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<snip>Supposedly, this thread wasn't started with "racial b.s." in mind. I beg to differ
My thoughts exactly, hence the reason I have stayed out of this thread until now. I was actually hoping
it would fall off the page without a single reply....oh well.
No one in my family celebrates Kwanzaa, but we wouldn't necessarily denigrate anyone who chose to do so. Honestly, I really don't see the hurt in taking a little time to recognize some of its components either (work, unity, responsibility, creativity), even if you don't go all out.
Nope. Never. It's the butt of many jokes though. I think of it the same way I think of Festivus. And if invited to, I'd celebrate both if food and drink were involved.
Kwanzaa is pretty much unknown in this area. We do have something called "Sweetest Day", which I'd never heard of until I moved here - it is in Octomber and was a big event at bakeries where I'd worked. It is a kind of a platonic rip off of Valentine's Day. You give candy and sweets to people you care about and appreciate, not necessarily romantically. It's big for the confectioner industry, I guess.
A few years back I do remember hearing a Kwanzaa song being played at a Wal Mart over their intercom at Christmas time. They also did a Hannukah song or two so they had all their bases covered. Kwanzaa was always more of a Thanksgiving/ Hannukah based/ borrowed Holiday which was put up against Christmas for some odd reason. Had it been put in early November it may have caught on. I'd certainly say african americans might want to celebrate a different Thanksgiving themed Holiday if they had one. The Thanksgiving as we know it is pretty much european influenced although by now its almost all inclusive. People enjoy lots of different foods, not just turkey. I don't think Kwanzaa has much purpose anymore. I think there's a freedom day celebrated more down south along the Gulf coast that commemorates the official abolishment of slavery. Its in the summer I think. I'd say that has more weight as a reason to be celebrated and falls in a better time frame. Martin Luther King Day is around January or February so that's not much fun.
I don't personally know anyone that actually celebrates it, but somebody out there MUST be celebrating it. Around here I don't think it's very popular, except maybe on the college campuses where it might be seen as a revolutionary act of cultural unity and defiance.
But hey, if people want to celebrate it, then cool. I wish the guy who invented it could have been a little more creative though. As it is now it's like Thanksgiving mixed with Hannukah with African music playing in the background.
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