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Kwanzaa, PA
I've
been out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania now for almost a week. I find
myself spending every other Christmas and every other Thanksgiving in
Pittsburgh since I got married. One of the best things I get to do when
I come out is to visit Sandra (Mom) Jackley's first grade classroom.
This year I was here for the last school day of the year so we got to have an assembly. We all sat down and obediently sang to the tune of the music teacher's animated powerpoint presentation. It's amazing how well elementary kids can sit up straight on hard gym floors for long periods of time. I remember doing that. It's also amazing how well they all sing together. I detected no inhibition and no attitude from the near 200 suburban Pittsburgh 1-3 graders on the floor.
We sang a few secular Christmas carols, then a Hanukah song and then....a Kwanzaa song. I had never sung a Kwanzaa song, but these kids had. In fact, they all seemed very well acquainted with Kwanzaa. Segueing from Christmas to Hanukah to Kwanzaa was effortless in that gym of 200 (mostly Caucasian) kids.
As a suburban 1-3 grader of the 1980's, Kwanzaa songs never reached my elementary school. In fact, Kwanzaa never hit any of my schools up until college at Stanford in the late nineties. I have reached this point in my life knowing little about Kwanzaa. Lately, in an effort to relate better to Africans, I’ve tried to learn more about anything African that I find.
I showed my ignorance on a phone call two nights ago with Moses who lives in Uganda. I thought maybe that Kwanzaa was widely celebrated in Africa. Apparently, as I have learned, this is not really the case. Kwanzaa is mostly celebrated by African Americans and other Africans who do not live in Africa. We were in the middle of talking about Christmas and how his family celebrates it. He was telling me that his family goes out to an adjacent rural village and has a feast with many relatives all together.
Then I asked him, "And do you celebrate Kwanzaa?"
"Kwanza?", he replied.
"Yes, Kwanzaa, the holiday?" I said.
"Yes, Matt. Kwanza is, you know, the first time. When you celebrate a kwanza, you are celebrating the first of something."
It became very clear after talking more that Moses' Kwanza was very different than the Kwanzaa I was talking about. He was talking about the Swahili word “Kwanza” which means “First”.
Then I told Moses, as I was reading about Kwanzaa on the internet. "In America, Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrated by African Americans to celebrate African Unity and cooperation. It is also to remember the oppression suffered by millions of Africans over many centuries."
"Ok, Matt, this is a very good holiday then. Let us celebrate Kwanzaa this year then together." He responded.
I instantly agreed and I am, as we speak, celebrating a modified Kwanzaa. Let me tell you though, that it is difficult to properly celebrate Kwanzaa unless you know where to look. This website has good instructions on how to prepare for Kwanzaa. If you start late, as I did, it is not easy. I am not trying to do everything perfect. In fact, I am just trying to do the candle ceremony. Even this, I have found out, is not easy to prepare.
The site says that the Kwanzaa candle ceremony calls for "seven candles, one black, three red, and three green". The problem here is the black candle. Ever try to find a black candle in the suburbs? Name a chain store and I bet they don't have a black candle. I even tried Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics. Each store had TONS of candles -- none of them black. The closest they had was the dark blue “Moonlight Musk”.
The staff at Michael's showed me how I could make my own black candle by buying a brick of wax, a mold, a wick and some dye. I decided just to cover one of my other candles with black clay they sold me. The absence of black candles in any major store makes me wonder though: How do most people celebrate Kwanzaa in this country? Do people have to just go to Afro-centric stores? Do the chain stores in other (more diverse) neighborhoods carry different colors of candles? Do people, like me, make their own black candles? Do they order online?
Whatever holiday you are celebrating, have a good one.
This year I was here for the last school day of the year so we got to have an assembly. We all sat down and obediently sang to the tune of the music teacher's animated powerpoint presentation. It's amazing how well elementary kids can sit up straight on hard gym floors for long periods of time. I remember doing that. It's also amazing how well they all sing together. I detected no inhibition and no attitude from the near 200 suburban Pittsburgh 1-3 graders on the floor.
We sang a few secular Christmas carols, then a Hanukah song and then....a Kwanzaa song. I had never sung a Kwanzaa song, but these kids had. In fact, they all seemed very well acquainted with Kwanzaa. Segueing from Christmas to Hanukah to Kwanzaa was effortless in that gym of 200 (mostly Caucasian) kids.
As a suburban 1-3 grader of the 1980's, Kwanzaa songs never reached my elementary school. In fact, Kwanzaa never hit any of my schools up until college at Stanford in the late nineties. I have reached this point in my life knowing little about Kwanzaa. Lately, in an effort to relate better to Africans, I’ve tried to learn more about anything African that I find.
I showed my ignorance on a phone call two nights ago with Moses who lives in Uganda. I thought maybe that Kwanzaa was widely celebrated in Africa. Apparently, as I have learned, this is not really the case. Kwanzaa is mostly celebrated by African Americans and other Africans who do not live in Africa. We were in the middle of talking about Christmas and how his family celebrates it. He was telling me that his family goes out to an adjacent rural village and has a feast with many relatives all together.
Then I asked him, "And do you celebrate Kwanzaa?"
"Kwanza?", he replied.
"Yes, Kwanzaa, the holiday?" I said.
"Yes, Matt. Kwanza is, you know, the first time. When you celebrate a kwanza, you are celebrating the first of something."
It became very clear after talking more that Moses' Kwanza was very different than the Kwanzaa I was talking about. He was talking about the Swahili word “Kwanza” which means “First”.
Then I told Moses, as I was reading about Kwanzaa on the internet. "In America, Kwanzaa is a holiday celebrated by African Americans to celebrate African Unity and cooperation. It is also to remember the oppression suffered by millions of Africans over many centuries."
"Ok, Matt, this is a very good holiday then. Let us celebrate Kwanzaa this year then together." He responded.
I instantly agreed and I am, as we speak, celebrating a modified Kwanzaa. Let me tell you though, that it is difficult to properly celebrate Kwanzaa unless you know where to look. This website has good instructions on how to prepare for Kwanzaa. If you start late, as I did, it is not easy. I am not trying to do everything perfect. In fact, I am just trying to do the candle ceremony. Even this, I have found out, is not easy to prepare.
The site says that the Kwanzaa candle ceremony calls for "seven candles, one black, three red, and three green". The problem here is the black candle. Ever try to find a black candle in the suburbs? Name a chain store and I bet they don't have a black candle. I even tried Michaels and JoAnn Fabrics. Each store had TONS of candles -- none of them black. The closest they had was the dark blue “Moonlight Musk”.
The staff at Michael's showed me how I could make my own black candle by buying a brick of wax, a mold, a wick and some dye. I decided just to cover one of my other candles with black clay they sold me. The absence of black candles in any major store makes me wonder though: How do most people celebrate Kwanzaa in this country? Do people have to just go to Afro-centric stores? Do the chain stores in other (more diverse) neighborhoods carry different colors of candles? Do people, like me, make their own black candles? Do they order online?
Whatever holiday you are celebrating, have a good one.
