Kwanzaa

Tech. Sgt. Jennifer Myers, 66th Air Base Wing, U.S. Air Force, tenner lys i kinaraen.

Foto:Christopher Myers

Kwanzaa er ei vekkolang, sekulær høgtid som særlig blir feira i USA til ære för afrikansk arv. Høgtida blir blant anna markert med å tenne lys i ein kinara (ein type sjuarma lysstaka). Kwanzaa blir markert frå 26. desember til 1. januar kvart år. Dei sju kwanzaadagane blir markert med aktivitetar som lystenning og minneskåler og munnar ut i ein fest med gjeving av gåvor. Høgtida vart etablert av Ron Karenga og vart feira för første gong frå 26. desember 1966 til 1. januar 1967.

Historie og etymologi

Den afroamerikanske forskaren og aktivisten Ron Karenga etablerte kwanzaa i 1966 som den første spesifikt afroamerikanske høgtida. Karenga sa at målet hans var å “...give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society.” Namnet kwanzaa er utleidd frå swahili matunda ya kwanza, som tyder ‘førstefrukta’. Valet av det austafrikanske handelsspråket swahili reflekterer statusen høgtida fikk som symbol for panafrikanisme, særlig kring slutten av 1960-åra.

Kwanzaafeiringa har røterne sine i den svarte nasjonalistrørsla i USA i 1960-åra og var etablert som ein måte å hjelpe afroamerikanarar å ta att den afrikanske kulturelle og historiske arven sin gjenom å föreine seg i meditasjon og studium av «afrikanske tradisjonar» og «vanlige humanistiske prinsipp». Opphavet ått Kwanzaa er ikkje hemmelig og blir tala ope om av dei som talar för høgtida. Mange kristne og jødiske afroamerikanarar som feirar kwanzaa, feirar både den høgtida og jul eller ḥanukká.

Det første kwanzaafrimerket vart utgjeve av United States Postal Service den 22. oktober 1997 ved Natural History Museum i Los Angeles i California. I 2004 kom eit nytt kwanzaafrimerke av kunstnaren Daniel Minter ut. Det frimerket viser sju personar i fargerike drakter som symboliserer dei sju prinsippa.

Dei sju kwanzaaprinsippa

Denne artikkelen er ikkje ferdig omsett enno.

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called "The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa", or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba - "The Seven Principles of Blackness"), which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy" consisting of what Karenga called "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world." These seven principles comprise Kawaida, a Swahili term for tradition and reason. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:

• Umoja (Unity) To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility) To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.
• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Kuumba (Creativity) To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Observance

Families celebrating Kwanzaa decorate their households with objects of art, colorful African cloth, especially the wearing of the Uwole by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in Kwanzaa ceremonies and to give respect and gratitude to ancestors. Libations are shared, generally with a common chalice, "Kikombe cha Umoja" passed around to all celebrants. Non-African Americans also celebrate Kwanzaa. The holiday greeting is "joyous Kwanzaa".

A Kwanzaa ceremony may include drumming and musical selections, libations, a reading of the "African Pledge" and the Principles of Blackness, reflection on the Pan-African colors, a discussion of the African principle of the day or a chapter in African history, a candle-lighting ritual, artistic performance, and, finally, a feast (Karamu). The greeting for each day of Kwanzaa is "Habari Gani",which is Swahili for "What's the News?".

At first, observers of Kwanzaa eschewed the mixing of the holiday or its symbols, values and practice with other holidays. They felt that doing so would violate the principle of kujichagulia (self-determination) and thus violate the integrity of the holiday, which is partially intended as a reclamation of important African values. Today, many African-American families celebrate Kwanzaa along with Christmas and New Year's. Frequently, both Christmas trees and kinaras, the traditional candle holder symbolic of African-American roots, share space in kwanzaa celebrating households. To them, Kwanzaa is an opportunity to incorporate elements of their particular ethnic heritage into holiday observances and celebrations of Christmas.

Cultural exhibitions include "The Spirit of Kwanzaa", an annual celebration held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts featuring interpretive dance, African dance, song and poetry.

Evolution in Kwanzaa's observance

In 1977, in Kwanzaa: origin, concepts, practice, Karenga stated, that Kwanzaa "was chosen to give a Black alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."

In 1997, Karenga and the community evolved, stating that while Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday, it can be celebrated by people of any race: "other people can and do celebrate it, just like other people participate in Cinco de Mayo besides Mexicans; Chinese New Year besides Chinese; Native American pow wows besides Native Americans."

Currently, according to the Official Kwanzaa Website authored by Karenga and maintained by Organization US, which Karenga chairs, "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday. And it is not an alternative to people's religion or faith but a common ground of African culture...Kwanzaa is not a reaction or substitute for anything. In fact, it offers a clear and self-conscious option, opportunity and chance to make a proactive choice, a self-affirming and positive choice as distinct from a reactive one."

Karenga's most recent interpretation emphasizes that while every people has its own holiday traditions, all people can share in the celebration of our common humanity: "Any particular message that is good for a particular people, if it is human in its content and ethical in its grounding, speaks not just to that people, it speaks to the world."

Kwanzaa film

The Black Candle, ein dokumentarfilm av M.K. Asante jr., förtelt av Maya Angelou, er ein film om Kwanzaa frå 2008. Filmen, som er den første heilaftansfilmen om høgtida, brukar kwanzaa som innfallsvinkel for ei hylling av den afroamerikanske tilvera.

Sjå òg

• Dashiki - A shirt or suit worn during Kwanzaa celebrations
• Kufi - A cap worn during Kwanzaa celebrations
• Kaftan (boubou) - A dress worn by women during Kwanzaa celebrations

Referansar

• A program to raise the faith level in African-American children through Scripture, Kwanzaa principles and culture, Janette Elizabeth Chandler Kotey, DMin, Oral Roberts University,1999
• The US Organization: African-American cultural nationalism in the era of Black Power, 1965 to the 1970s, Scot D. Brown, PhD, Cornell University, 1999
• Rituals of race, ceremonies of culture: Kwanzaa and the making of a Black Power holiday in the United States,1966--2000, Keith Alexander Mayes, PhD, Princeton University, 2002
• Interview: Kwanzaa creator Ron Karenga discusses the evolution of the holiday and its meaning in 2004 By: Tony Cox. Tavis Smiley (NPR), 12/26/2003
• Tolerance in the News: Kwanzaa: A threat to Christmas? By Camille Jackson | Staff Writer, Tolerance.org, 12/22/2005

Pekarar

• The Black Candle - A Kwanzaa Film narrated by Maya Angelou
• iKwanzaa.com - Rich and engaging information about Kwanzaa
• KwanzaaPages.com - Kwanzaa Business & Community Directory
• Everything About Kwanzaa (The International Kwanzaa Exchange [TIKE])
• "The Story of Kwaanza" (The Dartmouth Review, January 15, 2001)
• The History Channel: Kwanzaa
• Midwest's Longest Running Kwanzaa Holiday Expo
• Kwanzaa Basics @ Swagga Afrocentric Experience

This article is based entirely or in part on the article “Kwanzaa” from the English Wikipedia. It may be copied, distributed and/or modified according to the conditions of the GNU Free Documentation License.