Edited by Azizi Powell
This pancocojams post showcases two videos of Kwanzaa* and presents a list of seven pancocojams posts about the African American holiday "Kwanzaa".
I showcased these videos and prepared this list for archiving purposes and to raise public awareness about the African American originated holiday of Kwanzaa.
This post will be updated when additional posts on Kwanzaa are published on this pancocojams blog.
Visitor comments and additions to these posts' discussion threads are still welcome.
Thanks to all those who have contributed to these posts.
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* According to [Maulana Karenga, the founder of this holiday in 1966] "the name Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", meaning "first fruits of the harvest".[4] A more conventional translation would simply be "first fruits". 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.[5][6]"... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa
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Added December 27, 2019: Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-history-meaning-of-red-black-and.html "The History & Meaning Of The African American Red, Black, And Green Flag" for information about the red, black, and green colors associated with the Kwanzaa holiday. I don't think it is a coincidence that Kwanzaa (with these colors) occurs right after Christmas which is associated with the colors red and green.
Added December 27, 2019: Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/african-harvest-festivals-new-yam.html for Part III of this pancocojams series. That 2019 post is entitled "African Harvest Festivals: New Yam Festival (Igbo People From West Africa)".
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SHOWCASED VIDEOS
Video #1: Teddy Pendergrass - Happy Kwanzaa
rapidvibrationz, Nov 25, 2010
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Video #2: Oh Kwanzaa ,,,
Jonathan Perrin
My son Rylen and his third grade class performing kwanzaa in there Christmas concert. 2014
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LIST OF PANCOCOJAMS POSTS ABOUT THE AFRICAN AMERICAN HOLIDAY "KWANZAA"
The hyperlink for each of these posts is given along with the post's title and publishing date.
Teddy Pendergrass - Happy Kwanzaa (video & lyrics)
December 22, 2012
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/teddy-pendergrass-happy-kwanzaa-video.html
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Why Swahili Terms Are Used For The African American Originated Holiday "Kwanzaa"
December 26, 2015 [re-posted on December 17, 2018]
https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/12/why-swahili-terms-are-used-for-african.html
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Sesame Street's Elmo Performing A Kwanzaa Dance Featuring A Musical Bow Instrument"
December 17, 2016; https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/12/sesame-streets-elmo-performing-kwanzaa.html
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Kwanzaa Children's Song "O Kwanzaa" (information, lyrics, videos, & instrumental song file)
December 17, 2017; https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/kwanzaa-childrens-song-o-kwanzaa.html
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Videos Of Kwanzaa Celebrations In The United States & In Canada
December 18, 2017; https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/videos-of-kwanzaa-celebrations-in.html
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Excerpts From & Comments About The 2012 Washington Post Article "Confessions of a Kwanzaa drop-out: Why I don’t celebrate the holiday"
December 18, 2017 https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/excerpts-from-comments-about-2012.html
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A Hyperlinked List Of Kwanzaa Songs On YouTube (as of December 9, 2018)
December 9, 2018 https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-hyperlinked-list-of-kwanzaa-songs-on.html
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1998 Chicago Tribune Reprint: "Kwanzaa: It's Not About Christmas" (with Pancocojams editor's response to that article)
December 9, 2018; https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/1998-chicago-tribune-reprint-kwanzaa.html
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Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
As I inferred in this post, I believe that the Kwanzaa holiday was scheduled immediately after Christmas to "capitalize" on the Christmas holidays (note the red and green colors that symbolize both holidays) instead of the late summer/fall times for traditional African harvest festivals and the Thanksgiving holiday in the USA (whose colors are brown and orange).
ReplyDeleteClick https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/african-harvest-festivals-new-yam.html for Part III of the pancocojams post on the Igbos' New Yam Festival as given in this post.
When Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa, he could have used the Igbos' New Yam Festival as a model for that holiday, since its much more likely that some African Americans have Igbo ancestry than Swahili ancestry. However, in my opinion, beside the differences in the symbolic colors for harvest festivals and the red, black, and green flag colors that are associated with African Americans, more African Americans in 1966 when Kwanzaa was created (and even now in 2019) were/are somewhat familiar with Swahili language (albeit we may only knew a few Swahili words, phrases, and personal names) than we African Americans knew/know any Igbo words, phrases, or personal names or anything else about Igbo culture.
Furthermore, I think that Swahili words and phrases were chosen for Kwanzaa because that language better fits African Americans' aesthetics (regarding word structure and pronunciation) than Igbo or many other traditional African languages.