Kwanzaa Day One: Umoja

Hello history lovers and welcome to rememberinghistory.com where we are remembering history and we’re making it.

 

Habari gani, I’m Robin the host and in-house historian at rememberinghistory.com.

 

I’m so glad that you’ve joined us for this great and groundbreaking show that will inspire YOU and your FAMILY with true stories, real experiences, practical lessons, cultural traditions, and fun celebrations—all inspired by African American history and culture. I find history to BE inspirational, instructional and entertaining. And African American history and culture fit the bill in all of these ways. Personally, I hate boring stuff. So boring stuff is not allowed at rememberinghistory.com or at this Wiki history podcast show.

 

Did you remember the traditional Swahili greeting of habari gani? If you remembered, great. If not, it’s okay. Perhaps next time! Today we will celebrate the first day of Kwanzaa! If you’re just joining us, you’re welcome and I would strongly urge you to listen to the introductory podcast show on Kwanzaa. Stay with us today but, when you get a chance, I think that you will learn a lot about what Kwanzaa is, who started it and why it was founded in 1966. Always good to have background information.

 

I’m sure that you remember that there are 7 days of the Kwanzaa celebration, beginning on December 26th and ending with a special celebration on January 1st.

 

Before we begin, remember that you will need the Kwanzaa mat (the mkeka), the candleholder (kinara) and 7 candles (the *)—1 black candle, 3 red candles and 3 green candles, and the unity cup (the kikomba cha umoja).

 

I’m just taking a few extra minutes since this is the first day to make sure that you have the Kwanzaa objects needed for today’s celebration. But, you learn by doing, so let’s just do it!

 

Habari gani! Your response: Umoja!

 

Let’s do it again: Habari gani! Umoja!

 

Now please give me the Swahili greeting. Umoja!

 

Yes, the first day of Kwanzaa is Umoja! Umoja means unity. But what does unity mean?

 

According to Dr. Karenga, unity means “to strive for a principled and harmonious togetherness in the family, community, nation and world African community.”

 

Let’s think more deeply about the concept of unity. It is the first and foundational principle of Kwanzaa. Without unity, all the other principles will suffer. It is both a principle and a practice of harmonious togetherness, not simply being together. Unity has always been a cardinal virtue of both African societies. It was a foundation of ancient Egyptian life as the concept of Maat, which was harmony and balance on the natural cosmic and social level. It was also represented as a goddess called Maat. Among the Dinka (who today live in southern Sudan), unity is known as cieng, which is both morality and harmonious living together. In both of these ancient societies, one could not live a good life without living in harmony with the family and other members of the community.

 

Unity is also a practice, meaning to engage in positive interactions with others. Taking it a step further, the practice of unity is a form of active solidarity. So people develop a dependable togetherness that is born, based and sustained in action. Yet it’s important to remember that unity is a moral principle not a political device or slogan.

 

Unity as a principle and practice begins in the family. There must be harmonious living between brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers. Families must share and act in unison. The family must reject harshness and practice gentleness, stress cooperation and avoid conflict. They must also be very attentive to things that would divide or create threats to togetherness. The family must be, as in African culture, the focal point of unity, not simply of siblings and genders, but also generations. Respect for the elders is one of the most important expressions of the family unit. Participation of elders in the daily life of the family benefits the young and old and links all the living, the departed and the yet unborn as a unit.

 

 

To conclude before lighting of the black candle is that unity requires equality, reciprocity and friendship. It also creates equality, reciprocity and friendship within families, communities and nations. Remember unity (or to use the Swahili term, Umoja) because is the foundation on which all the principles of Kwanzaa rely.

 

Unity holds a very special place in African American culture. When we were enslaved in America, we protected and supported each other even as we faced cultural, linguistic and religious conflicts. After slavery ended, we worked together to organize our labor and economic efforts, which were met with strong and violent resistance from the white community. But the concept of unity, which we brought with us from the continent, remained an integral part of our individual and collective consciousness. And its force was never welcomed in the United States.

 

The American government saw that unity among African Americans was dangerous. And there have been concerted efforts to undermine unity in the African American community. From the FBI’s attempts (under J. Edgar Hoover and others) to infiltrate Black organizations like the Black Panther Party, discrediting Black leaders like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X to injecting drugs like crack cocaine into our neighborhoods and separating Black families through imprisonment or job shortages, the attack on unity has been pervasive and persistent. Yet unity still persists in the African American community though it has taken different forms. And it is still as important as ever if we, as African Americans, are going to survive and succeed as individuals and as a people.

 

Because this concept is so important, I want to recommend three books. (Usually I recommend only one.) But you can find them all at rememberinghistory.com and on the Wiki History Facebook page.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The first is:

 

The Cultural Unity of Black Africa: The Domains of Matriarchy & of Patriarchy in Classical Antiquity

by Cheikh Anta Diop

 

This is a great book about the different cultures and ethno-linguistic groups on the African continent. Excellent history and examination of the cultural, economic and political situation in Africa. And Dr. Diop is a scholar in African history who has written numerous groundbreaking (and myth-busting) books on ancient and modern African history.

 

2. The Solution: How Africans in America Achieve Unity, Justice and Repair by Jay Morrison.

This book provides the history of how African Americans have experienced unity, rejected it and how we’ve dealt with threats to unity. It also provides practical steps for individuals and communities to achieve and maintain unity.

 

3. The Willie Lynch Letter and The Destruction of Black Unity

 

This book by Willie Lynch describes how unity was attacked among the enslaved Africans. It is a chilling book that showed nothing happened by chance, coincidence or bad luck.

No need to remember these three books now. You can find them on the website or Facebook page.

It is now time to light the first candle. You will light the black candle in the middle.

 

It is now time to hear a Kwanzaa story about unity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Anansi and his Sons

When Anansi's first son was born and Anansi and his wife, Aso were ready to name the child, the baby spoke up and said, "I have brought my own name with me. It is See Trouble." Their second son also announced his name in this way. He was Road Builder.

Each of his six sons in turn announced their names in this way. There was River Drinker, Game Skinner, Stone Thrower and Cushion.

Once, Anansi had to go on a long journey. On his trip, he found a big, bright, shiny ball. He was bringing it home, when he fell into the lake and was swallowed by a big fish.

Anansi decided right then that he would give the bright shiny object to whoever rescued him.

As time passed, and Anansi did not return home, his family became worried. See Trouble looked ahead to see Anansi inside the big fish. He told his brothers. Right away, Road Builder cleared a path through the forest for his brothers to follow.

When they got to the lake, it was the thirsty brother's turn.

River Drinker drank up all the water in the lake. There was the big fish at the bottom. Game skinner went right to work. He cut open that fish to let Anansi out. Anansi was still holding that bright, shiny object he had found.

Suddenly a giant bird flew down and grabbed Anansi. It took him way up into the sky. Stone Thrower grabbed a rock and threw it. He hit the bird just right to make it let go of Anansi. Down, down Anansi fell, but he didn't get hurt because Cushion put himself in the way. Anansi landed softly.

Anansi wanted to give the bright, shiny object to the son who had rescued him, but he couldn't decide who had done the most to help him.

He gave the bright, shiny thing to Nyame, who put it up in the sky until someone could figure out which son deserves it the most. It is still there in the sky. You can see it tonight.

The end.

 

If you like, you can discuss this story and what it meant to you. No pressure or demands. This is a time of sharing for those who wish to share. And a time of listening for those who don’t wish to share.

Now let’s fill and pass the unity cup. Everyone take a sip.

Pause and reflect on the concept of unity (umoja) for a moment.

Then blow out the candle.

This concludes Day 1 of Kwanzaa.

I just want to thank Eshu Bumpus for providing this story about Unity. This story was written by Eshu who is an accomplished storyteller and expert on Kwanzaa. You might know that storytelling has strong roots in African culture as a method of teaching and transforming as well as entertainment. He has a website called www.storytelling.net . I am so grateful that he has agreed to allow us to present his stories on this Wiki history podcast.)

Thank you for participating in Day 1 of Kwanzaa with us. We hope to see you tomorrow at rememberinghistory.com where we are remembering history and we’re making it. Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri. (Kwanzaa YEH-Noo ee-wah nah heh-REE). Happy Kwanzaa!