Responses to Common Questions About Kwanzaa

     As we engage in analysis of  the impact of Kwanzaa on the African-American experience, a number of questions are raised. Newcomers and those of us who have been celebrating the holiday and embracing the Nguzo Saba for decades all have questions. The concerns differ in context and perspective depending upon the level of familiarity with the tradition. This article addresses some of the most common questions asked by neophytes.

     Is Kwanzaa an African holiday? While the ideas for Kwanzaa are based on traditional harvest festivals or celebrations held in many African countries, historically there is no specific holiday called Kwanzaa on the continent. The idea of a "first fruit" harvest for African-Americans has to do with the celebration of accomplishments and achievements of goals for the year, and spreading the seeds of aspirations that will be developed in the coming year.

     Is Kwanzaa a religious holiday? It is not based on any particular religion and is celebrated by people of various faiths. In the spirit of unity, the principles allow practioners to embrace each regardless of religious doctrine.

     Is Kwanzaa meant to replace Christmas? While many people embrace Kwanzaa and reject the materialism associated with Christmas, Kwanzaa is not meant to replace Christmas. Is is up to individuals and families to determine if one or both holidays fulfills their needs.

     What language is used for the principles and symbolf of Kwanzaa? Kiswahili, spoken in East and Central Africa, is the language associated with Kwanzaa. African-Americans who have embraced "the culture" and made a decision to lead African-centered lives, have incorporated study of African languages. Some people have traced their roots to a particular part of Africa and chosen the language and culture of those areas, but many of us have simply chosen the languages and cultures that we want to learn. Among the most popular languages are Woloof (West Africa), Yoruba (Nigeria), and Kiswahili, and Nedew Neter, also known as Hieroglyphics (ancient Kemet/Egypt). 

     Why do we need such a tradition? Do we have the right to establish a holiday? Those two questions have to do with the political, social and spiritual ramifications of Kwanzaa. Kwanzaa is needed because it serves as a link to our roots and heritage, while providing a foundation for strengthening our families, institutions, communities and ourselves as individuals and as a nation of people. All people have a need and a right to strive for continued growth and progress through the creation of culture. As an African people, it is important for us to reach back and embrace our ancestry; but as a people who have been forged by both our African roots and our experiences in America, we have developed a culture that is an expression of both, out of which Kwanzaa has been shaped.

Celebrating Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba

       Photograph by Titilayo Akanke

Joyous Kwanzaa

     Having celebrated Kwanzaa for more than 25 years, I questioned whether there was a need to provided instructional and historical content in the blog. I had intended to focus on the questions raised in recent years about the relevancy of the tradition, and incorporating the Nguzo Saba into our daily lives. However, recently on the radio, the DJ and his co-host discussed Kwanzaa briefly, but did not know the principles or days of Kwanzaa. I realized there is still a need to start with the basics, then address some of the questions and issues. There are a number of commonly asked questions. Is Kwanzaa an African holiday? Is is religious? Is it meant to replace Christmas? What language is used for the principles and symbols? Why do we need such a tradition? Do we have the right to establish a holiday? Has the holiday become commercial? What is the relevancy of Kwanzaa beyond he seven day celebration?How do we incorporate the Nguzo Saba into our daily lives? Over the next several days, these ideas will be addressed.

History of Kwanzaa

     Kwanzaa, which means "first fruits," is an African-American holiday founded in the 1960s by Maulana Karenga. Based on festivals celebrating the harvest and other important occasions, Kwanzaa provides a vehicle for African-Americans  to reconnect with traditional values and culture in a manner that meets our needs here in North America. The Nguzo Saba, or Seven Principles, each mark a day in the seven day celebration that take place from December 26 to January 1. The principles also serve as a foundation for throughout the remainder of the year for strengthening our families, and building our communities, institutions and nation. 

The Nguzo Saba - Seven Principles

Umoja - Unity

     To establish harmony in our families, communities, institutions, nation, and among our people.

Kujichagulia - Self-Determination

     To define, name, speak and provide for ourselves rather than having others do these things for us.

Ujima - Collective Work and Responsibility

     Develop and maintain our communities together, and solve our problems together.

Ujamaa - Cooperative Economics

     Build and maintain businesses collectively and profit from them together.

Nia - Purpose

     Work together collectively to build communities, and work together to resore our people to our traditional greatness.

Kuumba - Creativity

      Put forth our greatest effort to leave our communities more beautiful and valuable than when we inherited them.

Imani - Faith

     Believe in ourselves, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle to restore our culture, heritage, traditions, and greatness, and build our communities, institutions, and nation.

The Symbols of Kwanzaa

Kinara (Candle Holder)

     The Kinara is a candle holder which holds the seven candles, and represents social structure.

Mishumaa (Seven Candles)

     There are three red candles (left side of Kinara), one black candle (center) and three green candles. Each candle stands for one of the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba). The color red denotes the blood of our ancestors that has been shed, black is symbolic of Black people, and green represents land.

Mkeka (Straw Mat)

     The straw mat is placed under the kinara and represents the foundation for community, institution, and nation building.

Mahindi (Corn)

     An ear of corn represents each child in the family, and there is one for a potential child. The corn also represents our link to the future through our children who will carry on our legacy and continue to spread the seeds of each family.

Kikombe Cha Umoja (Unity Cup)

     The unity cup symbolizes the goal of togetherness or unity. Each person drinks from the Unity Cup at the designated time during the celebration. In most instances,  liquid (water or fruit juice) from the Unity Cup will be poured into smaller cups held by individuals, and they will drink simultaneously.

Zawadi (Gifts)

     Gifts are given to children on the last day of Kwanzaa (Imani), and should be something that contribute to their development. 

Celebrating Kwanzaa

     Celebrations are held in the home with family and friends, or in larger community gatherings. Set up the Kwanzaa table by first covering it with a piece of African cloth, or red, black or green cloth. Place the straw mat in center, the kinara on the mat, and the candles in the candle holder. The three red candles go on the left, the black one in the center, and the green ones on the right. Place the fruit in a basket or decorative bowl, and place it along with the corn (Mahindi), Unity Cup (Kikombe Cha Umoja),  and gifts (Zawadi) on the table. Add African artifacts, plants and culturally relevant books for decoration, as desired.

     Each celebration begins with the pouring of libations in honor and recognition of our ancestors. An elder or esteemed member of the family or community incrementally pours water into a plant (representing the earth into which ancestors are interned) while speaking words in tribute to ancestors. (When libations are done outside, the liquid is poured on the ground.) The names of renowned and family ancestors are called by the facilitator and participants. A candle is lit for the day's principle. As the days progress, the candles for the previous days are lit along with a candle for the current day. Traditionally, the candle lighting begins with a red candle, and the black one is lit last on the day of Kwanzaa, which is Imani. However, in some areas of the country, participants begin the candle lighting ceremony with the black candle. After the candle lighting, the family or group discusses the principle for the day.

     Participates may engage in activities or crafts relevant to the day's principle. When children are involved, make sure to include age appropriate activities that they will find interesting. Poetry,  dramatic readings, spoken word performances, speakers on topics relevant to the principle, music, and African drum and dance are examples of the kinds of activities provided during Kwanzaa gatherings and celebrations. Participants then shares a meal. On the sixth day of Kwanzaa, Kuumba (Creativity) there is a potluck feast to which everyone contributes. Particular attention is paid to creating delicious, nutritious dishes that are in keeping with promoting good health and nourishing the body. More attention is also given showcasing the creative talents of artists in celebration of Kuumba. Each evening ends with a unity circle in which brief closing words are offered by those who chose to speak. Participants symbolically drink from the Unity Cup. Usually, liquid is poured from the Unity Cup, into individual smaller cups held by each participant, and at the designated moment, everyone drinks simultaneously from their cup. Afterwards, while still in the circle, everyone, in  unison, reaches toward the ceiling and pulls down seven times while saying "harambee" (pull together). This concludes the celebration.

Photograph by Titilayo Akanke

May your holidays and new year be filled with peace, joy and prosperity.

Morgan State University Homecoming 2011

"Dissidence and Creativity" - Dr. Nawal Saadawi, Egyptian Author, Activist

On stage in the Turpin-Lamb Theatre of Morgan State University's

 Murphy Fine Arts Center, Dr. Nawal El Saadawi addresses the audience.

   

     In a recent appearance at Morgan State University, sponsored by the Office of the Provost, The College of Liberal Arts, and The Women's and Gender Studies Program, world renowned Egyptian author and political activist, Dr. Nawal El Saadawi, shared her views on creativity, the current political climate in Egypt, religion, and women's issues. The two day event, featured a discussion titled "A Public Conversation with Dr. Nawal El Saadawi," followed by a lecture, "Creativity and Dissidence," in which Saadawi touted creativity as the key component of pleasure, freedom, and education.

     

     Though Saadawi rejects labels because she does not adhere to any particular philosophy and follows her own mind, she is viewed as an outspoken radical, feminist, and revolutionary. She stands against oppression and creativity is her guide. Her writings and political work have resulted in termination from a job, a ban of some of her work,  imprisonment, and death threats. But, the joy of creativity and fearlessness have allowed her to prevail. 

     "Creativity is based in courage, and once you taste it, you never want to give it up. The pleasure of creativity is greater than sexual pleasure," she explained further.

     "I am working on loosing fear of punishment," Saadawi said. "We are trained to be punished or rewarded, not to be creative. We must not be fearful of punishment, and we must not wait to be rewarded four our creativity. I am rewarded when a young person says one of my books has changed his or her life. That is the purpose of creativity."

    According to Saadawi, our creativity is suppressed from birth because of fear. We fear power and authority, including our parents, and we are afraid to criticize and challenge. We fear that what we say will not be accepted, and that others are smarter. We loose our creativity because we hate school, and find no joy in our work and studies. Emotional and economic dependence also stifle creativity.

     Creativity means remembering, having a critical and analytical mind, integrating past, present and future, connecting body, mind, and spirit, and incorporating real love and joy into our lives. It means challenging and criticizing authority, seeking real rather than psudo-knowledge, and connecting elements of society such as economics, politics, and education. Incorporating those elements into our lives breeds revolution, which makes is less possible for a few hundred people to control millions.

    

Saadawi on stage taking a question from a guest in the audience.

   

          Asked about the revolution that Egypt has undergone, Saadawi said that the people were frustrated with poverty, corruption, and vestiges of colonialization. Fifty percent of Egyptians live below the poverty level, earning two dollars a day, are starving and dying of disease, while Mubarak and his cronies have millions outside the country. When Egypt was proclaimed a democracy in 2005, Saadawi wanted to explore the political climate, and pave the way for women who were subjugated members of society. She announced that she was running for president, and was told by police that if she continued to organize a campaign, she would be jailed. For that reason and because of the pervasivepoverty, she surmised there was no real democracy

    

     "In order to have a democray, you cannot have poverty," Saadawi shared. "You must have the freedom to eat."

     

Saadawi receiving an award. (Top two photos).

Saadawi in the studio preparing for an interview.

Saadawi exiting the Communication's Center after interview.

Imposing the Death Penalty - Justice, Injustice, or Revenge

     The lines between justice, injustice, and revenge continue to blur as evidenced in the recent execution of Troy Davis. Despite reasonable doubt in Davis' case, and public outcry from hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. and Europe asking that his life be spared, The Georgia Pardons and Parole Board, Georgia courts, and the U.S. Supreme Court allowed him to be put to death.

Troy Davis (Top two photos)

 The National Action Network under the direction of Reverend Al Sharpton, the NAACP, Amnesty International, and the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty,  were among supporters advocating on his behalf.

     Davis was accused of killing off duty police officer, Marc MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia in 1989, and faced death four times from 2007 until he was finally executed last month. He was granted a stay of execution in 2007, less than 24 hours before he was to be put to death. In 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court intervened two hours before his impending death, and a few months later, a federal appeals court stopped the execution.

     No physical evidence linked Davis to the crime. There was no DNA, no fingerprints, and the weapon was never found. Key witnesses who placed Davis at the scene of the crime did not prove reliable. Seven of the nine witnesses recanted their testimonies, and after the trial, others indicated someone else committed the murder. Some witnesses said they were coerced and threatened by the police to identify Davis as the shooter.

Prayer Vigil for Troy Davis prior to his execution.

     New York Times bestselling author, Thomas Cahill chronicles the life of another African-American man who met the same fate in 2004 after spending 11 years on death row in Texas. The biography, A Saint on Death Row, The Story of Dominique Green, reveals the life of a young man from an impoverished and troubled childhood and adolescence, who, at age 16, fell in with the wrong crowd and was involved in a robbery in which the victim was shot and killed. Three other young men were involved in the crime, and their testimony alone, pointed to Green as the shooter. His fingerprints were not on the murder weapon, and in fact, there was no DNA evidence linking him to the crime. He was not identified in the lineup, or by other witnesses as having been the shooter. Green repeatedly ask that a tape from the store's security camera be retrieved, insisting that it would prove his innocence. It was never introduced as evidence.

     As with the Troy Davis case, Dominique's case drew worldwide attention and support, including that of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who visited Dominique on death row.  Life in prison was punishment enough, he said in a press conference after his visit with Green. "Don't dehumanize yourself as a society by carrying out the death penalty," he implored of Americans.

     "I just wonder what affect working in that environment can have on people," Bishop Desmond Tutu said further after his visit to the Texas death row. "It's so destroying--for everyone there."

Thomas Cahill's biography of death row inmate, Dominique Green,

executed in 2004 after eleven years on death row in Texas.

     "Many colleagues turned to drugs and alcohol and some committed suicide," said former warden Ron McAndrew, who oversaw executions on Florida's death row. He testified at a New Hampshire hearing regarding the trauma experienced by prison staff, and admits he is haunted by the men he executed. 

     Capital punishment continues to be a controversial issue, and statistics suggest that it is disproportionately applied in instances where African-Americans and the poor are the accused. According to the organization, Campaign to End the Death Penalty, African-Americans are only 12 percent of the U.S. population, but constitute a significantly large percentage of inmates on death row in the 35 states that impose the capital punishment. In Pennsylvania, Louisiana, and Maryland, African-Americans comprise 42 percent of those on death row. In Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Mississippi, and Ohio, more than 50 percent of death row inmates are African-Americans. The death penalty has been applied in 80 percent of cases in which the accused is black and the the victim is Caucasian. Conversely, of the 18,000 executions that have occurred in U.S history, 42 involved a white perpetrator and a black victim.

     Over 90 percent of cases of those charged with capital crimes are indigent, and could not pay attorneys who were able and willing to expend efforts to prepare and launch extensive defense of their cases. In many instances, the trial was over in a week, which did not allow adequate time for preparation.

        Violent crime plague's America, and many feel that the death penalty is a deterrent. In 2010, 46 people in America were put to death. The number of executions and public sentiment for the death penalty has steadily declined, but it is still a contentions issue which garners support from 61 percent of Americans, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. Three thousand people currently await their fate on death row. 

For additional information and resources about the death penalty: http://www.innocenceproject.org/ (The Innocence Project); http://www.deathpenalty.org/ (Death Penalty Focus); http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/ (Death Penalty Information Center); http://www.ncadp.org/ (National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty); http://www.schr.org/; (Southern Center for Human Rights).

Information for this article gathered from the above sources and http://www.msnbc.com/; http://www.naacp.org/;  http://www.ibtimes.com/; http://www.aclu.org/.

Summer 2011 in Baltimore - A Photo Expose

Photos by Titilayo Akanke

The African American Heritage Festival

The Baltimore Summer Opera Workshop

at Morgan State University

     Under the supervision of founder and artistic director, Vincent D. Stinger, and Masetro Julien Benichou, the Baltimore Summer Opera Workshop is a four-week program in which a diverse group of young musicians are trained by outstanding artists from around the country. The program culminates with the production of five operas including Highway One USA by William Grant Still, Little Red Riding Hood by Seymore Barab, Beauty and the Beast by Vittorio Giannini, The Medium by Gian-Carlo Menottie, and Gianni Schicchi by Giacomo Pucinni. The photos below are scenes from The Medium and Gianni Schicchi.

     The Medium is a tragic story of a woman, Madam Flora, who deceives people into thinking she has the power to communicate with the dead by conducting seances. She is actually a drunk who, with the help of her daughter, Monica, uses theatrical gimmicks to convince her clients that they are in contact with their loved one in the spirit world. She is also terribly abusive to their mute servant, Toby; and unbeknownst to her mother, Monica and Toby are is in love. Madam Flora's schemes backfire when she "feels a phantom hand clutching her throat" and she begins to hear voices. She tries to convince her patrons that "the whole thing was a sham," but they do not believe her. She becomes more violent, abusive and unstable as she searches for the origin of the mysterious presence that continues to torment her.

Scenes from The Medium on stage at

Morgan State University's Murphy Fine Arts Theatre

     Gianni Schicchi is a tale of greed and deception as the family of a wealthy, dying man connive to receive that have not necessarily been bequeathed to them. Relatives gather at the deathbed of Buosco Donati to "mourn his passing and investigate the details of his will." It turns out that he has left the bulk of his estate to a monastery. However, the will has not been filed with a notary and no one outside the room knows about Donati's death. With the help of Gianni Schicchi, a ruthless businessman in Florence, Italy who has risen from peasantry, the family devises a scheme to create a new will that includes them. Schicchi warns them that if the fraud is ever discovered, they face punishment of having a hand cut off and banishment from Florence. They remove Donati's body and call a notary to the home so that Schicchi, while impersonating Donati, can dictate a new will. In an ultimate betrayal to the family, he stipulates in the new will, that the majority of the estate is should go to his good friend Gianni Schicchi, which of course, in actuality is himself. He had convinced the family that he was going to help them and he actually swindles them.

 

Scenes from Gianni Shicchi on stage at

 Morgan State University's Murphy Fine Arts Theatre

Artscape, Downtown Baltimore

The Light Box

     On exhibit at Artscape, the Light Box is a design and build project completed by students earning their Bachelors of Science in Architecture and Environmental Design in the Morgan State University School of Architecture and Planning, under the direction of Professor Michael Zembrowski. The structure incorporates "passive solar design," and is composed of 85 percent recycled and reclaimed materials obtained from The Loading Dock, a non-profit materials reuse center. For further details log on to: http://www.morgan.edu/ and search School of Architecture and Planning.

 Artscape Parade

Artscape Vendors and Activities

The Baltimore International Festival

Mayor Stephanie Rawlins-Blake gives recognition to the winners of the international soccer tournament

 which was one of the festival activities.

MC, Papa Wabe, Host of "Reggae Roots and Culture"

 (Saturdays 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM, WEAA, 88.9 FM), introduces Third World

Third World, on Stage at The International Festival

Ledisi on stage at the International Festival