December is a month of celebration for many. Learn more about the origins of Kwanzaa: How to celebrate Kwanzaa written by Dr. Ayo Maria Gooden. 

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As we come close to the end of year, we would like to thank you for reading our newsletters and to accompany us in our journey discovering various black cultures around the world.

 

BLACK/AFRIKAN PEOPLE AND EUROPEAN HOLIDAYS

By

Ayo Maria Casey Gooden, Ph.D., ABPBC, LLC

 

Holidays are an important part of teaching cultural values.  A holiday is a celebration of an event which is valuable to use by a collective group of people.  Through celebrating holidays, children learn what is valuable and correct as well as what is not.  African people in the United States (or people of African ancestry whether called Black, African Americans, Afro-Americans, Colored, or Negroes) have been celebrating European holidays.  This is a direct consequence of being removed from our native land-Africa and being prevented from maintaining our cultural ties with Africa.  What many people do not realize is that many of the European holidays have been built around untruths or lies. This miseducation has hurt all people and has been at the root of racism. Let us look at some of the romanticized holidays:​

Independence Day (4th of July) – People commonly refer to this day as the day “we” won “our” freedom.  The 4th of July was the day the Europeans, in what is now called the United States won “their” freedom from their European relatives.  Africans were still enslaved by these same free Europeans.  Indigenous People in American (commonly referred to as Indians) were being pushed off their land and those who were not killed by bullets or biological warfare (smallpox was intentionally given to Native Americans- to kill them) were forced onto reservations.

Columbus Day – Anyone can tell you “Columbus discovered America.”  However, very few people can tell you that this Italian Jew was lost and just as his crew was about to mutiny, he sighted land.  Not America, but Espanola, now called Haiti and the Dominica Republic.  You cannot “discover” a land already inhabited.  You can be an invader.  Reporting that Columbus discovered America is like me finding your house and “discovering” it and claiming it as mine.  Columbus never set foot on North or South America and when he talked to the people native to Espanola, he was told that black skinned people had been there trading with them for many years.  The queen who approved his stealing for her, imprisoned Columbus because he was also stealing from her-a fact that seldom makes it into history books.  He did contribute to the beginning of the slave trade.  Columbus was a thief, rapist and mass murderer.

Thanksgiving – Described as the day the Pilgrims, “Sat down in peace with the Native Americans and ate a turkey dinner.”  Actually, Thanksgiving is a holiday created in response to the massacre of the Indigenous People (referred to as “savages” by the Pilgrims and in the Constitution) by the Pilgrims and the deliverance of a new home land from the “heathen savages.”  This is a “National Day of Mourning” for Indigenous People who were tortured, raped, massacred, broken treaties, and forced assimilation through boarding schools that committed many atrocities.

Halloween – “Trick-or-Treat” and dressing up in costumes.  Halloween is actually the holiest day for Satan worshippers.  It is the day of “blood and sacrifice.”  The razor blades placed in candy and apples are consistent with the true purpose of this evil holiday.  In the field of psychology, dissociative identity disorder (formerly called multiple personality disorder) has been linked to satanic rituals-many of which are performed on Halloween.

Christmas-The day of the savior’s birth.  Well not quite.  Christmas is actually the day Nimrod was born (Read your Bibles!). Jesus was not born in December.  Nimrod was wicked and promised to return. He commanded his followers to place lights on the evergreen tree and to bring him presents.   Nimrod vowed that with his return would come grief, selfishness, greed, and a preoccupation with the material.  Does this ring any bells?  (No pun intended).

Valentine’s Day – Valentine’s Day is the day we give a heart to the one we love. Giving hearts is a tradition that was started by the Roman Emperor Constantine who had a preference for male lovers and forbade any marriages.  St. Valentine was secretly performing marriage ceremonies.  Once Constantine learned of this violation of his orders, he demanded that St. Valentine be killed and that his heart be brought to him.  Constantine reportedly ate St. Valentine’s heart!

Washington’s Birthday-The first president of the United States and the “Father of American Freedom.” Washington was a slave owner and fathered many African children.  He caught pneumonia while exercising his “slave master’s rights” to sexually abuse an African woman he had as “chattel slave.”  Washington later died from pneumonia, and that’s no lie!

St. Patrick’s Day- St. Pat was famous for killing the snakes in Ireland.  Scientists have documented that there is no history of snakes ever inhabiting Ireland.  St. Patrick actually killed African people who wore the symbol of snakes on their heads like the ancient Kemetans/Kmtns (Egyptians).

Good Friday – The day Jesus died for our sins.  Jesus was an Abyssinian.  Abyssinia is Ethiopia.  Jesus was Black and an African.  The persecutors of Jesus were the Romans, who were Europeans (Whites/Caucasians). There is a saying among racist Europeans, “The only good nigger is a dead nigger.”  Thus, we see why the day Jesus was murdered was a “good” day.  Shouldn’t the day Jesus was resurrected be the good day?  Think about it.

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I could go on but space does not permit.  I am sure you get the message.  As one of my heroes, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X), stated, “The language and logic of the oppressor cannot be the language and the logic of the oppressed.”  So what can we as African/Black people celebrate?  Our African heroes and sheroes such as Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Queen Nzinga, Harriet Tubman, Nelson, and Winnie Mandela.  Celebrate them by continuing the work of those who are now our warrior ancestors and support those who are still living and need our help.

 

Celebrate the following Black Holidays:

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January 1 – Emancipation Proclamation-Lincoln revealed on September 22, 1862 that he would free those African people in the 11 states that seceded from the Union, if these states did not rejoin the union by January 1, 1863.

January 15 – Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday-Third Monday in January – National Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday.

January 31-13th Amendment-On December 6, 1865 Congress abolished slavery in all states.

February-Black History Month-The “Father of Black History”, Dr. Carter G. Woodson started with a week in 1926.  It was increased to a month in 1976.  Black history must be taught every day in every school and business

February 21 –Assassination of Malcolm X- El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz (Malcolm X) was assassinated in 1965.

May 19 – Malcolm X’s Birthday-Born on May 19 in 1925.  He was murdered on February 21, 1965.  He spoke out against racism and urged Blacks to work together to create Black sufficiency and to heal from the effects of racism.

May 25 – African Liberation Day-A day to remind us that all Blacks on the planet have the same struggle against racism (white supremacy).

June 19 – Juneteenth-Also known as Emancipation Day, Jun Jun and Freedom Day.  When Blacks in the United States heard the news of freedom from slavery in June 1865. 

November 28-Umoja Karamu-Unity feast celebrated the 4th Sunday of November to promote family unity.

Dec. 26 – Jan. 1 – Kwanzaa.  A celebration of our African roots, present accomplishments and future goals.

 

Learn more about your African Heritage.  For example, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, from an African perspective is the day parents’ bring a child into the world.  This means that if you have 5 children, you celebrate their birthdays as Mother’s, Father’s, Grandparent’s, Aunt’s, and Uncle’s Day.  It makes a lot of sense. Doesn’t it?  Read more in Afrikan People and European Holidays: A Mental Genocide, book I and II by Rev. Ishakamusa Barashango and African Holidays by James Anyike.

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