Kwanzaa - Sorry I don't get it

[Tropicana]

I had to pick something up from the ex last night and mi was so shocked dat im did ave one book bout Kwanzaa pon de table.



He never was much into holidays e.g. Christmas, Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and felt they were a Babylonian plot fe sell flowahs and greeting cards. So I asked him if he was so much against holidays what was up with Kwanzaa. He said it was cultural not religious.

As far as I know, it is a made up African American holiday created in 1966 or something. So why celebrate a fake holiday and not a real one that has been around for centuries. What is the point of Kwanzaa anyway and why would any Jamaican want to celebrate it.

[kia027]

Cultural Holiday to help black people outside of africa reconnect with their ancestral principles

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/NguzoSaba.shtml

[Tropicana]

Thanks.

[Tropicana]

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa.

Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:

• a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;
  
• a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;
  
• a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;
  
• a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and
  
• a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.

The African American Branch
Rooted in this ancient history and culture, Kwanzaa develops as a flourishing branch of the African American life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special characteristics only an African American holiday but also a Pan-African one, For it draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Africans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.

Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus reflects its concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several functions.


Reaffirming and Restoring Culture
First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the '60's and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. It was designed to be an ingathering to strengthen community and reaffirm common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community.

[jah_yout]

As far as I know, it is a made up African American holiday created in 1966 or something. So why celebrate a fake holiday and not a real one that has been around for centuries. What is the point of Kwanzaa anyway and why would any Jamaican want to celebrate it.

you show an alarming lack of deductive reasoning....I don't celebrate kwaanza but how is it any more a "made-up holiday" than any other holiday? are you aware that humans made up every holiday that exists? or do you think "god" flew out of the sky and created Christmas and certain other holidays?

[Tropicana]

you show an alarming lack of deductive reasoning....I don't celebrate kwaanza but how is it any more a "made-up holiday" than any other holiday? are you aware that humans made up every holiday that exists? or do you think "god" flew out of the sky and created Christmas and certain other holidays?

No I thought they were handed to us by Marians.

YOU are the one showing alarmingly weak powers of deductive reasoning. My point is that I was under the impression that kwaanza was conjured up in 1966. My thinking has always been why make up a new holiday rather than embracing one that was already celebrated in Africa.

Not sure that the holiday kwaanza was ever referred to before 1966. If anyone could post a quote from an independent source that refers to it prior to 1966, I would love to see it.