Page 20 - Florida Sentinel 12-15-17

Tis The Season
Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday that is celebrated by millions of people throughout the world. It represents a cultural message which speaks to the best of what it means to be African.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, Professor and Chairman of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, introduced the Kwanzaa celebration in 1965. The cele- bration is one of family, community and cul- ture.
This year, Kwanzaa will begin on Tues- day, December 26th and end on Monday, January 1st. The 2017 theme is “Practicing the Principles of Kwanzaa: Repair- ing, Renewing and Remaking Our World.”
Nguzo Saba
The celebration focuses on 7 principles known as Nguzo Saba.
Umoja — Unity: To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
Kujichagulia — self-determination: To define, name, create, and speak for our- selves.
Ujima — Collective Work and Respon- sibility: To build and maintain our commu- nity, make our brothers’ problems our own, and to solve them together.
Ujamaa — Cooperative Economics: To build and maintain our stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them to- gether.
Nia — purpose: To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community.
Kuumba — Creativity: To do always as much as we can, to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial.
Imani — Faith: To believe with all our hearts in our people, righteousness, and vic- tory of our struggle.
Symbols Of Kwanzaa
Mazao: fruits, nuts, and vegetables symbolize work and the basis of the holiday. To demonstrate their Mazao, cele- brants of Kwanzaa place nuts, fruit, and veg- etables, representing work, on the Mkeka. Mkeka: Place Mat — the Mkeka, made from straw or cloth symbolizes the historical and traditional foundation for us
to stand on and build our lives.
The Mkeka are made from Kente cloth,
African mud cloth, and other textiles from various areas of the African continent.
Vibunzi: Ear of Corn — The stalk of corn represents fertility and symbolizes the future hopes of the family.
Mishumaa Saba: The Seven Candles — Candles are ceremonial objects with two primary purposes: to re-create symbolically the sun’s power and to provide
light.
Mishumaa Saba are the seven can-
dles: three red, three green, and one black. The black candle symbolizes Umoja (unity), the basis of success, and is lit on De- cember 26.
The three green candles, represent Nia, Ujima, and Imani, are placed to the right of the Umoja candle.
The three red candles, represent Ku- jichagulia, Ujamaa, and Kuumba, are placed to the left of it.
During Kwanzaa, one candle, represent- ing one principle, is lit each day.
The number of candles burning indi- cates the principle that is being celebrated.
Mishumaa Saba’s symbolic colors represent the colors of the flag, (bendara) red, black, and green, which was created by Marcus Garvey.
Kinara: The Candleholder — The Kinara is the center of the Kwanzaa setting and represents the original stalk from which we came: our ancestry.
The Kinara symbolizes the ancestors, who were once earth bound; understand the problems of human life; and are willing to protect their progeny from danger, evil, and mistakes.
Kikombe Cha Umoja: The Unity Cup — is a special cup that is used to per- form the libation (tambiko) ritual during the Karamu feast on the sixth day of Kwanzaa.
During the Karamu feast, the Kikombe Cha Umoja is passed to family members and guests, who drink from it to promote unity.
Zawadi: Gifts — When we celebrate Imani on the seventh day of Kwanzaa, we give meaningful Zawadi (gifts) to encour- age growth, self-determination, achieve-
ment, and success.
Gifts are exchanged, especially with the
children, to promote or reward accomplish- ments and commitments kept, as well as with guests.
Handmade gifts are encouraged to pro- mote self-determination, purpose, and cre- ativity and to avoid the chaos of shopping.
The gift cements social relationships, al- lowing the receiver to share the duties and the rights of a family member. Accepting a gift makes the receiver part of the family and promotes Umoja.
Colors Of The Flag
The colors also represent African gods. Red is the color of Shango, the Yoruba god of fire, thunder, and lightning, who lives in the clouds and sends down his thunderbolt whenever he is angry or offended.
It also represents the struggle for self- determination and freedom by people of color.
Black represents the people, the earth, the source of life representing hope, cre- ativity, and faith and denoting messages and the opening and closing of doors.
Green represents the earth that sus- tains our lives and provides hope, divina- tion, employment, and the fruits of the harvest.
The Day of Meditation
The last day of Kwanzaa is the first day of the New Year, 1 January. Historically, this has been for African people a time of sober assessment of things done and things to do, of self-reflection and reflection on the life and future of the people, and of recom- mitment to their highest cultural values in a special way.
PAGE 8-B FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY FRIDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2017