No bread of that areland.
Sons, no bed.
Of that are ho bred of that areland.
Hello, and welcome to the show. This is the Cult of Conspiracy and I am the Cajun night Ay Raven Lee, and we are continuing on our holiday week pile on of all the crazy things and stuff, and believe it or not, this episode accidentally will get conspiratorial. I didn't even intend for this to go this way. But today we are going to be talking about Kwanza, which is an inherently American, specifically African American, but it's inherently an
American celebration. And then as we are sticking to the more you know, American traditions that a lot of Americans may not be aware of, we are then gonna go to some Native American tribes.
M h.
So we're gonna we're gonna touch at least on the history of kind of just what some Native American tribes do.
Yeah, and I'm excited to learn about these things. Honestly, I I as a side tangent, I started doing some more research into some obscure things I never knew about. The Iroquois society of the no Face, which is a winter solstice celebration thing, and I didn't do too much
digging into it. We're gonna talk about that one probably on the Obscure episode We're gonna do in a minute or tomorrow, I should say, But yeah, for today, we are going to go to Kwansa and we are going to go to a couple of different Native American tribes. And I do need to apologize. I was supposed to be wearing a daishiki for this, and I had a source. I had a buddy of mine who I told him when I was doing He was super about that life. I know there's gonna be people that are saying I'm
appropriating culture. No, I'm an American and there's a specifically American holiday, and he was super, super helpful. Actually, he was like about that life. But I should admit my buddy is a few sizes smaller than me, and this would have looked like I was trying to make a joke out of the culture, and that's not what my intention was. So the flannel is still rocking.
It happens. Hey, I'm wearing a Crumpuss shirt and I'm wearing these awesome earrings that were made for me. But today, so there are trees, Christmas trees with skulls on them. I'm super happy. So hell, I'm still rocking the theme over here. At least of Christmas things. I could throw on a Christmas hat.
I could throw on the Christmas hat. But this episode is not going to be about Christmas yet, not like this kind of Christmas. So at that point it's kind of this thing's lost in translation, you know. So it is what it is, but we are gonna to get into it here, good cult members, and we might as well give the shameless plug now for anybody that is listening to the show that would like to see the articles, the videos and the things and the stuff, and Ravenlee
and I are gorgeous faces talking about these topics. Then the only place you can go to see all this would be to go to patreon dot com slash Cult Conspiracy Podcast. Over there, there are a few tiers for entry. We got that five dollars a month tier where you get all these episodes. You get them a couple of days in advance, sometimes even a week in advance. You get all the video content, you get some of the behind the scenes things. We are doing a lot more
on the Patreon. We are trying to revitalize and retool the Patreon. We just did a live Q and A. We're showing more behind the scenes things. We may even be dropping some exclusive content for certain tiers within the Patreon. We we're gonna start sending out some ourach, yeah merch, not.
Merch, We're gonna so we have a couple things that we've decided to do. So we're revitalizing Patreon completely and hopefully by the beginning of the year we'll have all the tiers set up exactly what we want to do. But we're going to have promo boxes for the third Eye Open tier and for the Mannic tier, and we're gonna have a cool sticker a month, so every month will be a different kind of sticker and it will be it will be like kind of coo little ones
that will change every single month. And then we're also going to do hopefully potentially merch exclusive merch for certain tiers, also have a merch store, and it's gonna be pretty awesome, Like we're gonna we're gonna set it all up and have a really cool time.
So I'm excited. I am we got you know, Braven Lee and I have a different type of let's call it esthetic, you know, a different type of artistic flair. And I am excited to see what kind of stickers we're gonna just come up with month to month. That should be fun, just saying.
Yeah, I think between the two of us, we're gonna have some really cool ones. Definitely, probably some skulls for mine, Oh for sure, everyone, I'll have a lot of skols for mine. But I'm interested to see what you come up with, the ones that you like.
I got a few ideas. Some will be rather lighthearted, some will be rather obscene. I don't know. I guess we'll figure it out together, you know. But like I said, we're also coming out with more merch as well. We are currently looking for a merch store type of situation. Some coffee mugs, some hoodies, some T shirts. We're gonna start making this happen in real time. We have had with No Ego, hundreds of people ask us where can they buy our merch? And we have been slacking for years.
On this, but well, I mean we did. We did go and have some conversations with some people to do merch. It's just very expensive up front, and trying to figure out how to do a merch store and then actually have good quality and where to actually house it, or if we're gonna do one of those where you click and then it does the automatic thing. It's it's a
process to learn how to do all that. So we are hoping though, by at least the beginning of the year, we'll have our tiers set up for Patreon, and we'll have a lot more exclusive content and behind the scenes Q and as contests run different kind of things to where you know it's gonna be a lot more fun building a real community within the Patreon So I don't know if we're gonna throw the discord, because both of us, to be honest, are kind of dumb when it comes to Discord.
But I can tease this, at least there will possibly be a link to a secret merch store only available to Patreon subscribers, the secret store which will have the secret star Bey app Uh. Let's say this like there's been some quotes, there's been some sayings that have come off of this show over the years. We're like, oh my god, that's a T shirt. That's gonna be the
spot where those T shirts are made. And it's not something that you would put out on the interwebs for the world to see, but for the people that get the joke, you know. Yeah, Anyway, like I was saying, we're gonna have these things available on the Patreon here very soon, so.
Like Beetlejuice right then, I'm sorry, Yeah, that sound like you did when you were like.
I'll take that as a compliment. I think he's phenomenal.
Saying it in a bad way. I'm just saying, that's what you sound like.
But I think he did okay at Batman.
He did. I mean, I didn't think he was terrible at Batman. I'll say that better.
Than Jack Frost. That was just me.
Oh that's a sad movie.
I know that. That movie is the reason why I still can't listen to Landslide by by Fleetwood Mac without getting a little.
It's pretty emotional movie. I'll say that. To go back to your point about Patreon, we are going to be doing a lot of things coming up and really trying to i don't know, build expand grow our community, grow the cult and see how it all plays out.
What absolutely So with that being said, there are a few other tears that you can go to on the page. We got that cult member tier right there, like we were talking about, then if you want to go to that third eye all the way open tier, you will be able to join us every Tuesday night for the Cult Member lives and you you know you hear the episodes drop. Come meet the Spirit Animal himself, Come meet Dougie Blumkin.
Come meet our resident Jewish correspondent, and our resident trans correspondent, our resident furry correspond all these people, all these people. As much as people want to say that we are a Maga echo chamber, we have a very diverse group
that would say otherwise, because I throw that out. But probably the main reason why people go to patreon dot com slash Cult Conspiracy Podcast is because it is the only place not only to see the video of all these episodes, but it's the only place to hear us. Absolutely yes, that's right. Kick the ads, we know they suck. We hate commercials too. We offer exclusively on Patreon commercial free listening. That's the best place to go. That's the only place to go. So I'm gonna go ahead and
share the screen at this time. And uh, you know, just off of the Ravenle, do you know anything about Kwanza I don't.
I actually don't know anything about Kwansa. I know you said it's an American holiday. I don't know when it was started, what it's really about. I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm pretty nineive when it comes to this topic.
So I feel like a lot of Americans, specifically white Americans, don't know much about Kwanza. And that's understandable because it is a specifically African American holiday. So the background to it, it was started in nineteen sixty six by a gentleman that we're gonna learn more about here in a minute. And basically it was started to be a Pan African celebration,
a political, a religious. So to be fair, you can celebrate Christmas and Kwanza and the two do not conflict in any way, shape or form, believe it or not. And there's a few things, a few symbols that take place during this time. It's a seven day holiday. It starts the day after Christmas and it goes in until the uh I think the first we're gonna learn more about it here in a moment. Each day there's a
candle that is lit. There is some poetry you should read or or it's like seen as like the daily thought, something you're supposed to contemplate and reflect on this day. There is music that you're supposed to listen to, and we're gonna actually read about that as well. Earth Wind and Fire is on that. So yeah, that's cool. Yeah, it's weird. It's not, and I don't mean weird as a negative thing. It's I had never really done much digging into it, to be honest. The extent of my
knowledge on Kwanza came from the Proud Family. There was an episode where they celebrated Kwansa with this family and all that. So for any of our say I.
Thought it was a Jewish holiday, I'm not gonna lie to you. I did for like a hot minute there. I think it was like a part of Jewish holidays.
The candle obra would make you think, so right, very similar to how the the Hanukkah celebration we just learned about has there thing so like you need more. I didn't do enough, Flim, I'm sorry, Royknikah. Yeah yeah, but but to your point, the candle lighting, it does kind of resonate a certain way that make you think possibly this is connected to Judaism. None whatsoever. It is not related to Islam, Christendom, Judaism. There is no religious significance
to Kwanza whatsoever. It is specifically a cultural holiday. So I got a quick little vigia here, and we are gonna learn about Kwanza together using this video, and then we're gonna go more into the details of it. And then there is some uh con controversial uh some some might say conspiratorial things to be said about Kwanza and the creator thereof and really oh yeah, yeah again, good cult members. Please, if you are somebody that celebrates Kwanza,
please habarghane to you. Okay, all the things and all the stuff. I didn't know anything about this. I didn't know that Marcus Garvey made his appearance into this, which if you don't know who Marcus Garvey is, he is one of the most vehement violent racists against white people ever on Earth. I didn't know that. I didn't know that before we got started. I didn't know the creator of Kwansa also was arrested and convicted for assaulting two women.
But we're gonna get to it all. We're gonna get to it all because I don't I don't want to take away from Kwansa itself, because the celebration itself, it kind of seems cool. It kind of seems cool. I know that I can't celebrate it for multiple reasons, but like I respect those that do, you know, and before we get to the controversy, I should say that too. If you're somebody who celebrates Kwansa, you know, more power
to you do not. Sometimes you gotta take the good with the bad, right like you gotta take the Yes. This person might have been a piece of shit, but what they did was something good and you could you could extrapolate the good from it. And it's not like this instant of what happened with him takes away from the holiday that he created by any stretch of the imagination that actually happened years after. But we're gonna get
to it all. Sorry about the tangent on this one, but anyway, let's learn about Kwansa together, good cult members. We're gonna start off with this little vigia here. It's only four and a half in its long, and it's gonna talk to us a little bit about the backstory of Kwansa and also how to celebrate it. Let's learn together.
Kwansa is a holiday that was started by doctor Malinga Krenga in nineteen sixty six. The reason that he felt a need to start a brand new holiday was because he felt that African Americans that lived outside of the continent of Africa were detached from the values and the culture of the continent of Africa, and he wanted them to feel good about themselves and to have something that
they could connect to to make their lives better. Kuansa is actually derived from a Kiswa hilly word meaning first harvest. All through the continent of Africa and many other places, people celebrate the harvest. They give thanks for the harvest, so Kwansa really means first fruits or harvest time. Quansa is not a religious holiday. It's a cultural holiday, which means that you can celebrate whatever your tradition is and
still enjoy Kwansa. Kwansa is observed the day after Christmas, which means you could still celebrate Christmas from December twenty sixth all the way through January first New Year's Day to seven days, so the seven days you're actually celebrating and thinking about seven principles. Those seven principles are called
the Nguza Saba. The seven principles of Kwanza are Omoja unity, kutishagualiyah, self determination, Ujima, collective work and responsibility, Ujama cooperative economics, Nia purpose, Koumba creativity, and last but not least, Imani faith. Those are seven principles that everyone can use to have a better life. It doesn't matter if you're African American, it doesn't matter where you're from. These seven principles will help you to be a better human being and also
help to make the world a better place. The condelabra for Kwansa is called a kinnora. It is seven candles that represent again the seven principles. So the middle candle is black that represents the people. Then you have three candles representing the blood, and then three candles that represent the earth or the hard work that you do. I think that what resonates with people about this holiday is that it really is a holiday that makes you look
within and then connect with the people around you. So part of Quanta also is looking at your relationships people who you might need to ask forgiveness from people who you might need to forgive. The quansa celebration at the American Museum of Natural History is literally the largest Quanta celebration in the United States. Thousands and thousands of people come in to see the Quantsa celebration, and as a storyteller,
I am just prouded. Every year I look forward to coming and sharing with everyone about Quanza.
We have about ten thousand people that come together to celebrate every year with the shows that include performances as well as storytelling and teaching about the principles and all of the nature of the holiday of Kwansa, as well as a popular marketplace that opens for artisans to come in tell the wares of the museum for just one day.
And you see people of every ethnicity, every race, every religion coming together to celebrate love, to celebrate culture, to celebrate through great and rich contribution of African Americans and the African diaspora. What's wonderful about Kwansa for everyone is that it gives everyone the opportunity to learn a little bit more about African American history, which is American history. Then we also get the opportunity to be with family
and share personal stories. So when people of any ethnicity come together and they hear these stories, it helps them to understand one another better.
Shout out to Inside. Addition for the backstory into Kwanza. Now, a couple of things I should mention here. Kwansa, as the traditional holiday here is actually spelled with an extra a at the end. Ye that she was talking about as first fruit is actually only six letters, so they added the seventh letter just to make it seven long, as the holiday is seven days long. I think that's an interesting tidbit.
That's pretty cool. I will say that one, she seems like a really awesome person.
She seems like an awesome story tellers.
She really want to hang out with her and like listen to her, do you stories to Actually, it sounds like a fantastic celebration. I really like the seven principles in what they represent. It sounds like overall it would just be a great holiday for everybody. But also it's a really cool holiday to celebrate African American history and how they are tying their roots back to Africa and doing more unity stuff. Sounds like, you're awesome holiday overall.
To me, agreed honestly, and I mean especially it makes sense that this formed in the nineteen sixties civil rights movement was on the rise, and the Black community was trying to find a way to redisc cover their roots, so to speak. Right, so many of them got brought over against their will. They have no idea from what tribe they originally came from, what culture they originally came from. Blood tests are only so good, and I've seen I had a corporal of mind in the Marine Corps. As
a matter of fact, when I was a PFC. He and one of the sergeant majors they did a blood test and there was a different type of test they could do at the time, based off of some facial features and things like this, and they discovered that they were actually from the same tribe originally in Africa, like at least the predominance in their DNA would show that they were from this area. And I thought that was
really cool. But because there was so much detachment from their ancestral history for them to come together and say, you know what, fine, we are going to make our own ancestral history. We're gonna base it off of nothing hate. Nothing that we heard just now had anything to do with black superiority, white inferiority, nothing along these lines. If anything, it was about community growth and community strengthening, and I think it's awesome, to be honest with you.
Yeah, the reflection and unity and faith and every I like, really liked all the principles. I thought it was wonderful. I'm curious to know more about this and how how it celebrated. I never even really I mean, I've heard about it because I have my neighbor's next door, but they they are like Jamaican. She's Jamaican and actually was born in.
England, and do they celebrate Quanta it's from.
I think they celebrate Kwanza. Honestly, we celebrate a lot of holidays together, so that's why wouldn't be surprised that they celebrate Kwanza. They're fantastic. They're like some of my favorite people on Earth. I'm so blessed to have them as wonderful neighbors. But agreed, Yeah, no, it's definitely a It definitely sounds like a great holiday.
So I tried looking up how many people in America celebrate Kwansa. Again, it's a American holiday, and I'm sure that there's like some people in Canada, some of African descent in Canada that might celebrate it in their own way or whatever. But as far as I can tell, it is specifically celebrated. It's an American tradition right. Again, it was only starting in the nineteen sixties. It is not even one hundred years old yet, to be honest
with you. That being said, depending on the year, it says anywhere between five hundred thousand and twelve million people.
That's a huge gap, very huge gap.
Okay, I mean, I mean it's also like, how do you celebrate it? Right?
In?
What way? Is it? That's like saying, how many of you celebrate Christmas? Even if you don't do the whole shebang? Right? Do you and your family celebrate the tree? You know what I mean?
Yeah?
Well, Christmas is one of those things though that like, some people celebrate parts of it, some people celebrate one aspect of it, some people do all the shebang. It depends on how It depends on your socioeconomic status, It depends on your religious background, it depends on your family's traditions. So I mean, obviously this would I feel like, be on par with that, But it seems Eric does remind me somewhat of Judaism when it comes to like they're
obviously the candles and what they represent. I'm curious to do they have any like weird rules.
No, but I see what you're saying. When when they decided to make this non religious, non political, cultural holiday, you're gonna see some things that he pretty much borrowed from a bunch of different other celebrations that kind of go in line with the same thinking. But they took it and made it their own right, and so that's the background of that. But yeah, so the wide birth of it. Just like you said, there's so many different ways to celebrate Christmas for KWANSA. I don't know to
what level that poll was taken. Is it Well, if you're not lighting the candles, then you're not celebrating. Does it mean that you do you take these days and reflect on the principles. Maybe you don't do the candles, but you reflect on the principles. Is that how you celebrate quants? And there's no we're gonna get into it.
There's not many rules. There's a few key items that are seen as the standard for lack of better words, but it's not like some strict adherents where if you step out of line then the ancestors get mad at you. By any means again, this will start in sixty six, so we're gonna read in on it a little bit more the Guide online. This is from Hayes High School. As a matter of fact, shout out to Hayes High School in Kansas, and the article is actually written this year. Christmas,
Honkah and Kwanza explains the differences. We're gonna jump ahead here because we already know the differences between Christmas and Hanukkah and how these are celebrated. We know about this, but let's get into the quanta conversation. It says, lastly, as Kwanza, this is the holiday that is probably the least celebrated in this area and the least well known
among the three discussed in the article. This is likely due to the fact that, unlike Christmas and Honkah, which have religious ties, Kwanza is not tied to anyone religion and is rather a cultural celebration. It is by far the newest holiday, only found in nineteen sixty six by doctor Mulana Kurenga. Again, keep a pin in that guy's name for later. He's pretty much the entire reason for this whole thing. An activist and professor to reaffirm African
heritage and culture for people with African descent. As a result, it is most celebrated by African Americans. This week long non religious celebration is observed from December twenty sixth to January first, meaning one person can realistically celebrate both Kwansa and Christmas. The name Kwanza is derived from the Swahili phrase matunda yakwanza, which means first fruits. And again you see the Swahili word Kwansa right, there as only six letters, so they just added the extra a at the end
to make it a seven day things. You could put it on the candleabra from what I could sell, the extra a is had to make the word seven letters long, representing these seven days of Kwansa. Hey. The holiday is based on African harvesting festivals. During each evening, Kwanza families light one of the mushuma saba, which is the seven candles in the knara a candle holder. Oh and I
should just go ahead and say this now. If I butcher the pronunciation of any of these words, please do not take it as a disrespect or a slight towards the culture, good celebrators or Kwansa I mean no disrespect. I speak American English and barely at that. The knara has one black candle, three red, and three green, representing the people, the struggle, and the hope for future, respectively.
Each day of Kwansa is dedicated to one of seven unguza saba principles, being with what you are learned earlier. Emoja unity, could kuldj chaila gulia? Which is a determination? Hell yeah, got that one? Uh uji yama ujima.
It was terrible. Go ahead, Maybe just read you know what, just maybe read a determination? Responsibility? Uh you know, principal creativity, faith.
You want me to americanize this American holiday that seems rather culturally intuitively wrong.
Maybe Nia nia kumba kuumba?
Did you just say kumbaya?
And I was trying to think of how to say kumba? You know what?
Fuck? I can't it is what it is.
I'm terrible even trying to sound out words. I'm trying here.
Look I get it, I get it. Anyway, let's get they sure enough did so. Now we're gonna swap over to the Smithsonian article talking about the seven principles of kwans and this gives us a little more background into it. Also certain foods you're supposed to make on the certain days, certain literature that you're supposed to pause and reflect on on these specific days, and certain music that you're supposed to listen to on these seven days. Gotta say, some
of these not my jam, some of them slap. I'm just gonna be real with you. I pretty much love anything earth wind and fire. I'll be honest with you. But anyway, let's get into it. The Seven Principles of Kwanza. Kwanza is a time of learning, family, and celebration. During the week of Kwanza, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture.
You see the light of candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities such as reciting the sayings or writings of great Black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing of a meal of African diaspora inspired foods. The table is decorated with the essential symbols of Quansas, such as the canara which is the candle holder, the macheka which is the matt mahindi which is corn to
represent the children. Put up pen in that one for later as well. Just gonna say that maezo or mazeo fruit to represent the harvest, zowadi which is gifts. There is a little bit of a gift exchange here, but from what I could tell, it's nothing. It's not like Santa Claus gifts. It's more like very small and personalized gifts, you know, just something to you know, give to your loved ones, to a celebration type of thing. You know.
I do like that this is a cultural celebration rather than face space.
It's pretty cool, agreed. So again, one might also see the colors of the Pan African flag, red the struggle, black the people, and green the future, which is again represented in the candles as well and represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people
of African diaspora by Marcus Garvey. Again, if you don't know who Marcus Garvey is, I'm not gonna be the one to tell the kids there's no Santa Claus here, but uh, he did a lot for people of African descent, not gonna take that away from him. I will also say he was some some might see him as the tiny mustache man of the black community, and I will actually have.
No idea who this is. I'm not Actually, I'm not gonna lie to you. I was like, who's Marcus.
I'm gonna be honest with That's that's probably a good thing, honestly.
Yeah, we're gonna leave it that if it's like the tiny mustache dude, so we're just gonna would have been in that one and just leave it alone.
If you ever seen shirts like a Killer Mike for instance, he well, you wouldn't know who that is because you think rap is horrible.
And literally was like, who are we talking about?
Jesus Christ Raven? Okay, Killer Mike is a rap artist.
Name a rock band, and I'll be like, okay.
Okay, okay, okay, cap Can Killer Mike is a rap artist who I happened to like his music. And when Trump got elected, he went and did a press conference with a T shirt saying kill the White Man. This was a quote from mister Garvey. You can take that to whatever level and depth you'd want to. We're talking about Kwanza today.
You know, Kwansa is a peaceful, it is happy holiday, and that's where we're gonna be staying.
That's right. Well for now, we're gonna talk about the founder of a here in a bit anyway, So on each day of Kwanza, light a candle for that day's principle in your candle holder or again kenara uh. Now we're going to go over these umoja, which is unity. This is day one to strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. The song for reflection is worth his weight in gold from Steel Pulse, also called Rally Round the Flag. Thought for the Day
is from Tony Morrison Beloved, first edition. This is a poem from nineteen eighty seven, believe it or not, or at least that's the first edition that it was published. We're not going to read the entire thing, but we can at least tell it. Baby Sugs Holy gives a sermon in the clearing. This is from this work the Beloved. Here she said, in this here place we flesh, flesh that weeps laughs, flesh that dances on bare feet and grass love it, love it hard. Yonder. They do not
love your flesh. They despise it. They don't love your eyes, They just as soon pluck them out. No more do they love your skin on your back, Yonder, they flay it. And oh, my people, they do not love your hands. Those they only use to use, tie, bind, chop off and leave empty. Love your hands, love them, raise them up and kiss them, touch others with them, pat them together, Stroke them on your face. Because they don't love that either. You got to love it you and know they ain't
in love with your mouth. Yonder. Out there, they will see it broken and break it again. What you say out of it, they will not heat what you scream from it, they will not hear. I'm not going to read the entire thing, but as you can tell, it is very much of love yourself, because no one else is going to love you. Obviously, there's a little bit of some racial tension on this, as you can tell. Anyway, The next one j kuji chaulia, kuji chigulia. How would you pronounce it? Ah?
I have no idea. I guess we should watch the video again. I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not even gonna try, because there's just no way that I'm going to get this correct.
Again it to any of the celebraties of Kwanza. No disrespect intended, Kujakulie. I don't know, yes, see, I don't know.
Look, I can't even get half the words down here correct. What do you think I'm going to be able to say? It's Swahili, that's very fair.
Self determination. Self determination is what we're talking about here, to define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. The song of reflection here is I am the black gold of the sun by rotary connection and many Repton Reperton. Rather, the thought of the day comes from Daniel Black the coming this It says from twenty fifteen, but I don't believe that that's the original, But either way, I'll read at least a little bit of it. We
didn't know we wouldn't return. We simply believed some terrible calamity had befallen us, that our gods had let tragedy come because we had not honored them. But we were wrong. We were warriors and hunters, poets and jail poets and jail farmers and soothsayers oh jolly, excuse me, ja l.
I my, I guess I'm really say I thought that I said jail to you twice.
I was like, man, I might be dyslexic. God damn anyway. Okay, So we were magicians and healers, artisans and thinkers, writers and dancers. We were fathers and mothers, sisters and brothers, cousins and kinsmen. We were lovers and we were home. We loved the land and it loved us. We were black like the land and kissed by the sun. We knew our strengths and our frailities, and we knew much. We knew much needed improvement. But we were home. So that is the thought for the day of self determination.
Okay oujima collective work and responsibility to build and maintain our community together and make our communities problems our problems and solve them together. Okay. Song of Reflection, Yeah, I like that too. The song for reflection is Sounds of Blackness. I'm gonna be honest, I look this one up. I found like five different versions of songs that called themselves sounds of Blackness. I do believe that this is the original from the nineteen sixties, not the one from the
nineteen nineties. I'm just gonna throw that out there. But hey, you celebrate what scene you want to.
I mean, this was created in sixty six, so I'm assuming everything was actually originally made in the sixties, maybe potentially early seventies, not twenty fifteen and twenty ten.
But I don't know how much of this was like written down back when it was founded, or how much of this they kind of you know, adopted over time and made it to what it is today. I honestly couldn't tell you.
I mean, but who adopted it and created more of it? That's I guess what I'm curious about.
Yeah, I couldn't find anything as far as like who's the authoritative body over the holiday, Like there's no it's not like this is a religious movement.
Where well, no, it's a where they say it the American American Heritage.
The American Heritage Museum in DC. But even still, that's just the biggest quans of gathering. There's no like figurehead of quansa that decides what is and is not, uh you know, falling in line. It's again, this is not like a religious holiday where you would go to a priest or a past or whatever, and they would make the determination this is a cultural holiday. So just as the culture shifts and formulates and molds in time, quansap very well might also do the same thing. I don't know, hmm.
I wonder if it's like changes depending on your city, depends on Like I wonder if this is something that just gets like things added.
Into it or maybe so.
I wonder if it was like originally like an outline and then people have added into it. But then who is the one's adding into it and who's right now I'm getting confused, Like I want to know. I want to know more of how this is like established or if it changes per people. I wonder if we have anybody in the cult that actually practices, if they could like share some information with us.
That would be dope. If you are listening to this, good cult member, and you would like to tell us how you and your people celebrate your Kwanza, I would love to know. I would love to know, because we're only going off with the articles and the videos that we have pulled up. If there's more things here that we're just missing out right, please educate us. We don't know. We are lost in a sea of our own caucacity on this one, i'mna be honest. But that being said,
so the main tenants have stayed the same. The seven principles, those don't change. Maybe how someone reflects on these things might alter a bit, but these seven principles themselves don't change. The knara doesn't change, the candle colors don't change, the matt the corn doesn't change. Which again we'll get to that one in a bit. But there's a few key things that is definitely like within the ritual of Quansa, and then everything else seems to be kind of open
into interpretation. Yeah. Anyway, so Sounds of Blackness as a song of reflection for Ujima and the thought of the day is from Isabelle Wilkerson the warmth of other sons, you know, we could read though, Yeah, and this is what I'm saying. I wonder if some of these reflections kind of came about later on, but the song might be like Cannon, I don't know. Over the decades, perhaps the wrong questions have been asked about the Great Migration.
Perhaps there's not a question of whether the migrants brought good or ill to the cities they fled or were pushed or pulled to their destinations, but a question of how they summoned the courage to leave in the first place, or how they found the will to press beyond the forces against them and the faith in a country that had rejected them for so long. By their actions, they did not dream the American dream. They willed it into
being by a definition of their own choosing. They did not ask to be accepted, but declared themselves the Americans that perhaps few others recognized, but that they had always been deep within their hearts. That one like that on one pretty good. The next one is Ujama cooperative economics. I find that to be interesting that that would be a principle of this holiday. But at the same time, why not, right.
I mean, it makes sense to me.
So I've read a couple of things about this on these days. Specifically, you, as a celebrator of Kwanza should look to help local black owned small businesses.
That's what I assumed it meant, was supporting black owned businesses and you know, supporting their people within their own community.
For sure, at.
Least that's what I are automatically assumed, which you know makes sense, especially like if you have small communities. I mean hew Chinese community support Chinese people within their communities. Oh yeah, and like big time, like they shop within all of their communities and they pretty much that's where they stay. So I mean the Jewish people do the
same thing. So absolutely it would make to me that this would be a principle of just maintaining orally supporting their own people within their communities instead of branching out and buying things from other companies.
Absolutely, so it goes on to say to build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together. Absolutely. The song for reflection on this day is We're a Winner by Curtis Mayfield. A banger of a song I should mention thought for the day is from Angela Davis, an autobiography of her. As a matter of fact, this is my first introduction to class differences among my own people. We were not we worthy, not so poor until my experiences at school. I believe
that everyone else lived the way we did. We always had three good meals a day. I had summer clothes and winter clothes, everyday dresses, and a few Sunday dresses. When holes began to wear through my shoes the soles of my shoes. Although I may have warned them pasteboard for a short time, we eventually went downtown to select a new pair. The family income was earned by both
my mother and father before I was born. My father had taken advantage of his hard earned college degree from Saint Augustine's in Raleigh, North Carolina, Raleigh rather Ali Yeah Raleigh, to secure a position teaching history at Parker High School. But life was especially difficult during those years. His salary was close to nothing as money could be, so with his meager savings, he began to buy a service station
in the black section of downtown Birmingham. My mother, who like my father came from a very humble background, also worked her way through college and got a job teaching at the Birmingham Elementary school system. The combined salaries were nothing to boast about, yet enough to survive on, and much more than was earned by the typical southern black family. They had managed to save enough to buy the old house on the hill, but they had to rent out
the upstairs for years to make the mortgage payments. Until I went to school, I did not know that this was a stunning accomplishment. Oh, there's a thought for the day for you now. Nia is purpose to make our collective vocation the building and development of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. The song for reflection is Higher Ground by the great Stevie Wonder. The thought of the day is Poem about My Rights
by June Jordan. And they actually don't have an excerpt from it, but if you would like to go check it out, good cult members, please do so. And oh, I forgot to mention there's recipes for each day. Damn it, I'm meant to say something about that.
I just saw that. I was like, wait, there's a recipe.
Yeah. So the first day, well, let's backtrack here, umoja the day, the recipe should involve dates, figs and milk. All right, So the next one kuji chuk guliyah. Yeah. Uh. That day's recipe should include seasoned olives yum ujima. The third day, the recipe should include Caribbean soirel solid.
I don't know what that is, actually sorrel.
I've had in foods, but now like being asked about it, I don't actually know. So we're gonna we're gonna look this up. I want to say, is it like fat.
Uh?
No?
No, no, I'm sorry a tangy lemon lemony herb like remix uh Kesota using cooking for salads, soups, and sauces, known for its bright sour flavor. I've had it, yeah, I I've had it before.
Yeah no, I've had it. I just didn't know what that was. So I was like, okay, so we learned something.
New every day we do indeed, So yeah, Caribbean sorrel should be used in the third day oujama Uh. This should include pink party punch. Hell yeah, I don't know what it is, but like fuck yeah, I like the way they're going here. Man, all right, so nia it should involve salted pecans. Hell yeah. I do like that.
They have children activities too for every day as well, So.
That's pretty cool. There's like coloring books, there's games you could play with your kids to teach them more about it. It's this is a real cultural and community holiday and that's awesome.
So like they could all that's really cool that they have a palm to read, a song to listen to, and a recipe to cook and children activities so that they're strengthening their fem Wow, I can talk family unity absolutely, so I think this is wonderful.
Actually, so now the next day kumba, which is creativity to all to do always as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it. I mean, how can how can you come against that? Right?
You can't argue against this at all. I mean every principle so far has been wonderful.
So absolutely. The song for reflection on this day is Africa by the great John Coltrane, and the thought for the day is from Leroy Jones Amre Baraka Blues people, Negro music in White America. It was a song from nineteen seen sixty three. Uh, I'm not going to try to actually I'll read a little bit of it. How did it do this? What was so powerful and desperate in this music that guaranteed its continued existence? This is
what pushed me. But as it began to get into the history of music, I found that it was impossible without at the same time getting deeper into the history
of the people. That is what the history of the Afro American people as text as tail, as story, as exposition, narrative, or what have you, that the music was the score, the actually expressed, creative, orchestrated, vocalized, hummed, chanted, blown, scattered colary confirmed confirmation rather of the history, and that one could go from one to the other, actually from the inside to the outside or reverse and be talking about
the same thing. That music was explaining the history, as the history was explaining the music, that both were expressions of and reflections of the people. I like it, And for the record, I do love traditional blues music one hundred percent.
Blues is wonderful music.
So it is I actually really like that.
I think it's really interesting how music has been one of those things that even in like the worst of times, people will always find a way to use music to lift their spirits or release to keep going, depending on you know what scenario and stuff. But music is one of those things that it seems just inherent to people always agreed.
Agreed one hundred percent, especially when you're talking about blues music, because you could see how that transferred from nineteen forties and fifties and sixties blues to even into the seventies, eighties, and nineties. Basically, look at BB King, I understand he
is the King of blues music. But you look at his first album he ever cut, as opposed to the last album he ever cut, and you could watch the transition of music, and that could be used as a litmus test almost to see the transfer of culture, honestly, And I love it.
I like the I like the line from the inside to the outside and reverse. Yeah, I definitely that definitely resonates with me, at least when I was thinking of blues, That's what I think about. I used to listen to blues all the time, actually with my grandma on the way to school.
And you know that's another thing too. We talk about music a good bit, right, And there's music.
We've talked a lot about music in the last few weeks. Sorry everybody, I.
Am not gonna apologize for that whatever, Okay, but hear me out. There's music that can be mass produced and cookie cutter as hell. Rock music can do that. Look at any of the pop punk music from our teenage years. They all pretty much are saying the same thing.
The same way. I mean, there's a lot of music that can match each other.
Rap music absolutely, country music, absolutely all of them. They can be cookie cuttered and fake. You can't fake blues.
No Blues is a soulful, spiritual journey. Yes, every single person sounds different from each other. Now, they might have the same kind of tone esque and kind of like the similarities might be somewhat there, but every single blues artist sounds at least somewhat different from each other.
There's a song from David allen Coe and I know it's really weird to bring him up as they're talking about Kwanza because he was a out, out, loud and proud racist. But hear me out here.
I don't know who that. I don't know that. I'm terrible with names.
It's like traditional country singer.
Okay, like hearing the music, I will know.
But you ever heard Long Hard Ride?
Yes?
Do you know the sounds a country song? Yeah, So basically the story of this song is he gets in a car. He's like trying to hitchhike down the road. He's got his guitar and on his back and he's trying to make it to Nashville. Right this this old nineteen fifties Cadillac pulls up and he gets in the car and he realizes, like something's a little different about this ride, and the dude driving is asking is like, so you're a singer, huh, well, can you make folks
cry when you play and sing? Can you? Can you play the blues?
Right?
Can you? Can you in those strings? Can you make folks feel what you feel inside? Because if you're trying to, if you're a big star bound, I'm gonna say it's a long, hard ride. That's the overall principle of it. But my point is blues is something that you have to make the folks listening feel what you're feeling in your heart. If you fake it, you are not going to be a blues player. Sorry, this is not gonna happen.
I agree, I totally agree, and I like the the whole thing about it. Definitely definitely represents blues, especially during that time as well in nineteen sixty three.
Yeah. Yeah, the recipe for the day of Kumba needs to involve molasses water. Okay, I do not like molasses. You don't like barbecue sauce.
I do like sauce, but like the It depends on the flavor of it. But like the molasses, molasses flavor is not not my geam. I'm not gonna lie.
I love the smell of it. I don't know if I don't really cook with a lot, and I got it so working at the sugar refiner like I used to, that is that's essentially what the differences between brown sugar and white sugar.
Yeah.
Right, So for anybody who doesn't know, you take raw sugar, you cook it, you boil it out, and then you separate the molasses from the white sugar, and then that white sugar gets dried out and granulated, and that is what when it's like, you know, crystallized sugar, that's all it is. There's no chemicals, there's no bleach, none of these things. You're just cooking it.
Right.
The molasses then gets extracted and it goes into a lighter and darker molasses and it gets sprayed back onto the white sugar, and that's where we get brown sugar from. That's that's all that is. But the molasses itself can also be so yeah, that's it.
Man. I feel, you know, I feel like I am intelligent until i I'm on this show and then I'm.
Like note, and most people don't know that. Most people think that brown sugar has grown a different way, and it's like no, no, it's just white sugar different.
Wait.
Honestly, I just thought it was maybe cooked slightly different, or there was like a different chemical process to it.
That's I didn't know until I started working there and then had to work on the sprayers that sprayed the molasses on the brown sugar line. I'm like, wait what, No, Like, yeah, you ever seen it the sort of light brown sugar and dark brown And I'm like, dark brown.
Yeah.
He's like, yeah, the dark brown just got sprayed three times. That's the difference. The light brown just got sprayed once. And I'm like, that's it's just molasses dipped sugar. He's like, yep, I had no idea.
Wow, well man, we just learned all sorts of knowledge tonight. Guys.
Yeah, I'd be like that, you know. I hope, I hope that the people listening to the Colt Conspiracy are all learning something along the way, you know, me and them are.
Learning together about molasses.
But again, that was what I was gonna say, is I love the smell of it. I hated fucking with it because it is so sticky and it's solidified and it's oh my god, that was the worst. Oh, especially with my beard and my long hair. If I had to work on something and something sprayed me.
Like, I'm I fucking smell really weird a lot.
I'm I'm just saying like, if I'm get sprayed with molasses, I'm going home, dude, Like, I'm not gonna sit here and let this shit just congeal and solidify. Now, I gotta go home and break a molasses chunk out of my beard in the shower later. Fuck off. So like anyway, it was so many fun memories and so many knots of fun. But that's how it is when you have
an industrial job, I suppose anyway. The next one is imani or faith to believe with all our hearts in our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. I like it. The song for reflection is keep your Head to the Sky by the ever great Earth, Wind and Fire.
Oh queen like the entire article to be pumped about this.
Yeah, and that's a great song. For the record. The thought for the Day is a poem for for My People by Margaret Walker. And today's recipes should include spicy vinegar. I have never heard of spicy vinegar.
Neither have I. But I'm actually very surprised that my Angelou isn't one of the people that they mentioned in this all her story is I don't know if people have actually looked into her entire story. Her story is insane, honestly, how she came about, everything that happened to her, how she even became a poet, and how she even became a writer. Just the entire thing start to finish was
just crazy. What she went through. I agree, and that's I actually really love my Angelou, But the I forget how or why I ended up looking into her entire background. I think my kid was doing a report on her and we did a whole deep dive on her, and I didn't even know half of the stuff that she went through, even to become the writer that she was.
Well, she was, yeah, lot of a lot of licks to get there, a very very hard ard we went through.
She went through a lot of shit. She is one tough cookie. And also she did a lot of crazy stuff, like all around the world. She was a singer. She did she performed all over the place. She had an insane background.
She had a very uh, I don't want to say iconic voice, but it definitely stood out from a crowd. So to hear that she was doing singing. I was like, you know what, I could see it.
Oh yeah, like her background and singing was she traveled all over Europe and did that and she I forget. I don't want to like misspeak because it's been a while since I read it, so, but just looking to her background of what happened to her as a child and when she lived and then when she decided to move she moved into the city, and what happened then, and then how she ended up faking her papers to be able to work, and then all this. There's a
lot of stuff that happened to her. She went through a lot of shit, and it definitely reflected in her writing. And I just loved a lot of her stuff, to be honest with.
You, agreed. And that's also why I have a real hard time hearing people whine about the situations that they find themselves in. I'm just saying, and this isn't even towards any community or anything like that. When you hear these stories of people that truly suffered and truly like persevered and pushed through and became these cultural icons and worth millions and millions and all these things, and you
see where they came from. And it's like, and I'm sorry you're bitching because because why now what you got going on?
It's it's I mean, that's but everybody deals with trauma differently. Yeah, what it deals with circumstances differently. How you're raised your own you know how you handle emotions. If you are raised with people that don't know how to handle emotions, then you don't learn how to emotionally regulate yourself. And
it depends on the situations. I mean, every person, five people could be in the same room and it all experienced the same traumatic event, and every single one of them is going to compartmentalize and handle it and have PTSD or whatever from that same traumatic event, completely different to the other four people. So I don't want to take away from people's experiences, you know, I think that there is a lot of the older generation that seems to have endured so much more.
Yeah and Putt Yeah.
I think they just had a grit to not give up. And her story is one of those. Just even listening to her first twelve years of life. Yeah, and she actually put I think it's her stepfather, her father. Oh, I can't I don't want to misspeak and that somebody one or the other one of the two sexually assaulted her and she actually spoke up I think at the age of eight twelve, eight to yeah, somewhere around there. I and she she did a lot, a lot of
things happened to her. Not just that, but she would tormented in her town because she was one of a handful of black people, if not like one of like a three or four. They own like a little gas station. Yeah and yeah, she went through a lot of things. So and then there's an interview you can watch about her going back. They actually take her back to the town where she originally was from, and she hadn't been
back in a long time. It was an interesting to watch somebody because she was all recording what she was really going through, step by step as she's seeing all of these things and talking with them through this is where I was beat up, this is where like these boys attacked me, this is what happened to me here,
and stuff like that. And then you look at her writing and what she did for the African American community, and it's just like she's just such a pioneer I think overall in for women in general, but also for the Black community.
Absolutely and agreed. I don't know why none of her writing is a part of the reflections of Kwanza.
But again I would think she, honestly it would be one of the biggest people in this because of everything that she went through. But hey, I have no idea who's making who's adding this in and stud But overall it looks like just a fun celebration. It it looks super awesome.
And again, like we said, maybe this does adjust in time. Right, Maybe every year they come out with different reflections and they posted on to the media's and the things. Maybe some of these things are exactly as they always have been. I don't know. I couldn't really find anything on that. All right, So now we are going to go to history dot Com from the History Channel to learn a
little bit more about Kwanza. All right. So, doctor Milana Karenga, professor and Chairman of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, created Kwansa in nineteen sixty six. After the Watts riots in Los Angeles, Doctor Karenga searched for ways to bring the African Americans together as a community. He founded You Are Us, a cultural organization and started to
research African first fruit harvest celebrations. Korenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of the week long holiday. Kwanza twenty twenty four, which that's when this article was listed, begins on Thursday, December twenty sixth and will last through Wednesday, January first, or of
twenty twenty five, So that was posted last year. But anyway, like we said earlier, the name Kwanza is derived from the phrase matunda Yakwanza, which means first fruits in Swahili. Each family celebrates Kwanza in its own way, but celebrations often include songs and dances, African drums, storytelling, poetry reading, and a large traditional meal. On each of the seven nights, the family gathers and a child lights one of the candles on the kenaro, which is the candle holder. Then
one of the seven principles is discussed. The principles called Naguzo Saba seven principles are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African Americans. Like we talked about. It also has seven basic symbols which represent the values and concepts reflective of African culture. An African feast called a Kamaru or Karamu rather is hailed on December thirty first, so the night before the final day, there's a massive feast that takes place.
Oh yeah.
The candle lighting ceremony each evening provides the opportunity to gather and discuss the meaning of Kwanza. The first night, the black candle in the center is lit, which is to represent the black community or the people itself, and the principle of umoja or unity is discussed. One candle is lit each evening and the appropriate principle is discussed.
So we already talked about the seven principles. And you know, as a matter of fact, here's how you pronounce that word, since people want to come as ji chagu li yahkuji kuji chaguliya, kuji chaguliyah. Okay, I did say it right. One of those times I gave like eight pronunciations. I'm sure one of those is accurate.
Hell yeah, oh man, So is it an order in which they have to because three of them are red, three of them are green.
Ye, so is it like back and forth?
Is it like all three on then all green? Like how does it go?
I don't actually know, I'm gonna be honest, although all the iconographies that I've seen of them are either all of them lit or like the three reds and the black in the middle, So I think it goes black first, red, red, red, green, green green. But earlier we saw one of these candilabras and the they were kind of stagger pattern.
So I don't actually know that I saw they were like they were. It was like red green, red green kind of a thing.
I do know that the black one is lit the first night, and that is like for sure the way that goes down, and.
That was for sure in the middle.
Yeah, So I'm but that same candilabry where was staggered, the black one was on the far end.
So I well, I mean the all the other ones that we saw in the in the little clip and the other photos were the black women is in the middle, which would make most sense to me it being in the middle. But I'm just wondering if there's any like rules around it, or you know, is this is kind of like you to decide with the way that you want to.
Do it, I honestly have no idea. But anyway, so aside from our butchering of the pronunciations here, we did already talk about the seven principles. Now let's go in on these seven symbols. So Mazao, which means the crops, which would be fruits and nuts and vegetables, symbolizes work
in the basis of the holiday. It represents the historical foundation of Kwanza, the gathering of the people that is patent or patterned after African harvest festivals, in which joy, sharing, unity, and thanksgiving are the fruits of collective planning and work. Since the family is the basic social and economic center of every civilization, the celebration bonded family members, reaffirming their
commitment and responsibility to each other. In Africa, the family may have included several generations of two or more nuclear families, as well as distant relatives. When it says nuclear families, keep in mind, depending on which section of Africa you're talking about, that can mean a lot of different things. But neither here nor there. Ancient Africans didn't care how large the family was, but there was only one leader, the oldest male of the strongest group. For this reason,
an entire village may have been composed of one family. Again, that very much varies tribe to tribe. Because there are some matriarchal tribes in Africa. We should throw that out. But per Kwanza, this is how they do it, so anyway, But there was only one leader, the oldest male of the strongest group. For this reason, the entire village may
have been composed of one family. The family was a limb of a tribe that shared common customs, cultural traditions, and political unity, and were supposedly descendant from a common ancestor. The tribe lived by traditions that provide a community or continuity and identity. Tribal laws often determine the value system laws and customs encompassing birth, adolescents, marriage, parenthood, maturity, and death,
though are through personal sacrifice and hard work. The farmers sowed seeds that brought forth new plant life to feed the people and other animals of the earth to demonstrate their Maysao celebrants of quans of place, nuts, fruits and vegetables representing work on the macheka. Speaking of the mcheka, this is what they call the place matt Okay, and it's typically a woven tapestry that is of the black
red or black red and green colors. So moving on here, the macheka made from straw or cloth comes directly from Africa and expresses history, culture and tradition. And we've talked about that too, Raven Lee. As far as from an anthropology standpoint, tapestries and how certain cloths are woven has a lot to say about the culture from which they come from.
Correct, Yeah, Yeah, it's one of those things of what they how they weave it, what types of materials they use, how they tell their stories in it, and even how the women spin the depends on like what they're they're using, but say spin spoons to silk, like you have the
whole silk trade and everything like that. But there's a whole method and tradition about how they do it, and you know, how they make some of the material in and of itself, Like way back in the day was like the women using their piss to actually help break it down and said, there's a whole tradition of how to like work it into the into the fibers and things to be able to create the tapestries or any
of you know, like kilts or things like that. That way, there's a whole like backstory to a lot of different types of tapestries and different types of clothing material and cloth and things like this, and so that it holds a lot of significant meaning in many cultures.
Absolutely, so continuing on here, it symbolizes the historical and traditional foundation for us to stand on and build our lives, because today stands on our yesterdays, just as the other symbols stands on the macheka. In nineteen sixty five, James Baldwin wrote quote for history is not merely something to be read, and it does not refer merely or even
principally to the past. On the contrary, the great force of history comes from the facts that we carry it within us are consciously controlled by it in many ways, and history is literally present in all that we do. It could scarcely be otherwise, since it is to history that we owe our frames of reference, our identities, and our aspirations. End quote. During Kwansa, we study, recall, and reflect on our history and the role we are to play as a legacy to the future. Ancient societies made
mats from straw or dried seams of rains sewed and reaped. Collectively, the weavers took the stalks and created household baskets and mets. Today we buy makeeka that are made from kintake cloth, African mudcloth, and other textiles from various areas of the African continent. The mishuma, I think that's how you pronounce mishuma, saba, the vibunzi, the mazeo, the kawate, the kikombi, chau mojo, and the knara are placed directly on the makeka. So everything that I just listed that I tried to get
the pronunciations right on. Those are those things. That's the candles, the candelabra, the corn, the cup, all these things. So we're going down that list now. But all of these items, these seven critical pieces, are all put on this mat, which is a piece in and of itself.
Okay, there is actually quite a few places to be able to buy authentic things that were made in after Africa that actually help a lot of the people. There's a lot of mission groups just it depends on what they are, but there's a lot of groups that you're able to buy from that the profits go directly to the people. I actually own several bowls that were hand woven.
I own a couple bags that were created. Some jewelry as well that went directly to these women that were struggling, that had large families and stuff, or there's something happened to their husbands and it was it's a part of the women's run missionary organization and stuff, and that's one
way to help a lot of African people. They have a lot of different types of organizations and being able to buy this stuff directly from them instead of buying a third party or you know, created in China and slapped a label on it saying, hey, this is authentic when it's not.
I will say, if you're going to buy something from Africa directly, do your research and make sure that you're not buying it from an African version of a sweatshop, because that absolutely does take place as well. But there are, to Ravenlee's point, real organizations that are out there to put this money where it actually belongs, rather than into the pocket of the quote unquote nonprofit that's paying their workers actual pennies. It's a mess.
There's actually some people on social media too that you can find that have real organizations that are from there, that live there and that do support the one woman that has the orphanage where she has my god, I think it's like sixty people, sixty children pretty much. I mean it's girls like twenty one and under that she supports. She was also a child bride and was raped and had all this different stuff happen to her, and she
ended up having several kids of her own. Her entire story is insane, Like she has an entire village she's pretty much created just for women refugees, but it's actually mainly children. To be honest with you, I mean, I consider a sixteen year old still a child. But she's one of those people. And they create a ton of textiles and different things like that that people are able
to buy from. So if people are looking for a way to help at least children or anything like that, I suggest going and do your due diligence and research.
Absolutely. Next on the table on the mat would be the the Bunzi ear of corn corn and this put a pin in for later y'all, just so we're clear. The stalk of corn represents fertility and symbolizes that through the reproduction of children, the future hopes of the family are brought to life. One ear is called abunzi and two or more ears is called mahindi. Each ear symbolizes a child in the family, and thus one ear is placed on the makeka for each child in the family.
If there are no children in the home, two ears are still set on the makeeka. Because each person is responsible for the children of the community. During Kwanzam, we take the love and nurturance that was heaped on us as children and selflessly return it to all children, especially
the helpless, homeless, loveless ones in our community. Thus, the Nigerian proverb it takes a whole village to raise a child is realized in this symbol, since raising a child in Africa was a community affair involving the tribal village as well as the family. Good habits of respect for self and others, discipline, positive thinking, expectations, compassion, empathy, charity, and self direction are learned in childhood from parents, from peers,
and from experiences. Children are essential to Kwanzam for they are the future, the seed bearers that will carry cultural values and practices into the next generation. For this reason, children are cared for communally and individually within a tribe, a tribal village. The biological family was ultimately responsible for raising its own children, but every person in the village was responsible for the safety and welfare of all the children. Okay, I like that.
I like that a lot, and that's interesting to use corn, though I wouldn't have thought that that is inherent to fertility.
Not just to fertility, but to Africa. I'm not gonna start poking holes in that.
We're going to get into it, but I'm just specifically fertility. I wouldn't think that's not the first yeah vegetable that I would think that is out of pocket for fertility. Just I thought that was an interesting choice for that representation.
But I do actually like the entire thing that they talked about because it does take a whole village to raise child, well, it should take a village, and that's where I think Americans are going really off the beaten path, awry from what it takes to actually be fulfilling the children's needs.
So I agree, and yeah, it's it's just it's the symbol itself and what it represents. I do like corn would not have been a choice that I made if it's an African American holiday, but again put a pin in it. We're gonna talk about it here in a bit anyway, Okay. Masumba or Mashumah Saba the seven candles, and we talked about this earlier here. The candles are ceremonial objects with two primary purposes to recreate symbolically, the
sun's power and to provide light. The celebration of fire through the candle burning is not limited to one particular group or country. It occurs everywhere. Masuma Saba are seven candles, three red, three green, one black. The black candle symbolizes the unity, the basis of the success, and is lit on December twenty sixth, the first night. The three green candles representing Nia, Ujima and Imani are placed to the on the or Yeah placed to the right of Emoja candle. Okay,
so there is an order of precedence order. Yeah, Okay, we learn it together, good cult members, while the three red candles representing Kuji, Chakuliyah, Yeah, Ujama and Kumba are placed on the left of it during Kwanza. During Kwanza, I think it's supposed to be one candle represents one principle is lit each day, then the other candles are relt to give off more light and vision. The number of candles burning also indicate the principle that is being celebrated.
The illuminating fire of the candles is a basic element of the universe, and every celebration and festival includes fire in some form. It's very true. Fire's mystique, like the sun, is irresistible and can destroy or create with its mesmerizing, frightening, mystifying power. Mishu Masaba symbolics. Colors are from the red, black and green flag Bendhara created by Marcus Carvey. The
colors also represent African gods. Red is the color of Shango, the Euroba god of fire, thunder and lightning, who lives in the clouds and sends down his thunderbolt whenever he is angry or offended. It also represents the struggle for self determination and freedom by people of color. Black is the people the earth, the source of life, representing hope, creativity, and faith, and denoting messages than the opening and closing
of the doors. Green, since the earth that sustains our lives and provides hope, divination, employment, and the fruits of the harvest. So there we go.
Okay, So as long as they have the candles, doesn't matter what order they burn it in, as long as it's the amount of burning candles for which principle I think so.
But it did say that there was this on this side and this on the other side, So yeah.
So, I mean, it just seems to me, I think they're going to burn one side then the other. But I guess maybe to each their own.
You know, maybe they go left right, maybe they stagger it. I don't know, you know. All right, So next canara, which is the candle holder itself, the candelabra, if you will. The canar is the center of the Kwanza setting and represents the original stalk from which we came our ancestry. The canar can be can be shaped straight lines, semicircles, or spirals. You know, a spiral worm will look pretty dope. As long as these seven candles are separate and distinct
like a candlelabra. Canaras are made from all kinds of materials, and many celebrants create their own from fallen branches, wood, or other natural materials. The kannara symbolize the ancestors who were once earthbound, understand the problems of human life and are willing to protect their progeny from danger, evil and mistakes or progeny, I should say. In African festivals, the ancestors are remembered and honored. The mishu masaba are placed
in the canara. Okay, now we get to the Unity Cup, the Kikombe che Umaja Unity Cup, the Kacombe che Umaja, and that's the last time I'm going to say from this point or I'm just gonna call it. Unity Cup is a special cup that is used to perform the libation or tombiko ritual during the Cokaramu feast on the sixth day of Kwanza. In many African societies, libation are poured for the living dead, whose souls stay with the
earth they tilled. The Ebo of Nigeria believe that the drink that to drink the last portion of a libation is to invite the wrath of the spirits and the ancestors. Consequently, the last part of the libation belongs to the ancestors. During the Kamaru feasts or Karamu feast, the Unit cup is passed to family members and guests who drink from
it to promote unity. Then the eldest person presents present poors the libation, usually water, juice, or wine, in the direction of the four winds north, south, east, and west to honor the ancestors. The eldest asks the gods and ancestors to share in the festivities and in return to bless all the people who are not at the gathering. After asking for the blessing, the elder pours the libation
on the ground and the group says Amen okay. Large quansa gatherings may operate just a communion service in most churches, for which it is common for celebrants to have individual cups and to drink the libation together as a sign
of unity. Several families may have a cup that is specifically for the ancestors, and everyone else has his or her own, and the last few ounces of the libation are poured into the cup four of the hosts of hosts or hostess, who SIPs it and then hands it to the oldest person in the group, who asks for the blessing. Okay, so.
The only thing I thought about was one for the homies.
The same but I didn't want to say it because okay, with a Quansa celebration and that seems yeah a bit.
I'm sorry, but I was just thinking about how, like, you know, everybody leaves that little bit in the bottom of the cup and like, you know, pour it out for one for the homies kind of thing, and I was like, fuck, I don't want to be that person. But like, also, are we all thinking when we were listening to that, because that's definitely what I thought about.
That is absolutely what I thought about when I was reading this. So basically, pouring one out for the homies doesn't only go back to just cultural things. That's a Quansa thing. So here we are, we've been celebrating Kwanza and we didn't even know it. I guess it's a joke. That's a joke, y'all, Calm down, calm down, But yeah, apparently you're supposed to pour some out to all the four wins. Then they all as they're talking about to the gods, then they say amen. Thought that was kind
of interesting, but again, hey why not? Why not? You know, next is Zawati and this would be the gifts when we celebrate Amani on the seventh day of Kwanza, we give meaningful zawati, which is gifts to encourage growth, self determination, achievement and success. We exchange gifts with members of our immediate family, especially the children, to promote or reward accomplishments
and commitments kept, as well as with our guests. Handmade gifts are encouraged to promote self determination, purpose and creativity and to avoid the chaos of shopping and conspicuous consumption during the December holiday season. Respect a family may spend the year making kenaros a or may create cards, dolls, or makeekas to give to their guests. Accepting a gift implies a moral obligation to fulfill the promise of the gift. It obliges the recipient to follow the training of the host.
The gift cements social relationships, allowing the receiver to share the duties and the rights of a family member. Accepting a gift makes the receiver part of the family and promotes umoja. So there we have. This is basically the over under of the kowanza.
Which it came from a book. At the very end it said that it came from the actual book.
Yeah, this is an excerpt from the book The Complete Quansa Celebration or Celebrating Our Cultural Harvest from copyright nineteen ninety five by Dorothy Wimbush Riley.
That's interesting, so they added new stuff into it if it came if the majority came from the excerpt of nineteen ninety five, then they added in newer relevant stuff from twenty fifteen, twenty ten. So maybe it is shifting and changing with the culture.
Nothing about this talked about recipes, talked about songs, talked about it, talked about how there was reading, and there was dances and songs and stuff, but it didn't give like specific songs to reflect on or excerption, specific authors and things like this. So it's very bay.
This is the basis, Like, this is the basis of what they do, Like this is what we celebrate and how we celebrate. And then what we read earlier was the more modern interpretation of how to continuously grow it and keep it within the culture and shift it as time goes on.
Very possibly could be it. So now we get to the darker side of Kwansa. All right, and I'm gonna say this, this was the nicer article that I could find to talk about this. The person who founded Kwanza. Although there was a lot of great things that this gentleman accomplished, there was some controversy surrounding him. I found an article from a HBC if anybody doesn't know, historically Black college who basically was shitting on Kwanza as being
completely fake. He even pointed out the fact that why is corn on the altar? Corn is not even indigenous to Africa? Like why why would you have that on an African celebration thing like this? And like you had mentioned, Raven, I don't understand why corn is used as the fertility thing of all the things, Why wouldn't you choose eight like yams that is from Africa and you can find those in America and put it on that. I don't, I don't know, I don't know.
It just seemed like an odd to me. When I think of fertility, I don't think of corn. But you know that's just me.
I mean corn was It's only indigenous to one spot on Earth, and that's North America, and I guess you could say South America too, but more specifically the Latin American section. I don't, I don't know why that is what's being used. But at the same time, it's not about the item itself. It is about what it symbolizes, and at that point, it could be any arbitrary thing that they decide to use for Kwansa to you know, be the identifying marker. So why not, corn, I guess it's whatever right now.
Sure, pomegranates make more sense.
But okay, you know, but that's that's a Greek thing that you're talking about right now. I know it's a great thing, and to some honey would have seemed like a much better option, right to some you know, wine, I who know.
It's gonna say grapes.
Grapes make a lot of sense. I don't know. I don't know why they decided to go with that, but that is what they decide to go with.
There is a darker side to this, and hopefully this doesn't detract from the positive, says Kwanza. But also, you know, when we we are talking about celebrations, we are digging into all the different sides and how people are celebrating in the history of these things. So I hope this shedding light on this darker side that you're gonna tell us about isn't going to be taken poorly.
By people. It shouldn't be because this is not Jacob's opinion and it shouldn't and nothing about what we're about to talk about should take away from all of the really cool things we just learned about Kwansa. Okay, that being said, keep in mind in nineteen sixty six, take a little mental walk about what was going on during this timeframe. Right civil rights was going on, The Black
Panther Party was being pushed heavily. And then your guy here, the good doctor that created Kwanza, He developed US, which was seen as the counterbalance to the Black Panther Party. One of them predominantly carried weapons, had a very They were trying to be an intimidating force. The other was not. The US movement was trying to be a communal and family gathering type of situation to be seen as a
very positive thing for the community as a whole. With that being said, it's understood that he was also an FBI plant. That should that what Krenga was absolutely an FBI plant, and that's been confirmed. But there's there's backstories to this because the Black Panthers at this time also had plants that were on their side of things to
try to see if these were homegrown terrorist organizations or not. Right, And again, you gotta keep mind in sixty six, the government was looking for anything they could start pointing the finger out and saying, Ah, that's the bad guy. You see what I'm saying here. Yeah, So we're gonna skip ahead a little bit because the author kind of goes into his own personal take on this, but you know, we'll pick up here it says, you know what not.
I discovered Kwanza while attending Pomona College, separated for the first time from my family in the black Pentecostal church I had attended at least three times a week. I craved black culture. There were fewer than ten African American students in my cohort, and I felt culturally isolated. Soul food launches offered through the Office of Black Student Affairs or a weekly source of comfort. Then I was introduced to the year in celebration that had been created for
black people by a black man. Muallana Kurenga unveiled Kwansa in nineteen sixty six to fill the gaps where the US had failed African Americans. Set against the backdrop of the Civil rights movement, The seven day celebration urged African American communities to define and uplift themselves. Kurenga designed seven principles. We already talked about them. The unity, self determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative opera, economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Each principle correlated to a specific day and symbol to be celebrated. December twenty sixth to January first. Kwansa beckons us to the heights of our humanity, petitioning us to imagine ourselves and our communities in ways white American culture can and will not okay. Kwanto was attracted particularly because it was fubu for us by us, a cultural celebration that was distinctly ours, untainted by white supremacy. It was
an annual reminder that hashtag black lives matter. Before the hashtag emerged, it felt pristine until I suddenly it was suddenly sullied for me. Two years ago, more than a decade after college, I was commissioned to write about the history of Kwanza. That's when I learned that Korenga had been convicted of heinous felonies, though he denied the allegations. In nineteen seventy, he and three other members of the US Organization, a black nationalist group based in la imprisoned
and assaulted two female members of their own organization. Trial testimony revealed that the women had been whipped with cords, beaten with batons, seared with irons while naked in an effort to elicit confessions that they were conspiring against him. Those confessions never Materie realized. Karenga served a few years in prison and later went to get his doctorate and teach.
So now, wow, okay, yeah, Like I said, he went on and did a lot of amazing things for the black community, and I'm not taken away from that, but at that time, he in nineteen seventy, when this court case was finally heard, and justice, I don't believe justice was served personally, because this is the kindest version of this story that I could find.
It's the not kind version. I mean, clearly, I mean beaten, assaulted these women for glad knows how many days.
It Some say it was an evening, some say it was days. Some say there was other types of assault that was done. Some say that that's all propaganda. I you know. So essentially, here's the layout here, and I'm not giving you the context to diminish the atroses this guy committed to these two innocent women. But here's the backstory. The Black Panthers had already put out a hit on him at this point, and allegedly he had retaliated by putting a hit out on a couple of these other
individuals from the Black Panthers. What I'm saying right now cannot be cooperated. It really really depends on the source you look into. But we know for sure that the FBI was watching him, and the FBI was watching the Black Panthers. This is before he was a confirmed FBI plant. At this point in time, he was still, as you know, as much of a brother of the movement as anybody. And this was after he found a Kwanza. Keep that
in mind. He found it in sixty six. In seventy is when he did these things.
Loss of shit.
Yeah, Well, he knew that the FBI was watching him. There was also some letters written to him by some quote unquote anonymous sources telling him he needs to calm down, very similar to how Martin Luther King Jr. Got some letters written to him from the FBI. So he was making enough waves to where the government took notice. And these two women, who were also loyal followers of him and the US organization, they thought were FBI spies and
they were torturing them to get confessions. There was nothing to confess. These women had no ties to the FBI. And he was a bit crazy for this one after he got out of jail, A bit, a lot, a lot. These women were beaten, like most of the reports I find would say within an inch of their lives, they were, and they were whipped. They were beaten with batons, not like little twigs, not like a switch like, No, with sticks, like with proper closet dowels. Bones are broken, hair was
ripped out. I've heard possible rape. I don't know. I don't know, because again it depends on the source. But like I said, this is the kindest account that I could find on the internet. And we didn't need to bring it up because later on Karrenga himself did in fact work for the FBI. Perhaps that was a part of the plea deal to why he only served a few years in prison for this.
I mean I could see it. I could see them coming to him and being like, hey, look, you have to serve something because on paper, we have to make it look like there's some justice was served and now you're in our pocket.
Which he later on did help the FBI try to wrangle in and shut down certain chapters of the Black Panther Party, which was no skin off of his nose because he hated the Black Panthers anyway. So turning snitch to go against your already enemy and you get off with a way lesser sentence. I think he only served like three years for these two assaults. Wow.
Yeah, So maybe somebody better could like revitalize Kwansee name it something else.
Well, you know it is revitalized, if nothing else. People are still celebrating. It's somewhere. Some estimates are saying twelve million people every year celebrated. So although this guy did some crazy, heinous shit, it didn't take away from all of the amazing things that we talked about that Kwanza represents for the community itself. Right, the author continues to say, my stomach lurches I read about the trial and his conviction. Kurengo has found guilty of violence against black women. How
could Quansa's inventor be that person? What did it mean about the celebration I had embraced. Why did no one talk about his history? And I couldn't help but wonder if Karenga's history was elighted because Kwansa's viability was deemed more important than Black women's safety. The discovery felt like a personal loss and a loss for black culture, and it left me with a dilemma to embrace Kwansa or not.
In ways, it's similar to the dilemma faced by those who admire the work of an artist who have been accused of a sexual assault or harassment in the hashtag me too era, should we continue to admire the work of a person who has done unconscious ofble things. Last year, the author did not celebrate Kuwansa. But this year I will again light the candles every night starting December twenty sixth. Kwansa's originator may have a dark side, but the holiday itself is a beacon. My yearning for it is a
sign that it fulfills its goals. It reminds African Americans of their crucial connection to each other. I have to agree with that, and I'm not saying that this is the same as like the hashtag me too, movement, like especially like listening to p Ditty's music. Now knowing things about Diddy, No, I can't listen to his music anymore.
It resonates different for me personally. But that's also because nothing that, nothing of his music resonated with my soul to a level that was like filling a void or anything like. It was just you know, something to bobbyr
Head too, as you're driving down the road. It's not a big loss for me for Kwanza, for anybody who does celebrate Kwanza, it shouldn't take away from the communal grouping, right and for all these seven principles, which again going down the list of these seven principles is something that everybody of every race, of every socioonomic background, for with every religion, whatever. If you apply these to your life, you will be a better person as a result. I think we can all agree with that.
I do you agree with her when she said that? I think that is very true, at least to the principles of it. I don't know if I personally, if I was of African American background, if I would want to participate in a holiday in which he actually harmed black women and to that level, and that hate like, yeah, to be that that horrible. I don't know personally if I would want to celebrate something that's attached to that person.
But I mean, to each your own and the I mean, the holiday itself sounds fantastic in everything that we've read. But I don't know if I wanted to associate myself with something like that.
That's just me. I get it. I get it. But again, the author says, I decided that hating Coranga's crimes didn't or Kerenga's crimes didn't mean abandoning the good that he accomplished. The US Organization or the US Organization's nineteen sixties petitions for black study courses in US colleges and universities is one reason those classes existed for me to take in college. His emphasis on Ujama cooperative economics the fourth principle is
why I quote unquote by black whenever possible. Quanta calls on African Americans to see one another and uplift one another, something we particularly need right now. It beckons us to the heights of our humanity, petitioning us to imagine ourselves in our communities in ways white American culture cannot and will not. We need to acknowledge Kerenga's full story, but it shouldn't tarnish the value and beauty of the holiday that promotes collective action for the collective good.
And so it's truly I think it's well written, yeah, and and holds really good points. So I mean, I think it's just a personal choice for whoever actually participates in Kwanzaah, I do agree that you know, this does help their community and help strengthen it. And yeah, I think it's great. I agree the holiday. Let me let me refreeze the holiday.
Right right right, And I mean other articles that I've found that were shitting on Korenga himself, although it's deserved, one hundred percent deserved, they also decided to take jabs at Kwansa as a holiday and basically say that it's all fake, it's all made up. He just stole something from this group and this group and threw it together. Why is corn on the table? Why we got jewish looking candles? And it was and also written by black authors.
I should mention, but I didn't want that to be the vibe as they're talking about Kwanza, because there are so many awesome things about this holiday. But I also
couldn't especially how this is the cult of conspiracy. We do need to mention the fact that Krenga was working with the FBI after his arrest for the assault on two women that he thought was FBI agents, which again, if you want to do your own research into the incident itself, this was the kindest quotes that I could find, for it goes as far as your imagination wants it
to go, depending on the author. And he absolutely was an FBI plant designated to help them shut down factions of the Black Panther Party which went against the Black culture. And so it's as talking about the cult of conspiracy here. There were some absolute conspiratorial connections on this, but Kwansa itself, as far as I can tell, as not anything of
the conspiratorial nature. It is something of a non religious, cultural cultural holiday, and I think it does in fact reach out to the best of the community, and I like it. I do anyway. Next Good Cult Members, we are going to be talking about Christmas across Native America and we are going to talk about some more more obscure tribes on the next episode. But for this one, Raven Lee actually did a little bit of research into these.
This is this kind of just a general overview of just kind of how Christmas is celebrated in Native American tribes, kind of like how it came about. It's it's not a super deep dive there, you know, there was a lot of information if we dove relled deep into it, right of some of the different things and aspects that they do. But overall, a lot of people don't celebrate Christmas in the same sense, obviously because it is a Christian holiday, and how Christianity was kind of forced fed
down their throats by not everyone. You know, some people converted wanting you know, wanting to convert themselves, but a lot of them their traditions were erased and eradicated for sure, and they suffered a lot, you know, so they aren't really keen on celebrating Christmas in and of itself, but Winter Solstice is more or less what they've always celebrated, you know, seeing with a lot of cultures around the world, and so the Smithsonian there was like several Native Watch
McCall it websites and they all kind of reference back to this particular article over and over again. So I was like, you know what, I'll just pull up the actual Smithsonian article instead of just you know, keep referencing back and forth to it.
So no doubt way, they're so pretty and I love their earrings. Yeah, I will say, And this is not my taking an opportunity to take a jab at the Catholics. But hear me out here. If you listen back to our Thanksgiving episode and we talked about King Phillip's War, there were Iroquois that or Iroquois that became uh, praying Indians. They were Indians that were not forced converted. They converted out of their own free will, and they were welcomed
with open arms by the settlers. This being said, there is at least as far as American history is concerned, there is a clear dividing line between which groups forced conversions i e. The Jesuits at the schoolhouses that the Native children were forced to go to, and the Puritans and Protestants, and how they converted the native population. One of these was through kindness, and one of these was at gunpoint. Do your own history to find out who did what. I'm just gonna say, we can't lump all
of them into the same grouping. But yes to your point, raven Lee. Some of them were, some of them were very much of their own fruition, some of them very much were not. That is absolutely a fact, all right. So reading in from the Smithsonian magazine here. For the last few years, Native friends have shared their Christmas plans and traditions with Smithsonian voices. This year we have updated
the story with new photographs and quotes. The introduction of Christianity to the Americans and the origins of Christmas can be controversial to native circles. Europeans knowingly replaced native people's existing spiritual beliefs with the beliefs taught in the Bible, cruelly and brutally often accompanied or cruelty and brutality rather often accompanied this introd indoctrination. Yet it is also true that some tribes, families, and individuals embrace the Bible and
Jesus teachings voluntarily. This complicated history is reflected here. All throughout Indian country, native people have gathered in churches, missions, and temples to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ by singing carols and hymns in their native language. In some churches, the story of Jesus Birth is recited in native languages. That's cool. Some Native churches also host Nativity plays using Natives settings and actors to reenact the birth of Jesus
Christ among Catholics. Christmas Eve Mass traditionally begins in Indian communities at midnight and extends into the early hours of Christmas Day. In Tippis Hogans and houses, the Native American Church, or the NAC, members also hold Christmas Services ceremonies that begin on Christmas Eve and go all night until Christmas morning. And I will say this about the NAC. They may hold true to Christian beliefs, but they still blend them
with their ancestral Native customs and cultures. For instance, the sharing of communal peyote. Even though the NAC is a Christian denomination. When they do their massive like things, everybody, including the small children will get their spoonful of peyote. So keep in mind, they're still holding true to their traditions as much as they can. So that's good things. Let's see. Continuing on, music played in an important part in converting Native people, establishing their practice of worship, and
teaching them how to celebrate the Christmas season. Perhaps the earliest North American Christmas Carol was written in the why a dote y undot language of the Huron winded people. Okay, Jesus, Jesus ahtaniah Yeah, Jesus.
He is born. This is why I didn't want to read it.
Yeah, thanks Dick. Popularly known as Noel Huron or the Huron Carol, is said by oral traditions to have been written in sixteen forty three by the Jesuit priest Jean de bre beauf Okay. In contemporary times, traditional powow singing groups have rearranged Christmas songs to appeal to native audiences. I do love powow music, like the drums in.
The same fantastic. I have a girlfriend of mine that I think lives in Wyoming, and she she's high, like her family's high up, and I believe in a tribe. But she makes traditional moccasins for all different sizes, mainly she makes them for children, and her daughter just went to her first powowt and oh my god, it's so cute.
I love it.
But I have actually quite a few friends that are Native, and I just absolutely think that all of their different tribes are so fascinating and they have some of the best culture, and I just love listening to their dances and the way they sing and everything that they do is so awesome.
Shoot, I want to go. I want to get some moccasins.
I mean, if you're you, I don't know if you're recognized by the tribe, but if.
You are, you can. You have to be recognized. My money ain't green enough, asshole.
You have to be recognized by the tribe. You have to have your certification to be able to attend a powow.
Oh no, no, not to attend a pow wow, to participate, you got to, but you can show up as a spectator. Oh I'm not trying to participate. I don't know the dances of the songs, the language, any of that stuff. But no, just to own a pair of moccasins and wear them around the house like loafers. She I've found some by Oneida and these are traditionally made the same way that the Oneida tribe made them. But they're so expensive.
Harrison Ford consistently wears a pair. If you ever see him out and about in town, and he's wearing these moccasins. That's this one brand, And I.
Want one honestly, I honestly could probably reach out to her and ask her and like, you know, commission her for him, because her beadwork is so phenomenal. Oh my gosh, oh I love looking and she did these really cool ones for her daughter for the pow Wow Yeah, and it's such intricate little details in the bead work. It's absolutely awesome.
Okay, So yeah, I wouldn't want anything with the bead work because it's sitting for pow wow us. This is for like me, like hunting in the woods or walking around the house or something like that. It would be like as bare bones they come so like perhaps, oh.
Yeah, but she, yeah, she does that. And then actually one of my best friends, one of my honestly, she probably is my oldest best friend. Actually she is Native
American and she actually she made the traditional board. So when she had her baby, she one of her kids, they actually did like the whole ceremonies and all this stuff for her being pregnant and her now ex but he is like high up in the tribe itself, and she brought over because our kids were only like a few months apart, and she brought over the actual like backpack, the traditional wearing and stuff, and she showed me how to do all the laces and how how it is,
and she gave me all sorts of like so she actually, you know, I got to use it and pack around my kidne it and stuff, and it was it was really cool. It was It's really cool to learn about stuff, and I constantly am asking questions and like, what does this to, what's this? Yeah, it's it's really awesome to be able to have people that are close to me that have such rich cultures and be able to learn so many different backgrounds of people.
Absolutely. Continuing on to the article, it says a humorous example is War Scouts n d N Twelve Days of Christmas from their album Red Christmas. Native solo artists also performed Christmas classics in native languages. Ronda Head Cree, for example, has recorded Old Oh, Holy Night, and johna mashby Lumbee and tuscarro roh Yeah has recorded Winter Wonderland in a jibway. Oh,
that's kind of cool. Native communities host traditional trap dances, round dances, and powwows on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, all among the Pueblo Indians of the Southwest, special dances take place, such as Buffalo eagle, antelope, turtle, and harvest dances. Well that's cool to see, right. The eight Northern Pueblos
of New Mexico perform Los Mati Mada Chinez. Yeah, a special dance drama mixing North American, Moorish, Spanish and Pueblo cultures, which takes place on Christmas Eve along with a pine torch procession. Ah, I bet that thing go up. Oh wow, there's a lot of really cool pictures here too. For Native artisans, this is traditionally the busy season as they
prepare special Christmas gift items. Artists and crafts people across the country create beadwork, woodwork, jewelry, clothing, basketry, pottery, sculptures, paintings, leather work and featherwork for special Christmas sales and art
markets that are open to the public. For seventeen years, the National Museum of the American Indian annually holds It's a Native Art Market in New York and Washington a few weeks before Christmas, which I got to say, when we went to DC, I'm so pissed that the government was still shut down. We couldn't go because that's one of my favorite museums.
Oh yeah, that you were going to get all those Smithsonians. Yeah, that's all.
I mean, We're gonna have to make another trip one day, I know, in order.
We have the tribes in Washington and so a lot of them come down and they sell at different markets and stuff. I have, actually, I think of worn one set already on the colt but I have quite a few earring sets that are handbeaded, beautiful earrings, because I just I love them and I want to support the community.
So absolutely. In many communities and homes, Christian customs are interwoven with Native culture as a means of expressing Christmas in a uniquely native way. The importance of giving is a cultural tradition among most tribes. Even in times of famine and destitution, Native people have made sure their families, the old, and orphans were taken care of. This mindset prevails into the present. Gift giving is appropriate whenever a tribal,
social or ceremonial gathering takes place. You know, that's actually very important to all the native tribes. As a matter of fact. Most famously, when the Irish potato famine took place, the Choctaw Tribe sent Ireland five hundred dollars. That was all they could afford to give at that moment. There is a massive monument to the Choctaw Nation in Ireland
right now. It's five feathers and when I say massive, like they're huge metal feathers that are up And basically the Choctaw tribe knew nothing of Ireland, but they heard through the grapevine that there was a potato famine and that these people were starving to death. So they pulled a collection of whatever they could and sent five hundred dollars to Ireland to help.
I didn't even know that. That's crazy, especially five hundred dollars back then. Yeah, that's so much money. And for them to not even know them or have any part of them, especially everything that was going on, that's so kind to do that. I didn't even know that. That's I would love to see that.
I am very proud of my choctawl heritage if anybody didn't know, and it's not a lot I'm not. I don't have like the card, although I think I could get it like a little Member of the Choctaw Nation identification card, but I haven't gone through the process yet. But but yeah, they're If you look at the Choctaw history, it's really cool. And their story of the original vampire, which is where mosquitoes come from, it's a really cool story.
But anyway, honestly, I didn't, I haven't. I don't know how much Blackfoot we have in us, so I'm I'm gonna have to reach out to family members and see. But I guess according to you, I don't know a bunch about Blackfoot, But according to you, apparently we're a little bit salty.
It looks a little bit shit. They're known as one of the if not the meanest tribe. Take that with whatever grain assault you need, you know.
What I'm here for it.
I'm about to say what you're You're gonna come combat me on this?
Oh no, I'm like, if I have more in me than I thought, like, first off, okay, that's pretty cool. Second off, I am not pissed that, like potentially, however much I have in me, the tribe that I come from is like some survely bastards that like to like some warfare. That's just you know, shocking. I don't. I don't know how I ever came about that.
Now, yeah, I don't know. I also got a little bit of hacksaw on me. We cut anything anyway, moving on. In the same way, traditional native foods are prepared, I couldn't resist. And this is dumb. It's funny. It's funny.
You do you feel good about you?
I do?
I do? I actually I feel real good about yourself.
You know, you gotta make the jokes when you can,
you know. In the same way, traditional native food foods are prepared for this special occasion, salmon, wileye, shellfish, moose, venison, elk, mutton, geese, duck, rabbit, wild rice, collar, greens, squash, pine nuts, corn soup, red and green chili, stews, bread pudding, pueblo bread, peky bread, bannock or fry bread, tortillas, berries, roots, and native teas are just a few of That's not just a few, that's a whole list of the things that come to mind.
Individual tribes and Indian organizations sponsor Christmas dinners for their elders and communities prior to Christmas. Tribal service groups and warrior societies visit retirement homes and shelters provide meals for their tribe members on Christmas day. Hell, yeah, that's awesome. Many tribes begin their Christmas meal by putting out a feast plate or spirit dish for loved ones who passed away.
As a special Christmas day of feasting. A prayer is rendered and food offerings are placed outside of the home on a plate or in the sacred fire for relatives who are no longer with us. The respect is that you allow your remembrances those who have passed to eat first. Many are experience or yeah, many are experiencing their first Christmas without a loved one. Wow. Alternatively, some natives do not celebrate Christmas, but use this seasonal opportunity to celebrate
the winter solstice. Yet others in northern plains are honoring their relatives with a memorial horse ride called Dakota thirty eight plus two. On December twenty sixth, eighteen sixty two, at Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in Dakota Country, thirty eight Dakota men were hung all at once. This Yeah, I remember reading about this. This is the largest recorded mass execution
in US history. And how Some natives in the Minnesota, Mni Soda and the Dakotas observe this time of year each December tenth, riders set out to traverse three hundred and thirty miles between Lower Brulai South Dakota and conclude on December twenty sixth in monk Mankato, Minnesota. Okay, wow, so yeah, Abe Lincoln basically gave the go ahead on
this mass execution in eighteen sixty two. There's some controversy around it, and I'm not you could look into it if anybody's curious, But yeah, these thirty eight men were mass hung all at the same time. There was actually special gallows that were made. Few hundred the.
Two hundred people were arrested and then he chose he picked like thirty eight out of the two hundred and eighteen or something like that. Yeah, and then those were the ones.
Okay, yep, yep, that's what I thought. We just talked about that a couple episodes ago. I'm not mistaken.
That was on the Thanksgiving episode. Yep, marifion that so I was like, I know, this story I just interesting. It's really cool though, how they take everything to their elderly and the retirement homes, and I like that. I like all the other traditions of culture or cultures that celebrate their loved ones that have passed with setting out of food or setting a prayer, lighting candles or something
like that. I've always thought that was such a wonderful thing to do and be able to remember your loved ones that were here at one point.
Yeah. Absolutely, And I mean hell, even the veteran community does that, right If any any chowh or any veteran gathering, or or any veteran organizational gathering, you'll see the table set out, the lemon, the salt, the plate, the pow n I A like. That's that's the thing that a lot of cultures, specifically warrior cultures do to acknowledge those that are not with us. So I get down on the Catholics do that.
No, No, the Christians don't either, don't they not?
Really? Per Christian liturgy, you wouldn't set anything out for your loved one that's not there, because your loved one is seen to be in a better place where they have no want for food or drink or anything like that. But again, talking about war your cultures and societies like this, or those that honor the spirits of their loved ones that have passed, it's a thing that you'll see for sure.
Interesting.
According to the Urban Indian Health Commission, nearly seven out of every ten American Indians and Alaska Natives. I don't know why they would put those as different things, but okay, two point eight million people live in or near cities that and that number is growing. During the Christmas holidays, many urban Natives travel back to their families, reservations, and
communities to reconnect and reaffirm tribal bonds. They open presents and have big family meals like any other American Christian. This year we ask our native friends how important is Christmas to you? Here are some answers preceded by the locations that they were submitted from net.
So this is what I was talking about. So this talks about it's people from different parts of the country and they kind of just share light of if they celebrate or not. I don't know if you really want to read into that, but it's just different places that kind of Some of them say that family is important, some of them say that they don't celebrate at all. Some of them say that Christmas is for the children.
You know, it just depends on where it's at. So that's kind of the end of what I was going to put on that article.
Okay, I mean we don't really have to dig into it if you don't want to, but I mean it does go.
Yeah, I mean you can. It's just it's just different people talking about their different family experiences. It's not like speaking for the entire tribe of each location.
So yeah.
And I guess that's also they'd be like asking a group of you know, people from all over the country how they celebrate Christmas. You're going to get a wide variety of.
Answers, right, I mean, hell, like as one street just just in town, like in a subdivision, as one single street, how do you celebrate Christmas? Every single person is going to say something different.
Yeah, So I guess it's really good living test of how Native tribesmen celebrate.
Its kind of why. I just you know, it's just there's people that are like one reservation is in Idaho, ones in like Colorado, and it's just one particular person's opinion on it. And I just felt like it wasn't really representing each tribe into the fullest.
So yeah, And it's it's not like that it says like if this person holds some sort of position of power within the tribe or on the rest.
Just random people that submitted their their knowledge in Yeah yeah, so we.
Could bypass that all right, So now we are going to shift over to Native News online warrior journalism defending tribal sovereignty. Hell yeah, Okay, the winter Solstice begins a season of storytelling and ceremony. Okay.
At this website has so much good information and a lot of good articles about Native American practices, about their culture, what's happening with them right.
Now, what they've been through.
It's really a very informative website.
Hell yeah, I like it. So in the northern hemisphere, December twenty first will be the year's day of least sunlight, when the sun takes its lowest, shortest path across the sky north of the Arctic Circle. It will be the midpoint of the period of darkness when even twilight doesn't reach the horizon as we did before the solar eclipse in August. This December, we ask our Native friends to share traditions they've heard about Winter Solstice. Their answers highlight
winter as a time of storytelling. Interesting, So this is actually written from what I could tell in twenty seventeen. So this is from the Ajibwe, Minnesota Chippewa Chippewa tribe. Yeah. This description of winter in many Native communities was prepared by the Indian Land Tenure Foundation Lessons of Our Land as background for teachers. Very good. Like many events in American Indian culture, there is a proper time and place for all activities. Traditional storytelling is reserved for the winter
months for many tribes. This was a practice choice given the fact that during the other seasons people were busy growing, gathering, and hunting food. It was in the winter, with the long dark evenings, the snow and wind blowing outside, that telling stories was a way to entertain and teach the children. Another reason is that many traditional stories contain animal characters.
To be respectful, people waited until the winter when the animals hibernate or become less active, so they cannot hear themselves being talked about.
Okay, hell yeah, I thought that was super cute. I was like, man, that's awesome.
I mean, I get it, especially if they A lot of the Native tribes believe that their language is something that resonates with the animals, So you want to be talking about the bear when the bear is out and about.
Right numbers like okay, thanks.
Yeah.
Now as you're talking about like wind howling and blowing outside, the wind is blowing so strong right now? Is it at night?
It is?
Yeah, So it's like it's past midnight here for us, and it is howling like it sounds like wolves outside. I keep thinking it's going to get picked up on the on the microphone because it's so loud. I was like, is there a draft somewhere in my house? Is that far?
So good?
As as we're sitting here doing that, I was just like, man, it is it is howlin outside for sure.
Yeah, it'd be like that. So anyway, continuing, it says to have a storyteller tell you a story is like receiving a gift. To be respectful, a gift of tobacco is offered to the storyteller before the story begins. Good good. The storyteller will often take the tobacco outside and place it on the earth as an offering to the spirits of the story. Now where I thought that next part was going? But all right, fair enough, you know, save the lungs for other things.
You want me to read these ones if you would like to, Okay, seeing Carlos Apache, Arizona. This reminds me when I was young, my grandfather would ask a really old man to come to come visit. We would eat dinner, they would visit, smoke, and then my grandpa would bundle bundle, would put a bundle on his feet. Soon he would start to telling stories most of the night.
Very good. I like that one.
Now, so Chunk Nation of Wisconsin is the next one. We have to wait for the winter moon and there has to be snow on the mother Earth for those stories.
Oh, very cool.
Yes, they actually have to wait and tell snow is happening before they can even start their stories. Blackfoot, Blackfoot, Calgary, Alberta. People come from Alberta.
Your people come from very cold climb as you got Norway and Alberta, and then you'll ended up in Louisiana.
Yeah, I mean, well, I am French too, like a good amount of French. So Francis are the same with snow and stories. That's all it says.
Basically, they wait until there's snow on the ground before they sit around the fire and listen to the old man tell the stories.
Very cool. I'm gonna butcher that Omakumakuma Coma, Cuma Pablo Pueblo, New Mexico Pueblo. Yeah, the winter solstice marks the new year in Kuma at the time mark at the time with ceremonies not privy to the public. It is also the time for hama ha ha hamaha ha ha maha maha. Okay, storytelling of the coyote, stories of heroes, stories of animals,
sharing of knowledge. My parents said that when you call Hamama hama maha, people will arrive with pinon pignon nuts gathered in the fall that are roasted and shared.
Interesting, So the whole chestnuts roasting on an open fire. Bit that that has its own, you know, thing through the through the customs and cultures, which I mean to be fair nuts are more of a wintertime thing. So so that makes sense. Okay.
So we have oh man, that is that is a word?
Hamaha? Oh oh the pass yep passamaquote.
It's a New England tribe. I'm not gonna lie to you being dyslexic and then trying to actually read some of these words.
I'm just like, oh, there's no way you could be dyslexic and read the native tribes names. That's impossible.
I'm gonna be honest with you. I'm kind of like shoe is it is.
A all right, So this is the passa Macati out of New England. I hope I said that right.
In traditional calendars in Northeast, the solstice is always marked for my folks. It's a sign that the frost Yep, we gotta gotta do the page turn. Yeah, the frost giants will be returning to the north. Especially pretty cool.
The New England native tribes have frost giants in their low. I had no idea. I thought that was specifically a Nordic thing.
H I didn't actually know that either. But you remember right that the Vikings were the first ones to make contact with tribes here in North America.
Yeah, but that was in Canada.
No, but the but they landed in Canada and they came down into America, damn, near like halfway to Virginia. They found remains of settlements and stuff like that.
Very true.
It could be that they actually cross cultures and they had some you know, traditions potentially bleed over.
Very possible. Okay, let's see.
The I'm gonna let you do that one.
Yeah, Asiny Boyne sue the Sioux tribe I know of. I don't know like what clan that is. So that a boy as Sydney boyne blonde, I'm not sure.
We just be butchering everything tonight.
The Sioux tribe of South Dakota. Here we go, go ahead, the wanna yet to or winter time for gathering ken sassa or red willow bark while the thunder is gone.
Interesting, Okay, wintertime for gathering the red willow bark while the thunder is gone.
So they gather the red willow bark during the winter. I don't know why specifically that, but that is a thing for this.
We'll have to look into that more, all right.
So now this is the seal Selks s y I l X Silks Okay, Washington State and British Columbia. Do you want to read this one or me?
What I know is that it marks the point in time when our winter ceremonies can be held. My grandmother sometimes held her first ceremony of the winter at this powerful time. We have winter dance, ceremonies, prayers for the new year to come, for the berries roots, four leggeds, four legs, four leggeds, like yeah, four leggeds. I was right the first time, okay, and the fish, the four food chiefs, prayers for our families and ourselves. There are songs, dancing, feasting,
and giveaways. This is held during the evening and can go all night depending on the number of sacred singers who come to share. The ceremonies are called winter dances or my grandfather also called them Chinook dances in our territory to the south, in Washington State aroundnessipline discipline. My grandfather told me one dance ceremony lasting ten nights in a row. Yo, that's pretty intense.
They'd be getting down ten nights of ceremony just for one dance ceremony. All right, Yeah, so I like to throw down, I hear you.
I did have a quick one though. From the Apache culture, marking the time of renewal and return of the light missed during the season often features stories of survival, of importance, and gathering as a community to share resources and knowledge.
Traditions during the wintertime include storytelling sessions to be passed down with wisdom and knowledge, ceremonies to honor ancestors and reflect on the past year, community gatherings to strengthen the bonds and celebrate one another and reinforce the idea of winter while the time is a time of rest and also a critical part of the seasonal cycle that prepares the community for renewal of the spring. So there's a
lot of different tribes and stuff. You have to go to each tribe to break down what they actually believe in, what they do, and things like that. But I kind of just wanted to briefly touch on Native Americans just because they you know, because we were talking about a Black holiday as well, and so I wanted to kind of touch on other American holidays.
Absolutely is a inherently American holiday. As a matter of fact, I only found a few scant sources to find that anybody in Canada was celebrating it. So I don't know,
perhaps it's gone more international. I can't find anything to say so, But because we were talking about, you know, tis the season, and in this week we're gonna be talking about a lot of different holidays and celebrations from around the world, Kwansa being an American one, we did want to take a moment to acknowledge Native American customs and cultures, some surrounding Christmas, some surrounding just the winter
solstices and this time of year in general. Tomorrow's episode we are going to be talking into more of the obscure celebrations and things of the customs and cultures and things and stuff. So I find this to be a good transitional episode, Like.
I'm really excited about that. That's like the one I'm looking forward to the absolute most. Oh yeah, because there's a lot of different celebration There's some that are really there's like fifteen of them that are pretty bizarre. But there is a lot of different cultures that celebrate Christmas in different ways or winter Solstice, and they obviously have
changed through the times. So I was really pumped to get into that history and different cultures and stuff like that in the backgrounds and so yeah, this is a good segue to go. You know, Native American tribes will be mentioned, probably as most likely, but there's definitely a lot of interesting historical backgrounds into the quote unquote Christmas.
Absolutely, So as we wrap up this episode, good cult members or talking about gift giving, multiple tribes, multiple cultures, hell even Kwanza and if you would like to get your family member a good gift. Silver and gold is a really good gift as well as a good investment to give your loved ones or yourself. And the best place to get your starting the buying and selling of gold and silver, boy, you would be to go to Lincoln the description to ccsilver dot com when you fill
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Get some for yourself. Cocsilver dot Com is the best place to get your start if you are somebody that like we are, learning about the libations that you might have during Kwanza, or perhaps the tobacco that is being handed over in some of these native tries for these stories.
If you're somebody that likes to get down with the blessed erb but may not like the scent that it leaves your breath smelling like a skunk and things like that, but you still want to experience the positivity of the THCHC, then what you need to do is go to link in the description to Good Feels cannabis Seltzer.
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them right to your door. If you'd like to get to your own go to Good Feels cannabis Seltzer link in the description below. But another way to support the show, good cult members and let us know what you think about this episode. What do you think about Kwanza, What do you think about some of these native tribes? What do you think about the controversy surrounding Krenga. I want to know, good cult members. Hit us in the comments section.
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thank you. Everybody's already gone done so. With all of this being said, good cult members, hamar Ghane, Happy holidays, Merry Christmas. And this was another Buke episode of the Cobs of Conspiracy.
And I am the Cage of Night amazingly, and there's one very import extremely by of these things make much to learn just as him as human