[AnAmericanMother]

If it were just a harvest festival I would absolutely agree with you, and place it with the vicar and the ladies in white gloves lugging vegetable marrows and sheaves of damp wheat into the narthex.

But the "harvest festival" aspect is simply a stick upon which much frankly Marxist and collectivist doctrine is hung, and that was plainly Karenga's motivation in creating the holiday. THAT is not harmless, and not something that should be encouraged.

[tcuoohjohn]

Karenga's motivation and the end result are very different however. As to collectivism the same charge could be levelled at Christmas or Thanksqiving and will little or no real impact. Kindness and the spirit of giving and sharing could always be deemed " collectivist" and " Marxist" if one chooses. The distinction is the voluntariness of the acts. I see no coercion in Kwanzaa and if I did I would most assuredly oppose it. It is a voluntary festival/ ritual little different from any other harvest festival activities.

I just looked up the quasi-liturgical aspects of the Kwanzaa festival and see no compelling "marxist or collectivist" reasoning anymore than I see it in the "blessing of the animals" at Saint Matthews Parish In Jacksonville. I can tell you that my dog isn't annoyed at it..just a bit bewildered.