Posted on 12/06/2004 10:42:58 AM PST by oldtimer2
Yes Virginia, there Is A Kwanzaa
December 6th, 2004
It's that time of year again, the time when much of the grown-up world conspires in a fun game of "let's pretend," a time when normally serious people think, act, and behave as if something fantastic, something wonderful, something make-believe is actually true. I'm not talking of the "jolly old elf" you might be expecting. I am referring to that much more mythical of things, the "Holiday Season," as proclaimed in "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings."
To hear the plain truth these days is such a rare occurrence that it may cause shock to the central nervous system. It is outrageous. It is blasphemy. So steel yourself for what is to follow.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
As a parent, I want to know more about that 'disgressionary income' and where I can obtain it.
Typso ping.
It snowed here last night. 1/2 inch at best. We only get one or two good storms a year.
Probably not worth doing the paperwork ... it's only "what little disgressionary income." I'd say more, but it might be indisgreet.
BRRRRR. Raining since about 10:00 p.m. last night, here. It really gives me that cheery, Pearl Harbor Day spirit :-). We're more likely to get snow in late January.
I thought it was Happy Hana-rama-kwanz-mas -- oh, well, a holiday by any other name........................
Lighten up Francis.
Invented in 1966 by a Professor at my alma mater Wayne State University. He tried to incorporate all the celebrations of all the tribes on the continent.
Ron Karenga (aka Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga) invented the seven-day feast (Dec. 26-Jan. 1) in 1966, branding it a black alternative to Christmas. The idea was to celebrate the end of what he considered the Christmas-season exploitation of African Americans.
Now, the point: There is no part of Kwanzaa that is not fraudulent. Begin with the name. The celebration comes from the Swahili term "matunda yakwanza," or "first fruit," and the festival's trappings have Swahili names -- such as "ujima" for "collective work and responsibility" or "muhindi," which are ears of corn celebrants set aside for each child in a family.
Unfortunately, Swahili has little relevance for American blacks. Most slaves were ripped from the shores of West Africa. Swahili is an East African tongue.
To put that in perspective, the cultural gap between Senegal and Kenya is as dramatic as the chasm that separates, say, London and Tehran. Imagine singing "G-d Save the Queen" in Farsi, and you grasp the enormity of the gaffe.
Worse, Kwanzaa ceremonies have no discernible African roots. No culture on earth celebrates a harvesting ritual in December, for instance, and the implicit pledges about human dignity don't necessarily jibe with such still-common practices as female circumcision and polygamy. The inventors of Kwanzaa weren't promoting a return to roots; they were shilling for Marxism. They even appropriated the term "ujima," which Julius Nyrere cited when he uprooted tens of thousands of Tanzanians and shipped them forcibly to collective farms, where they proved more adept at cultivating misery than banishing hunger.
OMG, I had forgotten tomorrow is Pearl Harbor Day. Thanks for the heads up you didn't know you were giving. :)
We only get about 12 inches of wetness a year. But 40 degrees is about a warm as it's been the last few days. We have had a skiff of snow a few times. That's it. We need water for drinking and snow for skiing.
Actually he was in prison at the time for cutting his wife's head off.
LOL - I love Glenn!
i figured that it was referencing something specific to which I was not referring. I just meant in general, anyone who gives me a general "happy holidays" gets a very specific "merry christmas" in return.
This teacher went on to explain that the holiday would be called "Winter Break," and not "Christmas vacation."Talk about living in a parallel universe."But," I sputtered, "historically, our Christmas celebration was intended to commemorate the birth of Christ!"
"Well," she soothed, smiling in condescending pity, "that's how you feel about it."
"No," I rejoined, "it is a simple matter of history. How I feel has nothing to do with it. I could be dead, or a Buddhist, and Christmas would still have been about Christ's birth!"
Btw, I recently discovered that Hanukkah is celebrated on the 25th of Kislev (Jewish calendar). Despite the difference in calendar, this date always falls on December, although the day of month might vary. Jesus as well as his early disciples celebrated Hanukkah, or the Feast of Dedication (John 10:22)
Since there are several Christian celebrations that have close parallels in the Jewish sacred calendar, such as Good Friday and Passover, could it be possible that Hanukkah and Christmas have been linked since the early days of Christianity?
I know that the current "expert" consensus is that the Christmas date was chosen to co-opt pagan festivals, while discounting the possibility that Hanukkah had anything to do with the Christmas date. Have you ever researched any possible link between Hanukkah and Christmas?
Yes, you're correct about the Chi or X in Xmas, but in today's world we need to not fear using the actual word Christmas. If anything, we need to use it more, not less. I feel people who use xmas are just in a hurry and a little lazy to write out Christmas; they really don't intend to offend.
All of them are made up holidays when you see the spirit of Christmas. Don’t blame Kwanzaa for the misdirection of “so called Christians”. Christians have been trying to find a reason to commercialize Christmas for as long as I can remember. The people that celebrate Kwanzaa do not necessarily disbelieve in Christmas. A Christian should celebrate the birth of Jesus, which includes advent. But the shopping at the mall and the pictures with Santa are not a part of the true Christmas celebration. Why do you think most people go into so much debt at Christmas? Kwanzaa didn’t cause that. When do
you think most kids feel the effects of being poor. Kwanzaa didn’t cause that. How do most people celebrate Christmas? I guarantee you it is not by going to church or praising the Lord for the genesis of his promise to us. Kwanzaa didn’t cause that either.
So, in fact the problem lies with Christians not with any of the holidays because truth be told we made up Christmas its current commercialized form.
Wow, we can get 12" or rain in a weekend, and have several times this year! I'm glad I saved you from getting in trouble over missing Pearl Harbor Day ... we always watch the video clips on the History Channel web site, and listen to President Roosevelt's speech.
Outstanding and forwarded to Howie "Father Kwanza" Carr.
St. Arafat's Day?
since the Red States have been identified as those opposed to homosexual marriage and Republican voting, will the "gay" days at disney parks stop wearing red shirts?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.