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udaism calls it Jubilee, an age-old religious cus-
tom. Without getting lost in the intricacies of Mo- saic Law, allow us to say that one of Jubilee’s most enduring and most endearing aspects is its tradition of across-the-board forgiveness. For example, during this time, debts are forgiven; injustices are pardoned, rival- ries dissipated, jealousies dissolved, unkind words are no longer used in conversation; bitter memories of wrongs done long ago are forgiven and forgotten, and hatreds are swept aside with a handshake . . . oh, Black People, don’t you wish we had something like that in our society?
For this New Year 2018, wouldn’t it be nice if we could learn to unlearn how to hate one another? For the last day of December and the first day of January, wouldn’t it be wonderful if not one curse word issued from our lips . . . if not one spiteful, angry thought en- tered our minds before our feet hit the floor in the morning? What would it take for us to forgive past in- discretions and wrongs?
How hard would it be to face our bitterest enemy (even if it’s ourselves) and say, “I FORGIVE YOU!” This New Year will certainly not be a New Year if Old Year’s demons still crowd the dance floor.
So, Black People, this is an S.O.S. not only for your souls, but for your peace of mind. . .
We’re asking, what would it be like to be forgetful for the New Year . . . to stop hating long enough to give an honest smile, a firm handshake, and a resolution not to do harm to your fellow man or woman.
Do you have it in you?
If not, ask the Creator to lend you some Humanity for this New Year. And let us embrace Jubilee, not sim- ply as Black people, but as human beings.
Christmas As A Slave
n a University of North
Carolina collection on
Documenting the Amer- ican South, an article, “The Slave Experience of the Holidays,” drew my interest when researching how slaves spent the Christ- mas holiday.
The article began, “Amer- ican slaves experienced the Christmas holidays in many different ways... Joy, hope, and celebration... for other slaves, these holidays con- jured visions of freedom and even the opportunity to bring about that freedom.”
More so than any other time of year, the Christmas holidays provided a relaxed atmosphere that enabled the “slaves to interact in ways that they could not interact during the rest of the year.” Slaves usually received gifts from their masters . . . food, clothing, shoes, a trinket or some other token gift.
Indeed, slave marriages also took place during the Christmas season with per- mission from their masters.
On some plantations, great wedding feasts were held with food and music were sometimes held within the homes of the slave mas- ters.
One ritual involved slaves and children hiding from their masters or each other to catch someone who could afford to give them a gift. Crying out “Christmas Gift” and refusing to let the person go until they forked over a
gift – the “prisoner” usually gave the slave toys, a few coins, a trinket or candy.
Reportedly, one male slave named Henry saved enough of his Christmas gifts in money to buy his freedom.
Some slaves used the Christmas season as an op- portunity to escape under the relaxed atmosphere of holi- day travel by their masters and the suspension of work days when the slave’s ab- sence was detected usually days after the slave had es- caped. Frequently, because slave husbands, wives and children were owned by dif- ferent masters, the slaves were given passes to use to travel to other plantations to see each other.
The passes were then used to show to slave catch- ers or anyone else who ques- tioned a slave’s right to travel along the roads, making the slaves’ escape easier. Har- riet Tubman led her broth- ers to escape from a Maryland farm on Christmas while their master thought the brothers were visiting their elderly mother.
Many slaves did not view the holidays as a celebration, but rather as a reminder that they were not free.
According to Frederick Douglass, Christmas and New Year’s Day were “psy- chological tools of the op- pressor.”
He viewed the activities that slaves engaged in – dancing, fiddling, playing
ball, foot-racing, wrestling, running, drinking whiskey – as folly.
Slave masters would bet on which slaves could drink the most whiskey without getting drunk. Such celebra- tions would last for two to seven days.
As one former slave de- scribed Christmas, “Dat was one day on Massa’s place when all am happy and for- gets dey am slaves.”
However, Frederick Douglass described the events as a “safety valve to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity.”
On some plantations, the Christmas holidays were a time during which slave mas- ters gave “special gifts” for picking the most cotton, in- creasing their productivity or having a baby.”
Christmas was one of the few times slaves were al- lowed to eat fresh meats (beef, ham, poultry etc.), fruits and baked goods and drink all the liquor they could hold.
Christmas was used to ensure slaves accepted and practiced Christianity as a re- ligion since most of them were Muslim when they were captured.
The Christian religion was also used as “a tool to keep slaves complacent and to convey the notion that God approved of their condi- tion.”
Even though the Christ- mas holidays on Southern plantations was a brief relief from slavery, the hope, vision and quest for freedom was always at the forefront of the slave’s mind, much like today.
You all have a blessed New Year and a renewed spirit to press onward to- ward the prize. Harrambee!
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Wouldn’t It Be Nice To Be Forgetful For The New Year?
TUESDAY, JANUARY 2, 2018 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY PAGE 5
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