Safari Inspired Chess Set
Plan a wild strategy with this safari-inspired chess set featuring animals from the African veldt. Alabastrite. Wood chess board:
15" x 15" x 13/4" thick.
$60.00
AFRICAN CANDLEHOLDER
In brilliant colors and distinctive form, this African-inspired candle holder will hold three tapers with worldly style.
Wood painted with a crackle finish.
8" x 2 3/4" x 8 1/2" high.
The Continental African Roots
Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.
The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:
*** a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;
***a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;
***a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;
***a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and
***a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.
The African American Branch
Rooted in this ancient history and culture, Kwanzaa develops as a flourishing branch of the African American life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special characteristics only an African American holiday but also a Pan-African one, For it draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Africans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.
Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus reflects its concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several functions.
Reaffirming and Restoring Culture
First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the '60's and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. It was designed to be an ingathering to strengthen community and reaffirm common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community. Thirdly, Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles.) These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). This stress on the Nguzo Saba was at the same time an emphasis on the importance of African communitarian values in general, which stress family, community and culture and speak to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. And Kwanzaa was conceived as a fundamental and important way to introduce and reinforce these values and cultivate appreciation for them.
Symbols of Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols and two supplemental ones. Each represents values and concepts reflective of African culture and contributive to community building and reinforcement. The basic symbols in Swahili and then in English are:
Mazao (The Crops)
These are symbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor.
Mkeka (The Mat)
This is symbolic of our tradition and history and therefore, the foundation on which we build.
Kinara (The Candle Holder)
This is symbolic of our roots, our parent people -- continental Africans.
Muhindi (The Corn)
This is symbolic of our children and our future which they embody.
Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles)
These are symbolic of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the matrix and minimum set of values which African people are urged to live by in order to rescue and reconstruct their lives in their own image and according to their own needs.
Kikombe cha Umoja (The Unity Cup)
This is symbolic of the foundational principle and practice of unity which makes all else possible.
Zawadi (The Gifts)
These are symbolic of the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by the children.
The two supplemental symbols are:
Bendera (The Flag)
The colors of the Kwanzaa flag are the colors of the Organization Us, black, red and green; black for the people, red for their struggle, and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle. It is based on the colors given by the Hon. Marcus Garvey as national colors for African people throughout the world.
Grapevine Wine Bottle Holder
A grapevine crafted from intricately detailed painted wrought iron twists and curves to hold up to six bottles of wine. 10 1/4" x 10" x 30"
AFRICA
Page 4
KWANZAA
Masai Vase
Reminiscent of the water vessels used for centuries across Africa, this graceful vase is a sophisticated addition to your treasure trove.
Multi-textured panels of ocher and moss are beautifully offset by a gleaming metallic Masai maiden figurine. Polyresin.
5 1/8" diameter x 13 3/4"
Joanna Gamble of Virginia
Boutique and Gift Shop
This page was last updated on: March 12, 2009
Family Of 4 Figurine
A charming family, colorfully clothed, hold each other tightly in a loving embrace in this delightful sculpture. Alabastrite. 5 1/2" x 3 1/2" x 8 3/4"
Masai Hunters Wall Clock
Awash in golden sunlight at the close of a long hunting journey, a tribe of Masai pauses to celebrate the successes of the day. This artful wall clock warms your home with the earthy hues of the African plains and a feeling of open-air freedom!
Wood with china movement clock. Uses one AA battery (not included). 13 3/8" diameter x 1" thick.
