Christmas and the Immeasurable Radiance of Kwanzaa

Christmas originated in the womb of the Roman Catholic Church from several ancient festivals and religions.
For example, the Church instituted the “Twelve Days of Christmas” to rival the 12-day celebration of the “Feast of Fools,” a festival of the ancient religion called Mithraism, which included such amusements as feasting with a boar's head.

Christmas Eve was derived from the ancient German pagan holiday Mother’s Night, which honored the mother goddess who gave birth to the solar child of promise.

From ancient Scandinavia came the custom of kissing under the mistletoe. Scandinavians believed the mistletoe was a plant of peace and harmony, which they associated with the goddess of love, Frigga.
And placing gifts under the Christmas tree emerged from the Roman tradition of decorating houses during the Saturnalia feast with clippings of evergreen shrubs and adorning trees with bits of metal and replicas of the Roman God, Bacchu.

So, for more than 250 years, it was natural for most American Christians to reject a religious holiday planted on land owned and tilled by non-Christians. In fact, in some areas of America, Christmas was outlawed. It did not become a federal holiday until 1870.

Kwanzaa, on the other hand, is a cultural (not religious) festival with values and concepts that reflect Afrikan culture and stress community building and reinforcement.

It includes such symbols as Mazao, meaning crops, representing Afrikan harvest celebrations and the rewards of productive and collective labor; Mkeka, meaning mat, representing pan-Afrikan tradition and history and the foundation on which pan-Afrika builds; and Kinara, meaning candle holder, representing Afrikan-American roots, the parent people of all pan-Afrikans, continental Afrikans.

Yet, despite the differences in origin, symbols and practices, the reason for Christmas and the rationale for Kwanzaa seem to be siblings.

Both were birthed from the same womb, the intention to remember a memorable past. Both were nursed in similar cribs, cradles where the aroma of divine principles seeps through the delicate bedding. Both were blessed with similar genes, DNAs in which faith in a supreme being is supreme.

If Kwanzaa and Christmas are not sister and brother, they are at least step sister and step brother. Hence, if you celebrate one, you can honor the other.

Furthermore, each year Kwanzaa’s justification bubbles with fresh evidence for its existence. Though Kwanzaa thrives because of the cultural faith of one race, it is now treasured by people of many races. More ethnic groups identify with its purpose; more whites appreciate its symbols.

Yet, while Christmas has degenerated into a commercially-corrupt holiday, Kwanzaa has remained relatively a commercially-pure holiday.

Normally, a stock broker or hedge fund manager who steals from his investors is indicted, arrested and convicted of fraud or other such crimes. But commercialism, even though it has looted Christmas’s purity and embezzled her saintliness, has gained in popularity among Christians and non-Christians, rather than face trial in the courtroom of Christian integrity for corruption.

In this sense, commercialism is more cruel than the worst pyramid scheme. By contrast, if Kwanzaa were 75 percent less commercial than Christmas, it would still be 100 percent more liable for wrongdoing than it should be. Even a dime’s worth of commercialism could corrupt the whole thing.

Moreover, black Christians who observe Kwanzaa are members of a union of faith that does not require them to relinquish membership in the union of race. They have just as much right to celebrate Kwanzaa as they have not to celebrate Christmas.

In fact, some Christians learn more about their Christian faith by celebrating Kwanzaa for seven days than by observing Christmas for seven years. They realize a holiday that celebrates the purity of its creation sparkles more brightly than a system that perpetuates the iniquity of its origins.

Essentially, then, Kwanzaa is just as precious as Christmas, and probably more so since it has been relatively successful in keeping commercialism from galloping along its shores.

Kwanzaa carries jewels in its holiday that both rival and surpass Christmas. It has principles of morality and spirituality that, in their own ways, encourage the faithful to starve the flesh. It wears the pearl of unity, it dons the diamond of cooperation, it bears emeralds of humility and it holds in its hands the silver chalice of grace.

Thus, the ore of Kwanzaa’s spirit is not made of sand, but composed of gold.