Happy Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kwanzaa
2003 Kwanzaa celebration with its founder, Maulana Karenga, and others
Observed by	African Americans, parts of African diaspora
Type	Cultural and ethnic
Significance	Celebrates African heritage, unity, and culture.
Celebrations	Unity Creativity Faith Giving gifts
Date	December 26 to January 1
Related to	Pan-Africanism

Kwanzaa (/ˈkwɑːn.zə/) is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving.^[1] Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67.
History and etymology

Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1965 as the first specifically African-American holiday.^[2] According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits of the harvest".^[3] The choice of Swahili, an East African language, reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s, although most of the Atlantic slave trade that brought African people to America originated in West Africa.^[4]
Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzo Saba, the "seven principles of African Heritage" which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy". For Karenga, a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored an essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose and direction."^[5]
During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an "oppositional alternative" to Christmas.^[6] However, as Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so that practicing Christians would not be alienated, then stating in the 1997 Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture, "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday."
Many African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing Christmas.^[7]

Principles and symbols

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba—the seven principles of African Heritage), 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 hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Kwanzaa symbols include a decorative mat (Mkeka) on which other symbols are placed: corn (Mahindi) and other crops, a candle holder kinara with
seven candles (Mishumaa Saba), a communal cup for pouring libation (Kikombe cha Umoja), gifts (Zawadi), a poster of the seven principles, and a black, red, and green flag. The symbols were designed to convey the seven principles.^[8]

Observance

They Endured

Through the degradation of slavery,
They endured.
Their lives were not their own,
but they endured.
When their families were ripped apart,
They endured.
Nothing broke their determination.
Nothing broke their spirit.
Through it all,
They endured!
We must embody their spirit;
Remembering that their strength
and their determination
dwells within us.
Every time we are paralyzed by fear;
Whenever we become weak,
Remember.
When we feel the desire to quit,
Remember
Every time we become discouraged,
Remember.
When we are knocked to our knees,
Remember.
Never surrender to defeat.
Stand tall on your feet.
Keep striving.
Keep believing.
Stand your ground,
and you will abound
Amidst strong winds
Like those to whom we are kin.
It is your duty and mine
To leave something worthwhile behind,
Because through it all,
They endured.
For you and I, they endured.
Thank God, they endured!

copyright Patricia Newman-Harris 2014, Living the Dream

Happy Holidays--One Night-One Star, One Child

Wishing everyone who has listened to what I have shared through the written word, a very special holiday season.    I hope this year that I, in some way, have offered inspiration where it was need. I hope thoughts were provoked and lives were changed.  I am not a preacher or a teacher, just someone who wishes to inspire by sharing my thoughts.  I am far from perfect, and a lot of what I write also helps me to continue striving for that mark.  For me, writing  heals the wounds that life inflicts.  I hope and pray it does the same for yo


Let Your Heart Follow that Star


One night,
One star shining bright
Showed the way
To the manger where he lay.
The same star shines bright today
Lighting our way.
When you are feeling lost,
Let your heart follow that star
And he will be where you are.
He knows exactly where you are.
He sees you in that cold prison cell.
He knows your story well.
He doesn’t care
How you got there.
He loves you just as you are.
Just let your heart follow, follow,
Follow that star,
And he will be where you are.
To those spending Christmas alone.
If you make your heart his home,
You will never be alone.
Young mother, don’t despair.
Your heart will soon repair.
He knows you are feeling broken and unloved,
But his signature is love.
If you let him sign his name on your heart,
He will never ever part.
His love for us goes beyond Christmas Day.
It is ours to have and hold
Each and every day.
You don’t have to worry about being played.
He will never break the vow he made.
Young soldier stationed far from home.
No matter how far you roam,
You are never too far from home.
I hope you know
He will follow you wherever you go.
When you are out on a deserted hill,
He is with you still.
When you lose your way,
The light of his star
Will show you the way.
To that pilot who can’t see where to fly
On the darkest night,
His star will brighten the sky
Just let your heart follow, follow,
Follow, that star
And he will be wherever you are.
He will show you the way.
This Christmas day,
No matter what you are going through,
He will be there for you.
If you believe.
Believe and let your heart follow,
Follow, follow,
Follow that star
He will be where ever you are.

2014 Patricia Newman-Harris

Remembering San Bernardino and those lost...Only Love contd.

It is hard to believe that a year ago, we lost some of our own so unexpectedly.     An act of violence can never been considered an act of sacrifice.  God doesn't ask for such a sacrifice.  He deals in life and love.    Love and hate cannot dwell in the same place at the same time.  Nothing can justify such violence.  Nothing.  Love is a choice.  I pray it is a choice we all will make.

If we can imagine the world as a global sphere to which we all can relate
We can put an end to hate.

No matter where we are on the circumference of the whole,
We share the universal globe.

The view from the bottom to the top
Only changes with the view we've got.

Whether we stand in Africa, China or the USA,
We are standing on the the same global sphere.

Whether we are white or black, yellow or brown,
The world we share is the same all around.

As a part of the whole,
We share a universal soul.

The pain of one is the pain of another.
We are all brothers.

There is no need to fear, no need to hate
Because the world is a global sphere to which all can relate.

We should have one aim, one goal...
To protect the whole.


Patricia Newman-Harris
12/2015

Happy Thanksgiving--pray for peace

To the war torn countries of the world

For you I say this prayer today

To Afghanistan, Iran and Iraq , to Jerusalem, Sararjevo,

Beirut, Belfast, Africa, Kuwait, Mongolia and to the world.

May God let his peace rain from shore to shore,

cleansing hardened hearts from hatreds of generations past.

May the winds of unrest be stilled at last,

May God open blinded eyes and allow them to

view the world afresh and new.

      May he shut the bowels of anger, hatred and wrath

And lead us down a path of mercy, kindness and love.

May broken spirits be repaired

and old wounds healed.

I pray for the children of the world, that they

will remain untouched by the violence their young

eyes have seen.

May God raise up amongst them leaders who will teach the

way of peace, godliness and love.

I pray that these young men and women

will never have the desire to solve their differences

with weapons or missiles, but instead will work

together to solve their differences peacefully.

I pray that they will not fight without purpose or cause,

but, will choose to stand for what is decent and right.

I pray for those who have lost their lives needlessly.

For their families and loved ones, I ask for comfort and healing.

I ask that you would fill us with your love.

Give us a heart of understanding and a tolerance for diversity

in race, color, nationality and customs.

Teach us how to love one another with the same love

wherein you have loved us, unconditionally and without merit.

I pray that we will not judge one another,

but will grant one another the grace and mercy God has shown us.

                                                   God grant us your sweet Shalom.

coyright P Newman-Harris



                                                

Death of a President--In Memory of President John F. Kennedy

Born: May 29, 1917, Brookline, MA

Assassinated November 22, 1963 in Dallas, Texas

I remember November 22, 1963 as if it were yesterday.  I can remember exactly where I was when the death of President John F. Kennedy was announced.  I remember the shock and disbelief, the inevitable acceptance of the reality that he was gone, and the grief that followed a long time after.

I was a young black girl in high school at the time, but I felt the loss as if he was a member of our family.  We had come to know and love him as a man of compassion, understanding, determination and integrity.   I had heard many people say he was a breath of fresh air to a nation that was dying from the cancer of racism; that he represented hope for a cure to that seemingly incurable disease, and finally that he was their light in the midst of darkness

As a teenager, having grown up in the south, there was a depth and understanding, that, to me,  could only come from having experienced racism first hand.  I could sense the deep hopelessness that my parents felt at the time of the President's assassination, but I could never really know all that they felt.  Having lived in the south most of their life, they had experienced far more years of racism than I had experienced in my short years on this earth.

Looking back on that day, I can now understand the depth and extent of their grief as they watched President Kennedy's body proceed to Arlington National Cemetery and listened to the final taps echo in the distant sky.   I now know that they wept and grieved the death of a promise of hope that was buried on that fated day in 1963.

In Memory of President Kennedy and all who have lost their lives in the name of peace and equality

Only Love ..Part 4 Tribute to those who lost their lives in France

I'd like to offer my condolences to the family of those who lost loved ones both in the downing of the Russian jet and to those lost in the terrorist attacks in France.  I am saddened by the loss of innocent lives anywhere on this continent.  As the world stood with us during the 911 attacks, we stand with Russia and France during their loss.  Hatred has struck again, but those who stand for peace, will continue to stand united against hatred in any form.  It is easy for to become divided in our separate beliefs, but tragedy and grief unites us all.  It transcends any barriers, whether it be race, nationality or religion.  It is hard to believe that murder can be justified by anyone who considers himself humane.   No one can justify repairing what they see as wrong with hatred.  You can't build a firm foundation, you can't change a nation and you most certainly cannot change the world.    I started the series Only Love, because I believe that love is the only answer for the world today, tomorrow and forever more.

One Heart, One Mind

When I think of the years,
The unnecessary tears,
The agony, the shame;
The anger and the pain
That comes from being hurt
again and again,
I wonder if we will ever
live together peacefully.
Will we always war needlessly?
It doesn't matter who we are
or where we a from.
Life is the same for everyone.
If we open our hearts,
we will find,
We have one heart and one mind.
When time is no more,
Our differences won't matter anymore.
Regardless of what language we speak,
There is commonality in what we seek.
No mater where we live our goals and our aims
Are the same.
Everybody cries
When someone they love dies.
There is no difference in our tears.
We share the same fears.
We have different faces and different names,
But inside we are the same.
It's time we realized
We have common ties.
When we get down to the heart of the matter,
That is all that matters.
It's not the color of our skin,
Where we have been,
Or whether we are a King or Queen.
It doesn't matter where we live in the world.
One day, we must leave this world.
If we continue to hate,
This will be our shared fate;
Wars on every hand
And the deterioration of man.
We brag about how far we have come,
But if we never learn to live as one,
Our accomplishments will be as dung.
They will be of no significance to anyone
We must live as a people, undefined by station or place,
Inseparable by color or race.
We can't rewrite history,
But we can change what is to be
When we realize that we are not only kindred spirits,
We are a perfect fit on the tapestry of mankind.
With one heart and one mind,
Peace will finally be ours to find.

Copyright 2015 by Patricia Newman Harris,  Living the Dream

All over the world.  Let's pray for peace!

In Honor of Our Veterans..We Honor You, and We Thank You

To the men and women who towed the line,

Walked on mines,

Kept watch through the night

Until the dawn’s early light.

To those who left family and friends behind,

Gave freely of their time.

To those who postponed their dreams

So we could know what freedom means.

How do we say thank you?

How do we repay a debt like yours?

You sailed to foreign shores

Never knowing if you would ever be back.

You came under constant attack,

But you never said no to the call.

You gave it your all.

The opportunities we enjoy

Came at great expense.

You provided our defense.

You bore the hurt and pain

Without shame,

Without fear.

Because of you, we are still here,

Standing strong on your behalf.

In your honor, we fly our flags at half-staff.

We raise our hands in salute to you,

Because this is what we do.

You are gone, but you will never be forgotten.

No, you will never be forgotten.

Every Memorial Day, you are there.

Every Independence Day you are there,

Every Veteran’s Day, you are there.

Every victory we celebrate, you are there.

Every flag that we raise,

Every moment of praise

Is not ours alone.
You have made America our home.

From every hillside and plain,

We proudly speak your name.

Because of you America is America,

And will always be, America.

Because of you, we can still sing of her spacious skies

And purple mountains majesty.

You made America the beautiful country we see.

America

Our country, our home

Because of you we can proudly sing,

Let freedom ring!

Long live freedom,

Long live liberty,

Long live America,

Our country, our home.

copyright 2015 Patricia Newman-Harris