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Kwanzaa: Celebrate the Days with Meaning
B y C lyde W. F ord
I first rem em ber celebrating
Kwanzaa during the tumultuous 60’ s.
A Kwanzaa “industry” has now ma
tured, boasting everything from
Kwanzaa cards to “Kwanzaa Sales”
at m ajor dep artm en t sto res to
Kwanzaa dolls decked out in African
garb. 1 look at these developments
with a mixture o f pride and skepti
cism. On one hand, it is gratifying to
see Kwanzaa accepted into Ameri
can culture. Still, I worry this very
acceptance is gutting the holiday of
its intended meaning and purpose. I
do believe it is possible to celebrate
Kwanzaa in a way which keeps the
meaning o f the holiday alive in your
life.
Like any holiday, Kwanzaa is iden
tified with a set of principles, symbols
and rituals.
Over the years, I’ve begun to ob
serve Kwanzaa by embracing the
basic principles and symbols, but
discarding the “pre-packaged” inter
pretations and instructions.
I begin with Nguzo Saba, the seven
daily principles which are the pillars
o f Kwanzaa. Rather than just reread
the traditional definitions o f these
principles, I use each principle as the
basis o f a question that I ask myself
during Kwanzaa.
Day 1 UMOJA(Unity).Umoja,a
Swahili word, is also translated as
oneness or wholeness and my first
question is: How do I experience
wholeness and oneness in my life?
Here my thoughts turn to my physi
cal, emotional and spiritual health;
my relationship to nature and the
earth; and my connectedness to
life.
Day 2 K U JICH A G U LIA (Self-
Determination). This Swahili word
has an original meaning closer to
self-selection, self-chosen or au
thentic. I ask m yself on this second
day: In what ways am I leading an
authentic life? I reaffirm my commit
ment to try to live my life by the
dictates o f my own conscience, and
not by dogmas and doctrines sup
plied to me from some external
source.
Day 3 U JIM A (Collective W ork
and Responsibility). On day three,
the question that informs me is: How
can I lead a life o f service to others?
I would like to feel that the actions
I take in my life bring some benefit,
no matter how small, to the lives of
others.
Day 4 UJAM AA (C ooperative
Economics). In Swahili the word
ujamaa means familyhood, broth
erhood, and relationship. So, on
Beautiful artwork to symbolize Kwanzaa
Crossroads Of The Season
B y D r . D ominique M arguerite
Nested in the word holiday is an
ancient meaning, suggesting that
these days at the end o f the year
“h o ly d ay s” , but also days o f
“ w holeness, u n in ju red ” and o f
“ good om en.” Yet so much is said
by psychologists like me, and other
healthcare professionals, about this
time o f year being full o f stress and
depression. W e giverecipes to “fix”
what many people suffer each year
as we approach the winter holidays.
H ow is it that we have m oved so far
away from the ancient meaning o f
the season? O r have we?
As the days get shorter and fi
nally begin to lengthen again, we
disperse and congregate with oth
ers in a wide array o f stores, temples,
churches, great halls, and homely
homes. The rituals and stories told
are different from one another, yet
they are told with the same convic
tion year after year, generation after
generation. Fam ily stories pass
down, adventures and fortunes are
announced and weighed, survival is
celebrated. How essential it is to so
m any o f us that w e take part in
traditional holiday activities, and
experience the sense that we do
indeed belong to a larger human
community!
During periods o f ritual and tra
dition, we are held in a state o f
this fourth day o f Kwanzaa, I ques
tion: Who is my family, and what are
the important relationships in my
life? My definition of family is very
broad. It includes my biological and
ethnic family, but it extends beyond
both to encompass the family of
humankind. I reflect upon the sig
nificant relationships in my li fe and
how Love is that important force
which binds together all human re
lationships.
Day 5 NIA (Purpose) This fifth
day o f Kwanzaa I query: Where do
I find meaning and purpose in my
life? I want to know to what extent
my passions are my pursuits in life.
Am I doing the work I love, or the
work I must to make a living? How
far am 1 living off the mark o f how I
would like to live? What changes
can I make to alter the course of my
life?
Day 6 KUUMBA (C reativity)
More than simply “making some
thing,” I prefer to think o f creativity
as bringing forth that which has not
existed before. When I apply this
idea to myself, I can ask on the sixth
day: To what part o f m yself must I
give birth (create), in order to meet
the challenges and promises o f my
life? Courage, wisdom, strength, de
termination, faith, love may be some
o f the inner resources I feel must
timelessness, an in-between place
w here w e repeat the same gestures
again and again (exchanging pre
sents, lighting candles, decorating
our homes, going to church, visit
ing friends and family).Often we do
not understand exactly the origin o f
our gestures. Do you, for example,
know why you hang lights on a
tree? They look pretty and very
special, but so would snowballs in
July. Did you know the evergreen
Christmas tree perpetuates ancient
Egyptian rites o f death and resur
rection? O r that Santa Claus is re
lated to Saturn, the mythical old
man and father o f the Greek gods?
According to som e accounts, he
bring forth.
Day 7 IMANI (Faith) Imani has
many definitions in Swahili, compas
sion, conscience, conviction, faith,
and kindness. O f all these, compas
sion touches me most, and I find
myself asking on this last day of
Kwanzaa: In what ways do I (can I)
lead a compassionate life? By com
passion, I do not mean simply having
empathy or sympathy for those less
fortunate. Racism, sexism, homopho
bia, poverty, homelessness, abuse,
loneliness, disease, ignorance, grief;
these are just a few of the sources of
pain and suffering we all face daily in
the world and in ourselves.
Compassion seeks healing in the
face of such pain and suffering. I
ponder where I can find that compas
sion and healing within first, before 1
can offer it to the world outside.
When I was approached Kwanzaa
in this way, these seven days help set
the tone of the year to come, and the
life I choose to lead.
Clyde W. Ford is the authorofThe
Hero With An African Face: Mythic
WisdomofTraditional Africa, a book
about his personal journey o f dis
covering meaning and purpose in life
through the wisdom of African my
thology, available January 1999 from
Bantam Books and on audio cassette
from Highbridge Audio.
We are fa m ilia r with the outer world into which we are born, live and die
lived in the North Pole and brought
with him a sprig o f evergreen and
the gifts o f the New Year.
In fact, it does not seem to m atter
so much that our gestures are fully
understood. Setting is equally im
portant, which is why the rituals
and story telling o f our winter holi
days take place under very specific
circumstances with ceremonies seen
no other time o f the year. Jung
thought that the ancient patterns o f
rituals and stories brought us to the
crossroads between the rational and
the irrational - where the imagina
tion meets outer reality - and where
the human, the finite, the temporal
and the infinite (or what some call
the divine) are all present. W inter
holiday ritual brings us to the cross
roads between the rational and the
irrational where the im agination
meets outer reality - and w here the
human, the finite, the tem poral and
the infinite (or w hat som e call the
divin ejareall present. W inter holi
day ritual brings us to a crossroad
in the progression o f time from one
year to the next, from dark into
light. W e are fam iliar with the outer
world into which we are bom , live
and die. As w inter sets in, our lives
becom e m ore interior and contem
plative. W e m ove inside from the
w eather, and nights grow longer.
A ccording to Native A merican tra
dition, people “tell stories, dance
spirit dances and gather songs and
poem s,” getting ready to “live with
the spirits all w inter long.” We
com e once m ore to a larger world,
a world which includes our inner
voice and the imaginative. W e are
given the opportunity to get back
to this place o f wholeness within
ourselves, uninjured by the slings
and arrows o f life, and see it as a
good omen for what will come.
This is an opportunity well worth
celebrating.
Dr. Dominique M arguerite is a
Jungian psychologist in private
practice and a teacher. She can be
reached at 503/699-1664.
“ 1
Attention!
| City of
Portland
A
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$
&
Memo from SOS, an Elf-help
program
To: Good Little Boys and Girls and
Elf-helpers
From : Santa, Ms. Santa, and Elves
Re: Greetings from North and
Northeast Pole
SANTA and MRS. SANTA’S
ANNUALSLEIGHWTTH
SANTA AND SANTA’S WORK
SHOP
ON CHRISTMAS DAY!
3:00-4:00 ELF-TIME!
Two Locations for Toys!
Portand Miracle Revival Church
4828 N. Williams Ave just south of
Alberta for the little Northeast Elves
and THE HOUSING AUTHORITY
OF PORTLAND, 8920N. WOOLSEY
AVE, COLUMBIA VILLA for the little
North Elves(exact time to be posted)
Remember: An E lf on Time Saves
Nine!
An Elf inNeed is an Elfin DEEDilf
you care to donate your time we need
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We need donations ofmulticultural
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fig u res! A L L D O N A T IO N ST A X
DEDUCTIBLE!but don’t forget that
every girl and boy deserves a new
toy! Raina Beavers for more informa
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284-6152 or Mrs. Santa at 287-
8577comeandseethe little firefighter
elves, the little marine elves and the
little reindeer moose!
Seek and ye shall find!
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