The Mystery of Kwanzaa
Published December 17, 2004
Finally, the scoop on this mysterious holiday.
Many people - myself included until now - believe that Kwanzaa is an Africa holiday transported to the U.S.
Not true.
Not even close.
Malcolm A. Kline, in yesterday's USA Today, reported on his investigation into the origin of the holiday, which began when he asked his wife, who's from Zambia, about it.
She replied, "Kwanzaa? What is that?"
That's all he needed.
Turns out that though the "official" Kwanzaa website states it is a "Pan-African holiday celebrated by millions throughout the world," all the Africans Kline asked - including natives of Kenya, Ethiopia, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, and Tanzania - thought it was from some other African country, because theirs didn't celebrate it.
The first Kwanzaa took place in Los Angeles, California in 1965, when one Maulena Karenga decided to celebrate it with family and friends.
He arbitrarily set the range of dates for observing it between Christmas and New Year's Day (it's on December 26 this year).
A spokeswoman at the Black History Museum in Alexandria, Virginia, told Kline, "I would say you would find no African nations and one American nation celebrating Kwanzaa."
Here's a link to the full USA Today story.
Of course, the new new thing, gathering strength as you read these words, is Chrismukkah, featuring the wearing of a hybrid Santa hat/yarmulke called a "Yarmuclaus."
Last night the goofy hat made its debut on "The O.C."
So it must be significant.
- The Mystery of Kwanzaa
- Published: December 17, 2004
- Type: News
- Section: Culture
- Writer: bookofjoe
- bookofjoe's BC Writer page
- bookofjoe's personal site
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Comments on this articleComments
Nah just back to the original...Saturnalia.
That's very interesting regarding Kwanzaa. I don't think I'm the only one that just sort of accepted it as another "thing" and moved on.
As for Festivus, count me in: I'm ready for the Feats of Strength.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
Kwanzaa is as real as any other holiday. All holidays are "made up." None of them is a part of nature. They are created by people to celebrate what's important to them: certain secular people or events, religious people or events, or cultural heritage.
Kwanzaa just happens to be newer than most of the other made up holidays.
And the people who created it are black and are celebrating cultures from which their ancestors came and were unwillingly taken from.
How dare they?
Of course the birth of Christ isn,t made up.
As for the rest I would agree, they're a made up conscience choice like being gay.
Have you ever heard the Kwanzaa song. The funny one done by those African Americans guys led me to beleive that Kwanzaa was about smash n' go robberies as well as alcohol and nicotine binges courtesy of Old English and Kool Filter Kings.
There is no time like the present for a good Holiday, In fact every day can be a Holiday, lets sing!
Why hasn't the gay community came up with a holiday during December? Gayzaa, or something. Decorate a large phalic shaped tree with different colored butt beads. Sing Jingle balls and transform the chimney in to a poop chute.
Of course the birth of Christ isn,t made up.
To some people, the birth of *Christ* is indeed made up. Most people seem to believe that the historical Jesus was a real person. The Christ part is fiction to some, fact to others.
Of course, the *holiday* celebrating Jesus' birth is made up. Somebody had to decide to start celebrating it. And December 25 is definitely made up, in the sense that nobody knows the day on which Jesus was actually born. Of course, late December was chosen so that it could overtake the pagan celebrations that had been ocurring at that time of year for far longer than Christianity even existed.
Why do you like to whin and challenge everything. Are you upset or have a lot of resentment? Prove your theory.
I'm not "whinning," although I'm winning.
What I'm talking about is not a theory. It's a fact. If you don't know the history of your own religious holiday, that's your problem.
bhw, don't you know better than to interupt trolls when they're masturbating?
Walter, your satire is in poor taste. It's not funny perpetuating the sterotype that homophobic Christians are dumb and ignorant. To pretend to have no knowledge of punctuation, spelling and grammar is too easy. Having no knowledge of history is good, but if you had pretended not to know that two months were added to the calendar, I think that would have gotten more of a laugh. Expecting other people to disprove points you never proved is done every day on Fox, so that's boring. You need to bring a unique slant if you want to stand out and get your message heard.
There is a commercial running now that has a line in it, "Happy Christmahanukwanzakah".
How bad is it in the Western World when we can no longer wish people Merry Christmas without potentially offending them?
I'm reminded of an episode of the British radio comedy "The Men from the Ministry" from the 1970s.
The characters (British civil servants) were given the task of creating some additional public holidays, only a typing error added an extra zero to the number, so they had to come up with more than a hundred of them. They ended up with things like "Tom Jones Day" and "St Pancras Day".
I'm not sure what you'd do to celebrate Tom Jones Day.
How bad is it in the Western World when we can no longer wish people Merry Christmas without potentially offending them?
You see that as being defensive rather than inclusive?
Interesting perspective.
Hm.
"Happy Christmahanukwanzakah"
Christmakwanzaa?
Christmanukah?
Oh. Lose both.
I'm joking. Like you.
"Walter, your satire is in poor taste".
No I'm only kidding and just having fun. Some people are filled with too much hate. Why label a group of people as homophobic just because they actually have some values and a strong set of beliefs. There is a reason why homosexualaity is still not accepted as a traditional relationship and still scrutinized. Even the majotity of the so-called supporters are not they're just showing tolerance. Now that's two faced. Those are the ones to worry about. At least you know how I really feel.
When all you do is set around and moan and constantly try to disprove everything like Christmas etc, you become an easy target for some bullshit. Quit crying.
Why label a group of people as homophobic just because they actually have some values and a strong set of beliefs.
If this:
Why hasn't the gay community came up with a holiday during December? Gayzaa, or something. Decorate a large phalic shaped tree with different colored butt beads. Sing Jingle balls and transform the chimney in to a poop chute.
is representative of the group's humor, it's appropriate.
Walter, where did El Bicho speak about a "group of people?" I saw a comment about your comment specifically.
You don't even know the definition of the word hate. Should I label you as a hater if you don't beleive in some of the same things as I do, even if you crack jokes about it?
All holidays are made up. Agreed. Christmas celebrates the birth of Christ - but the time is completely off and based on the timing of a pagan holiday in celebration of the feast of Sol and Victus.
But it remans a celebration of Christ. Hallelujiah
Saying that, I'm sick and tired of hearing people say "You can't even say "Happy / Merry Christmas" anymore.
Shut up and try it. Arrested yet? Frowned at? Reprimanded at work? Unless you work in a synagogue, I doubt it.
I say it all the damn time to everyone at work, to people walking down the same street. There a few isolated cases around the country where people get stupid (although many of these are misrepresented as "bannings" by people with agendas) - they get the big headlines. And they end up meaning and changing absolutely nothing for those who want to say "Merry Christmas."
Quite whining. Keep on wishing people a Merry Christmas, keep on putting your "Jesus is the reason for the season" placards and bumper stickers up and just enjoy the holiday and what it means to you instead of being whining bitches.
A holiday is a celebration of X, often people, occassionally the country. Veterans Day? could have been any day. Memorial Day? President's Day. etc etc etc.
Kwanzaa - well, why disparage it? Because it's "new?" It's not even a refutation of Christmas - both can be celebrated without conflict.
Stop feeling threatened. (And I'm not talking to the original poster, though "Scoop" and USA Today "investigation" are ill-used here IMHO.)
For those of you interested, there is an interesting discussion of Kwanzaa and its founder over at Catallarchy.
I asked this question on another thread not to long ago...what exactly is Kwanzaa...I'm still looking for the answer.
It's an African-American holiday. You can read about it here.
Is that part of what annoys you??? What can I say bhw, my fingers stutter now and then!
I'm relaxed...I'm always relaxed...it's my fingers that get worked up now and then!
I really don't like to hear men talk about their fingers that way.
I learned most of the facts in the USA Today story in a much more compact and entertaining form when Tim Meadows sang about it on SNL with Vanessa Williams (and another woman I can't place) grooving the back-ups.
And as far as Karenga making the whole damn thing up - why not? the test is not whether or not someone makes up a holiday, it's do people respond, and if they do then it must have served some purpose or struck a chord of some kind.
I found the transcript here
I agree with Eric -- there are no standard criteria for the institution of a holiday.
Example: As a Jew I theoretically celebrate the fact that a candle that was supposed to burn for one day burned on for eight.
Now: I'm working on a Joss Whedon Day. Anybody who's with me better hop on board pronto.
E, I'd say that 8-day burning candle thing was rather noteworthy, bearing in mind the laws of physics and whatnot
Joss Whedon day would be great.
What would the celebratory rituals be?
For sure there would have to be some kind of incantation/ritualistic/paganistic circle involved. If you watch enough Angel and Buffy, you see about 700 of these.
Eric - Sure, the candle was noteworthy. My only point is that there's no rule. Arbor Day celebrates the trees, Chanukah the eight-day candle, we all know the Story of Christmas, and on and on.
So really, Festivus from Seinfeld was a great model.
Did you see this story in the NY Times about where Festivus really came from? The father of a writer on Seinfeld.
"It was entirely more peculiar than on the show," the younger Mr. O'Keefe said from the set of the sitcom "Listen Up," where he is now a writer. There was never a pole, but there were airings of grievances into a tape recorder and wrestling matches between Daniel and his two brothers, among other rites.
"There was a clock in a bag," said Mr. O'Keefe, 36, adding that he does not know what it symbolized.
"Most of the Festivi had a theme," he said. "One was, `Is there a light at the end of the tunnel?' Another was, `Too easily made glad?'"
His father, a former editor at Reader's Digest, said the first Festivus took place in February 1966, before any of his children were born, as a celebration of the anniversary of his first date with his wife, Deborah. The word "Festivus" just popped into his head, he said from his home in Chappaqua, N.Y.
The holiday evolved during the 1970's, when the elder Mr. O'Keefe began doing research for his book "Stolen Lightning" (Vintage 1983), a work of sociology that explores the ways people use cults, astrology and the paranormal as a defense against social pressures.
Festivus, with classic rituals like familial gatherings, totemic-but-mysterious objects and respect for ancestors, slouched forth from this milieu. "In the background was Durkheim's `Elementary Forms of Religious Life,' " Mr. O'Keefe recalled, "saying that religion is the unconscious projection of the group. And then the American philosopher Josiah Royce: religion is the worship of the beloved community."
Great story regarding Seinfeld and Festivus.
To go even further off-topic, did anyone see the Seinfeld retrospective special on NBC several weeks ago? Usually this kind of soft-glow "a look back at..." treatment is bile-inducing, but this one was very interesting, and even funny. Interviews with Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld about the early days, the incarnation of the then cutting edge format, and early struggles were fascinating to anyone interested in writing or story development.
Eric Berlin
Dumpster Bust: Miracles from Mind Trash
http://dumpsterbust.blogspot.com
I recently purchased the first 3 seasons of Seinfeld in DVD. Classic stuff!
Gotta love that Kwanzaa Timmy.
Thanks for posting the transcript, Eric. Brought back a memory of a huge laugh.
Festivus seems to be catching on slowly but surely...
http://www.cnn.com/2004/US/12/23/xmas.festivus.ap/index.html
you're welcome Nat, glad it brought back a chuckle
I think Festivus is powerful because it sounds like something that must already exist, ie, it was found rather than made up
I did a story on Winter Solstice and the shared traditions of the winter holidays here
Well, I've heard a bit about this "Christmas" thing here and there, so I decided to ask one of my Jewish friends about it. "Christmas? I don't know that much about it," he told me. But Christmas is about the birthday of a Jew! Obviously, if the Jews don't know much about it, it's completely made up and the people who are celebrating it are seriously deluded.
As Dan implies, it's a bit early to judge the success of Kwanzaa. I'm a little bummed about such an exclusive holiday, but I suspect that if Kwanzaa survives over time, it will be come much less exclusionary than it is now, just as many/most/not all of our current holidays have.
I doubt we'll ever get days off for it, though, unless they start giving out Columbus Day holidays again.
/me shudders
Do African Jews celebrate Kwaanzakah?
Hey, let's all celebrate a Merry Chrismukkwanzule, combining secular observances of Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa with the neo-pagans' Yule festival.
That last bit is not just more political correctness. It anchors the whole thing to a real seasonal event in the physical world, namely, the winter solstice. The solstices and equinoxes undeniably happen every year to everyone, regardless of culture, philosophy or belief system.
Of course, some will say any social or spiritual significance we attach to the winter solstice is still entirely "made up," but at least the time for celebrating it can be determined by objective scientific observation.
Except of course when the astronomers inform us that the solstice doesn't always occur on the same day, and sometimes doesn't even fall within a single day, but stretches across two or more days that can all equally be considered the "shortest day" of the year.
Which just goes to show that no matter what we do, people inclined to argument will always find something to argue about.
Meanwhile, as they say in India, Happy New Year!
This is just a made-up holiday, which in my opinion, only promulgates more separatisms. Now Blacks have their "Christmas", not the white one.
Pure rubbish - started by a convicted felon, btw.
Actually, Happy Holidays is out too. Turns out it is 'Americanist' and lacks compassion for depressed people.
Big deal (about the felon rumor) and baloney (about the rest). Kwanzaa is not a "black" Christmas - it has nothing to do with Christmas. If you were to ask people who celebrate Kwanzaa - and they come in all hues; there is no exclusive "club" allowed to celebrate it - most would say they celebrate it in addition to Christmas. The holiday is about inclusion, not exclusion. Of course, you are whining about it being a made-up holiday, so obviously you didn't read the essay or the comments or you would know that *every* holiday/observance is made up in some sense.
Kwanzaa, at least, isn't being merged with some other holiday...yet. Chrismukkah my ass. What bullshit. There is no link between the these two holidays nor should any be made. It's a gimmick, and not a subtle one, reflecting Jewish media power centered in Hollywood. How many Jews are there in the U.S.? 8 million? How many Christians are there in the America? At least 150-200 million? Why isn't someone at the Christian Science Monitor calling the Holidays "Hannuistmas"? What a load of crap...
"Happy Holidays is out too. Turns out it is 'Americanist' and lacks compassion for depressed people."
Now *there* is an idea I can support! Good one.
I did indeed know what Kwanzaa was and I was once invited to present my cultural celebration of the New Year along with a black woman who explained the significance of Kwanzaa.
Some religious groups and organizations celebrate unity amid diversity, however, this is only possible in a loving and accepting environment where one knew one wasn't going to be belittled.
So I do know that Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday and the woman in question does not celebrate Christmas because she and her family is not Christian or Jewish. She celebrates it to embrace her heritage in the same manner that I celebrate New Year's in January to celebrate my cultural practices and then again in March (religious New Year's).
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If we are to be simply making up holidays here, how about the Seinfeld-inspired Festivus?