African American tradition of Kwanzaa meaningful in Lynn

LYNN – Darrell Murkison and his family celebrate Kwanzaa. They also celebrate Christmas, New Year’s and Easter as recognized by their Baptist faith.The thought that Kwanzaa – a widely acknowledged but fairly mysterious holiday outside of African American culture – is a celebration of some sort of alternative religious belief, or designed as a replacement for Christmas or Hannukah, is one of the many myths that Murkison must dispel each year at this time as he and his family prepare to recognize their African past.”That’s the biggest thing – Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday. It is not meant to compete with Christmas. A lot of people confuse those things,” Murkison said from his Lynn home Friday. “Kwanzaa helps connect our African past with African American culture.”Many Americans also incorrectly believe that Kwanzaa is a traditional celebration recognized primarily on the continent of Africa, but Murkison is quick to point out that inaccuracy as well.Kwanzaa’s roots are in the American Black Nationalist movement of the 1960s, when scholar and activist Ron Karenga introduced the celebration as the first African American holiday. The first Kwanzaa celebration took place in 1966, and today is recognized almost entirely by African Americans, and is not actually celebrated on the continent of Africa.Similar to Hanukkah in some ways, the seven-day celebration is recognized by lighting a candle, or Kinara, each night. For every turn of the calendar, African Americans explore a different principle and take time to recognize African heroes and explore family genealogy.Written in the Swahili language, which is the most widely spoken dialect in Africa, the seven principles of Kwanzaa are “Umoja,” or unity, “Kujichagulia,” which means self determination, “Ujima,” meaning collective work and responsibility, “Ujamaa,” or cooperative economics, “Nia,” which translates to purpose, “Kuumba,” meaning creativity and “Imani,” which means faith.The Kinara features three colors to recognize African culture, green to represent hope for the future, red to represent struggles of the past and black to represent their people.Each day a candle is lit in recognition of a principle, followed by a discussion of the principal, a folk tale or a shared recollection of how the principal has influenced a family or friend participating in the celebration.In the telling of stories, Murkison says he and his family also explore the past, studying African history and uncovering links in their genealogy. What started as a small celebration between he and his family has now expanded to include more family, friends and fellow parishioners of the Zion Baptist Church in Lynn.”It started mostly with my immediate family, but it has extended to my brothers, sisters and cousins and now we have people coming by every day. It has really brought us together,” he said. “The thing that shapes and molds my family the most is the part in the ceremony where we celebrate our ancestry. You go back in the family lineage as far as you can go and give honor to that person.”The holiday ends on Jan 1. with a traditional New Year’s feast and the final celebrated principle, Imani, which is Murkison’s favorite as that is his daughter’s middle name.From the celebration in his home to the yearly gathering at the Zion Baptist Church, the celebration of Kwanzaa is alive and well in Lynn. Murkison hopes that those who are unfamiliar with the holiday will take the time to understand what African Americans are celebrating and realize the true meaning of the week.”The one thing to stress is that we are not trying to couple this with Christmas or any other religious holiday. Yes, it takes place at the same time of year, but that is not our intent,” he said. “The holiday is not oriented around gifts. If someone wants to give, the gift must be of knowledge only. It isn’t something you buy, unless you want to give a book of African history.”