December 26, 2004
Kwanzaa Day 1: Umoja
There are a number of web sites devoted to Kwanzaa; See, for example, "The Official Kwanzaa Website": http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/, MelaNet's "Kwanzaa Information Center": http://www.melanet.com/kwanzaa/, Wikipedia's Kwanzaa entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa. I will not go into detail here about the general observance. 
I do find the brief history of the celebration fascinating, as well as the controversies it has engendered. (Google "Kwanzaa" along with words like "fraud" and "non-Christian" to read some of these arguments.)
Instead, what I hope to do is reflect on the way I am observing Kwanzaa in my own family--specifically how I am introducing it to my children.
So, December 26 and the principle is Umoja, or unity. I struggled with how to explain "unity" to four year olds. Most of the definitions just keep repeating the word, unity, instead of attempting to define what it means. This is especially problematic for me in the children's books about Kwanzaa. Does "unity" mean that we all have to be one, think as one, feel as one, speak as one? Does unity preclude diversity, disagreement, dissension among us? And who is "we" and "us" anyway?
Sidebar: Years ago when we lived in Germany my husband and I (pre-munchkins) had a Kwanzaa celebration at our home in a cozy officer Army housing apartment. One of the four couples we invited was an African American former-active duty soldier and his White German wife. We all went around at the beginning of our celebration and said a little about our reactions to the principle for that day. Most people recalled something from their past and told stories of their kin long deceased. When it was the German wife's turn she merely said that she was there to be with all of us as we celebrated our ancestors... Was she not part of the "us"?
Today began with me mostly sidestepping these questions. The girls mostly loved to say the word "oooooMOEjaaaaa" over and over again. They are at that wonderful stage in development when all language is music and poetry, and as such they did not miss a beat or question whether or not umoja needed a philosophical foundation or a comprehensible definition.
We then read "The Peace Book" together. Not so sure that peace=unity, but the sentiments are certainly in keeping with the spirit of the principle as I feel it. Among other things, peace is (according to Todd Parr) "being free," "making new friends," and "everyone having a home." We also read Jada Pinkett Smith's "Girls Hold Up This World." (OK, I admit I am a sucker for celebrity children's books.) My girls absolutely love this book and its lovely photographs of girls and women of "every color, age, and size...united by beauty inside."
Pretty expansive: world unity and gender unity. All before nap.
Then after breakfast my daughters and I looked at the photographs in Chester Higgins' book "Echo of the Spirit: A Photographer's Journey." They were pretty silent as we went through the pages. So was I. It was a strange, almost reverent, approach very out of character for these two energetic kids. Every once in a while they would ask me a question: "Is she very old?" "Is he sad?"; Or they would provide a comment: "Oh, what beautiful birds!" "She's so cute" "Look, she's making a quilt, like in our other book!" "Look, it's Uncle Bebo--No wait, it's actually Dr. King!" At one point one of them asked me if I liked looking at these pictures. I said yes. My other daughter asked why I liked looking at these pictures. "Because," I said, "looking at them makes me remember people I know and used to know. People who are in my family who I love."
They both seemed satisfied with that answer.
I'm not sure how successful we've been so far in observing the value of umoja today. A project that we were supposed to work on together fell through due to lack of proper preparation. I am utterly embarrassed to say that that project was to be a Bart Simpson Ch-ch-ch-chia pet--But I failed to read the directions far enough to see that the seeds as well as the planter need to soak for a full 24 hours before starting. We do have a Kwanzaa craft book, and do plan to make some of the projects in it, but both girls have been excited about this dang "chia" thing ever since they first saw the television commercial for it two months ago.
Sometimes deep cultural values give way to blatant consumerism. Sometimes assembling a collage from family photos takes a backseat to green clovers sprouting from the head of a cartoon character.
Tonight we'll see where the continuation of our umoja observance leads.
**Note: Search for the book titles I've mentioned here through the African American Literature Book Club: http://www.aalbc.com/.
Posted by perry032 at December 26, 2004 02:46 PM