita Links 2,915 Posts
    I once had a roommate named Kwanzaa. Don't know if he celebrated it, though.
  • GuzzoGuzzo 8,611 Posts
    G*ry,



    I don't know if you ever met my homie Karim but I've known dude since I was 6. We would have this hannukiah we would post near the window and, because Hannukah usually comes in early December, his family would send him over my house to pick up the hannukiah before the 26th so they could use it for a kinara.



    I used to chill there and get a little of my kwanzaa learn on. I don't remember any of the principals but I liked the color coordinated candle thing they had going on



  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    Maybe you need to start hanging out with the black strutters?

    Seriously though, one of my boys that I was in a band with celebrates Kwanzaa, and the gist of it is a celebration of the ancestors and tradiotions of Africa.

    Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think each day they honor a different part of the cultural heritage: food, song, religion, art, etc.


    Ho Ho Ho!
  • jaymackjaymack 5,199 Posts
    you are RELIGEST!!!!!
  • GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
    Maybe you need to start hanging out with the black strutters?

    Nah, I think he's pretty dead on. I don't know anybody who celebrates Kwanzaa. Not to say nobody does but it doesn't seem to be very prevalent. I'll even go so far as to say it seems like it's a joke to many people. I have no qualms with it though.

  • akoako https://soundcloud.com/a-ko 3,413 Posts
    I'll even go so far as to say it seems like it's a joke to many people.

    this is pretty much the only way i ever hear it mentioned...other than on tv when theyre wishing you a "merry chrismahannukwanzaa"

    is it an old holiday or some recently made-up thing? i'd never heard of it till like, 5 years ago...

    i know nothing about it at all but i must say ive never met anybody who celebrated it either...then again i dont think i even know anybody who celebrates hannukah so im not really one to talk. at all.


    anyway, i'd like to see some
  • beatstew72beatstew72 314 Posts
    kwanza is only about 40 years old...introduced by some guy, whose name slips me now...a doctor so and so...
    next question is...is kwanza an african-AMERICAN celebration? is it celebrated elsewhere in the world?
  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Kwanzaa was created by a dude named Maulena Karenga, who has been accused of being a CIA operative during the Cointelpro days of the 60s and 70s. He made this holiday up. It is a very positive holiday though imo and is loosely rooted in Swahili cultures of Africa (Eastern Africa). Here is an explanation below:



    Kwanzaa is a weeklong African-American holiday that emphasizes family values. An estimated 18 million African Americans celebrate the holiday. Maulana Ron Karenga, a black-studies scholar at California State University, Long Beach, invented Kwanzaa in 1966, after rioting in Watts.



    A formal setting for a Kwanzaa celebration. The cup represents unity; the candles, the seven days of the celebration; the corn, children; the fruit, the harvest; and the statue and books, typical gifts.

    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------





    Despite its traces of religious ceremony, such as lighting a different candle each day, Kwanzaa is a non-religious celebration of Afrocentric values: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.



    Kwanzaa activities begin the day after Christmas and run through New Year's Day.



    The Kwanzaa celebration includes a mkeko, a straw mat that represents tradition, the foundation upon which all else is built. On the mat is the kinora, a candelabrum that holds seven mishumaa saba, or candles: three red ones representing the past, three green representing the future and a single black one in the middle representing unity.



    Other items can include an ear of corn, or vibunzi, to represent each child in the family, a communal unity cup and zawadi, or gifts, that teach children about African culture.



    At the daily ceremony, one of the candles is lighted, and a principle is focused on for the day. The ceremonies can include chanting of ancestral names and dancing.



    Kwanzaa, a Swahili word that means ''first fruits,'' involves seven tenets, and each one is recognized on a day of the celebration. The tenets are:



    Umoja: unity.

    Kujichagulia: self-determination.

    Ujima: collective work and responsibility.

    Ujamaa: cooperative economics.

    Nia: purpose.

    Kuumba: creativity.

    Imani: faith. [/b]
  • faux_rillzfaux_rillz 14,343 Posts
    Maybe you need to start hanging out with the black strutters?

    Nah, I think he's pretty dead on. I don't know anybody who celebrates Kwanzaa. Not to say nobody does but it doesn't seem to be very prevalent. I'll even go so far as to say it seems like it's a joke to many people. I have no qualms with it though.


    It's observed by far more institutions than actual people; white people that run banks and schitt like to think that paying lip service to Kwanzaa makes up for discriminating against black customers the other fifty-one weeks of the year.

    And to answer the questions of some other strutters: it's some completely made-up schitt, that originated with Ron Karenga, a well-known crackpot that arranged for the kidnapping, torture and murder of a number of people affilliated with the Black Panthers.
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    Maybe you need to start hanging out with the black strutters?

    Nah, I think he's pretty dead on. I don't know anybody who celebrates Kwanzaa. Not to say nobody does but it doesn't seem to be very prevalent. I'll even go so far as to say it seems like it's a joke to many people. I have no qualms with it though.


    It's observed by far more institutions than actual people; white people that run banks and schitt like to think that paying lip service to Kwanzaa makes up for discriminating against black customers the other fifty-one weeks of the year.

    And to answer the questions of some other strutters: it's some completely made-up schitt, that originated with Ron Karenga, a well-known crackpot that arranged for the kidnapping, torture and murder of a number of people affilliated with the Black Panthers.

    Cosign, he was a known FBI informer. Funny how it was like a kinder, gentler, directionless alternative to the Nation of Islam.
  • tripledoubletripledouble 7,636 Posts
    whoa!!!! thats really ill. i actually liked kwanzaa up to now when yall drop this stool pidgeon knowledge. always found the kwanzaa principles worthy of attention in school programs....helped us get away from the specifically religious trappings of the season too
  • SoulhawkSoulhawk 3,197 Posts
    Umoja: unity.
    Kujichagulia: self-determination.
    Ujima: collective work and responsibility.
    Ujamaa: cooperative economics.
    Nia: purpose.
    Kuumba: creativity.
    Imani: faith. [/b]

    Kujichagulia[/b] - never seen this one used as a spiritual jazz song title or label name?

    too hard to pronounce?
  • BigSpliffBigSpliff 3,266 Posts
    whoa!!!! thats really ill. i actually liked kwanzaa up to now when yall drop this stool pidgeon knowledge. always found the kwanzaa principles worthy of attention in school programs....helped us get away from the specifically religious trappings of the season too

    It has some very valid ideas, but context is/was important. I don't think debate over it really matters anymore since all ethnicities pretty much worship the same Red Tag Discount God these days. Merry Christmas.
  • prof_rockwellprof_rockwell 2,867 Posts
    Kwanzaa was created by a dude named Maulena Karenga, who has been accused of being a CIA operative during the Cointelpro days of the 60s and 70s. He made this holiday up. It is a very positive holiday though imo and is loosely rooted in Swahili cultures of Africa (Eastern Africa). Here is an explanation below:

    Kwanzaa is a weeklong African-American holiday that emphasizes family values. An estimated 18 million African Americans celebrate the holiday. Maulana Ron Karenga, a black-studies scholar at California State University, Long Beach, invented Kwanzaa in 1966, after rioting in Watts.

    A formal setting for a Kwanzaa celebration. The cup represents unity; the candles, the seven days of the celebration; the corn, children; the fruit, the harvest; and the statue and books, typical gifts.
    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------


    Despite its traces of religious ceremony, such as lighting a different candle each day, Kwanzaa is a non-religious celebration of Afrocentric values: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

    Kwanzaa activities begin the day after Christmas and run through New Year's Day.

    The Kwanzaa celebration includes a mkeko, a straw mat that represents tradition, the foundation upon which all else is built. On the mat is the kinora, a candelabrum that holds seven mishumaa saba, or candles: three red ones representing the past, three green representing the future and a single black one in the middle representing unity.

    Other items can include an ear of corn, or vibunzi, to represent each child in the family, a communal unity cup and zawadi, or gifts, that teach children about African culture.

    At the daily ceremony, one of the candles is lighted, and a principle is focused on for the day. The ceremonies can include chanting of ancestral names and dancing.

    Kwanzaa, a Swahili word that means ''first fruits,'' involves seven tenets, and each one is recognized on a day of the celebration. The tenets are:

    Umoja: unity.
    Kujichagulia: self-determination.
    Ujima: collective work and responsibility.
    Ujamaa: cooperative economics.
    Nia: purpose.
    Kuumba: creativity.
    Imani: faith. [/b]

  • GrafwritahGrafwritah 4,184 Posts
    It's observed by far more institutions than actual people; white people that run banks and schitt like to think that paying lip service to Kwanzaa makes up for discriminating against black customers the other fifty-one weeks of the year.

    That's the impression that I get, and as many of you know I'm not too much for racial conspiracy theories. Schools, businesses, and stuff toss it in as a nod towards black folks who generally haven't had their own holiday(s) (other than MLK day of course, but that's not a "holiday"). The only people that I have encountered that observe it in any fashion are those with Afrocentric leanings that seem to embrace just about anything celebrating African heritage (not that that's necessarily a bad thing).

    From a personal (albeit non-black) perspective, it seems like they could have commandeered a real African holiday or celebration instead of making one up - you can't tell me there isn't some sort of traditional celebration in Africa that doesn't fit the bill.



    Of course, playing the devil's advocate now, I find it amusing that people consider Kwanzaa "made up". I realize by "made up" they mean that it's a recently invented holiday, but if you think about it, ALL[/b] holidays were made up at one point or another. Although having a tradition behind something as opposed to just having some fruitcake invent a holiday to serve only as a holiday does seem hokey.
  • batmonbatmon 27,574 Posts
    Of course, playing the devil's advocate now, I find it amusing that people consider Kwanzaa "made up". I realize by "made up" they mean that it's a recently invented holiday, but if you think about it, ALL[/b] holidays were made up at one point or another. Although having a tradition behind something as opposed to just having some fruitcake invent a holiday to serve only as a holiday does seem hokey.

    Exactly..............all this shit is man-made. All one has to do is declare it.
    Mythology is self-affirmation.
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