Showing posts with label African History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label African History. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 1, 2016

UMOJA KARAMU! Unity Feast

UMOJA KARAMU means (Unity Feast)

 

Umoja Karamu, meaning "unity feast" in Swahili, is an African American celebration begun in 1971 by Dr. Edward Sims, Jr., held on the fourth Sunday in November. Its purpose is to instill solidarity, Afrikan values, and appreciation of Afrikan heritage into Afrikan American families. It is heralded for a grand Unity Feast of Knowledge, with Historical presentations for 5 periods of African American Life, followed by a grand Unity Feast of Food and Family.

Umoja Karamu (pronounced Oo-mo-jah Ca-ra-moo) are Kiswahili words that mean “unity feast.” It is a ceremony of unity that highlights events and periods that have shaped the African Diaspora of families.


Like Kwanzaa, a popular holiday celebrated after Christmas by African American families in the United States, Umoja Karamu is becoming an alternative holiday for African American families who want to distance themselves from the European Holidays like Thanksgiving.

Umoja Karamu is a ritual for the Black families that was developed to create new meaning and solidarity through ceremony and symbolism. Now African Americans have an alternative to celebrate family that represents their own heritage.

Umoja Karamu was inaugurated as a holiday in 1971 and was founded by Brother Edwards Sims, Jr. When it was first introduced it was only celebrated in Philadelphia and in Washington, D.C. Our traditional roots were violently separated, repressed, and often forgotten during a process called Colonialism.”

Like Thanksgiving, Umoja Karamu also emphasizes family gatherings and feasts, but it also features unique ceremonies. Specific foods and colors on the table are used symbolically to represent meaningful historical periods and elements in the African American experience for the family’s hope for the future.



In the Umoja Karamu tradition, the feast is presided over by the head of the household or community Leader. The 5 Ceremonial foods are placed on a Shrine to represent the Ancestors, which is covered with African fabric. In a special purification rite, a Libation is poured over a plant or tree to invite the Ancestars.

Extended family members participate directly in Umoja by bringing prepared foods to the ceremony. Candlelight and incense provide ambiance and contribute to an atmosphere of calmness and reflection. Children participate by reading narratives commemorating each historical period while the 5 Ceremonial foods representing the era is passed around. After each narrative, the food is tasted by everyone, like an hors d’oeuvre.  This process is repeated for each era. A benediction is given by the oldest person or elder that marks the end of the rite and signals the beginning of the feast itself.

Different families have their own ways of personalizing the holiday. Drums are sometimes played in the background to set the mood. A professional storyteller may also perform the narratives. Families have gotten creative when celebrating Umoja Karamu. Powerpoint presentations show pictures of the 5 periods. Some will play the music of New World music while others might learn a traditional dance.

Umoja Karamu is a way for African American families to celebrate their common history, ethnic experiences, and cultural heritage while tailoring this unique holiday to fit your family’s personality. Traditions that were once stolen can be recreated to strengthen family unity.

Thanksgiving is the American holiday of choice for many but more families are moving away from holidays that resulted in massacres of indigenous people and are seeking a cultural alternative. If you are questioning your support of Thanksgiving, Umoja Karamu might be the perfect celebration for your family.


Amen Par Ankh has presented the Umoja Karamu for more than a decade in Kansas City, Missouri.

Our Local Celebration features African American Historical Presentations Edutainment, Libations, PowerPoint display, Historical Narratives, A shrine for Ancestors, Acknowledgment of our Local Ancestors and their Achievements, Music, and an abundant Potluck Feast:

(We invite your Interactive participation for Family, Culture, and Community by bringing Photographs and Memorials of your Ancestors For our Display.) 

 (We also encourage your contributions and donations to our feast! Fruits Veggies, desserts, Vegan, Halal, or Levitical Covered dish. -Please, NO Pork Products)








Historic Presentations and Dinner, Libations to honor ancestors, historical readings, music, and a potluck feast will mark this observance.
The celebration is based on five periods of African American life, each represented by a color and a symbolic food.

1. The color black- Pre Invasion – (Black Beans or Black Eye Peas) Black families before slavery
2. The color white- Maafa – (Brown Rice) scattering of black families (during slavery)
3. The color red- Emancipation – (Red Juice) Black Liberation struggle
4. The color green- Struggle for Civil Rights – (Green veggies) 
5. The color gold- Looking to the Future – (Yellow Corn) Hope for the Future Bright)

For More Information Call us: 816-281-7704 









*EMWOT and Amen Par Ankh and Adenike's Arts Reduce Reuse Recycle, are now collecting Winter Work Wear, tools, and Equipment, as well as Hygiene Items and Educational Materials for At-Risk Youth, homeless Teens and Incarcerated re-entry Young Adults for Amen Ankh Akademy and You G.R.O.W.W. Girls programs. We are looking for Blankets, Coats, Hats, Gloves, Scarves, Socks, Sweaters, Boots, Drinking Water, Natural Snacks, Work Gear and Tools ... 




*Hygiene Items like: Soap, Tooth Brushes, Hair Brushes, Mouthwash, Deodorant, washcloths, Sanitary pads, Shaving equipment, Disinfectant spray, Laundry soap, Paper products...
*STEAM (Science Technology Engineering, Arts, and Mathematics) items and Tools, Work Gear

*Educational supplies and Equipment like, Laptops, Tablets, Whiteboards, paper, Artistic materials, Paint, Science materials, and Sculpture, Welding equipment,   etc... You can drop off your items at the Amen Par Ankh KCMO 64130 Contact Sistar Nuta Adenike AmenRa El 816-281-7704
(c) All rights reserved. No part of this Blog may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the author; Nuta Beqsu Adenike AmenRa El


Nuta Beqsu AmenRa Moses



I am available for Lectures, Libations, Griot Spoken Word Presentations, KMT Wedding, Birth and Ascension officiant, Salutations and Blessings for new beginnings, Home and Businesses, Afrikan Storytelling, Conferences and Workshops Contact: amen.parankh@gmail.com or amen.ankh@live.com 
Phone: 816-281-7704


The information on this website has been put together for general information, education, reference, Spirituality Current Events, and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any specific condition. Ask your doctor for his professional advice before making radical changes in your diet and lifestyle.
Amen Par Ankh (sacred temple of life) and Amen Ankh Akademy; is a local home school network, and Urban Farm nestled around a Spiritual Outreach Ministry and an Education Center in the heart of midtown Kansas City, Missouri. Contact our Minister and Director: Sistar Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike Amen-Ra El and become a member of our Gnome Maafia- as We Celebrate the Cycles of Life! Email: amen.ankh@live.com ,and Call: 816-281-7704 to sign-up for courses and support: PAYPAL: amen.parankh@gmail.com , information:  http://amen-parankh.blogspot.com , also Look for us on Twitter and LinkedIn. We acknowledge our Great Ancient Ancestral history and heritage of First People Spiritual Ways. We provide an Online Homeschool Curriculum network and Afterschool STEAM (Science Technology, Vocational Arts, Mathematics and Natural Medicine) careers with hands-on Agriculture Experiences. –You GROWW Girls and Amen Ankh Akademy Economic Literacy study group. We Respect Mother Earth and acknowledge the natural sciences and ecology with recycling. We provide Ancestor Libation Ceremonies, KMT Readings for Destiny, Health, Career and Relationship Consultations using the Ausar Auset Method, We perform Home Blessings, African Naming, KMT Ordained Weddings and Wedding planning, We celebrate and observe the Equinox and Solstice events, where we celebrate and show our respect for the wonder of nature with Cultural Ceremonies, Song, music, dance, Workshops, and special events. We Grow and make Org-Ankh Electric foods, Gifts, and Accessories. We provide an Online Radio Call-in show for Outreach ministry: Amen Communications http://www.blogtalkradio.com/amencommunications Newborn Blessings, Home and Business Spiritual Cleansing and Blessings, Ancient Funeral rites and Ascension ceremonies, Par Ankh Reading Room, Herbal Teas and Juice bar, Nature walks and Outdoor camping Experiences, classes such as Spiritual Jewelry making, Sewing and other handcrafts, Henna Healing designs, of Head wrapping arts, Making Natural Hair oils, beading and Lox twisting, Cosmetics, and Herbal products. Also Envisioning, Dream Catchers, Vision Boards, Art Healing Mandalas Sip-And-Paint Events, Spiritual Jewelry Making, Gentle Yoga, Canning and preserving food, We assist in Wellness for Body Mind and Spirit for Spiritual Attunement - to realize the fullest capacities of life, health, prosperity and strength. We provide an active space for expressions of our original wisdom ways of life. Ceremony, Counseling, Coaching, Cleansings and Classes The information on this Blogsite has been put together for general information, education, reference, Spirituality Current Events and entertainment purposes only and is not intended to provide medical advice. This information has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, and is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any specific condition. Ask your doctor for his professional advice before making radical changes in your diet and lifestyle. Amen Ankh Urban Farm is an urban agricultural enterprise with the goal of achieving environmental justice and sustainability by Healthy local food production and improving local neighborhood access to healthy Foods. We are growing orchards and constructing Aquaponic Systems of farm raised fish, Herbs and microgreens. We also provide Farm-a-See tours of successful Local Farmers with the “Green Griot”. We grow selected local “Org-Ankh” electric indigenous Herbs, Fruits, Vegetable and plant life of the Three Sisters: (Corn, Beans, and Squash/Melons) and cruciferous vegetables: Cabbage, and Kale, With Wheat Grass and other Sprouts, Herbs: Basil, Sage, Chives, Rosemary, Parsley, Peppers, with Moringa nutritional drink supplements, -From our Fresh produce we create canned and Baked Goods, teas, cosmetics, & liniments to provide Healing through the inspiration of Kujichagulia (Self-determination) for everyone. Feel free or Contact the Director: Queenma Nuta Beqsu Moses aka Adenike Amen-Ra Please like our facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/PARANKH
https://www.facebook.com/Amen.Ankh.Farm , https://www.facebook.com/Adenike.Art , https://www.facebook.com/pages/Ankh-The-Way-of-Life-Communities/
https://www.facebook.com/Green.Griot

Dua (Th-ankh you!) ♥.


Saturday, June 28, 2014

Frederick Douglass on the 4th of July

Entire Frederick Douglass Speech on the Fourth of July, delivered July 5, 1852 in Rochester New York

(Note particularly the last paragraph)

"Fellow citizens, pardon me, and allow me to ask, why am I called upon to speak here today? What have I or those I represent to do with your national independence? Are the great principles of political freedom and of natural justice, embodied in that Declaration of Independence, extended to us? And am I, therefore, called upon to bring our humble offering to the national altar, and to confess the benefits, and express devout gratitude for the blessings resulting from your independence to us?

Would to God, both for your sakes and ours, that an affirmative answer could be truthfully returned to these questions. Then would my task be light, and my burden easy and delightful. For who is there so cold that a nation's sympathy could not warm him? Who so obdurate and dead to the claims of gratitude, that would not thankfully acknowledge such priceless benefits? Who so stolid and selfish that would not give his voice to swell the hallelujahs of a nation's jubilee, when the chains of servitude had been torn from his limbs? I am not that man. In a case like that, the dumb might eloquently speak, and the "lame man leap as an hart."

But such is not the state of the case. I say it with a sad sense of disparity between us. I am not included within the pale of this glorious anniversary! Your high independence only reveals the immeasurable distance between us. The blessings in which you this day rejoice are not enjoyed in common. The rich inheritance of justice, liberty, prosperity, and independence bequeathed by your fathers is shared by you, not by me. The sunlight that brought life and healing to you has brought stripes and death to me. This Fourth of July is yours, not mine. You may rejoice, I must mourn. To drag a man in fetters into the grand illuminated temple of liberty, and call upon him to join you in joyous anthems, were inhuman mockery and sacrilegious irony. Do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? If so, there is a parallel to your conduct. And let me warn you, that it is dangerous to copy the example of a nation (Babylon) whose crimes, towering up to heaven, were thrown down by the breath of the Almighty, burying that nation in irrecoverable ruin.

Fellow citizens, above your national, tumultuous joy, I hear the mournful wail of millions, whose chains, heavy and grievous yesterday, are today rendered more intolerable by the jubilant shouts that reach them. If I do forget, if I do not remember those bleeding children of sorrow this day, "may my right hand forget her cunning, and may my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth!"

To forget them, to pass lightly over their wrongs and to chime in with the popular theme would be treason most scandalous and shocking, and would make me a reproach before God and the world.
My subject, then, fellow citizens, is "American Slavery." I shall see this day and its popular characteristics from the slave's point of view. Standing here, identified with the American bondman, making his wrongs mine, I do not hesitate to declare, with all my soul, that the character and conduct of this nation never looked blacker to me than on this Fourth of July.

Whether we turn to the declarations of the past, or to the professions of the present, the conduct of the nation seems equally hideous and revolting. America is false to the past, false to the present, and solemnly binds herself to be false to the future. Standing with God and the crushed and bleeding slave on this occasion, I will, in the name of humanity, which is outraged, in the name of liberty, which is fettered, in the name of the Constitution and the Bible, which are disregarded and trampled upon, dare to call in question and to denounce, with all the emphasis I can command, everything that serves to perpetuate slavery -- the great sin and shame of America! "I will not equivocate - I will not excuse." I will use the severest language I can command, and yet not one word shall escape me that any man, whose judgment is not blinded by prejudice, or who is not at heart a slave-holder, shall not confess to be right and just.

But I fancy I hear some of my audience say it is just in this circumstance that you and your brother Abolitionists fail to make a favorable impression on the public mind. Would you argue more and denounce less, would you persuade more and rebuke less, your cause would be much more likely to succeed. But, I submit, where all is plain there is nothing to be argued. What point in the anti-slavery creed would you have me argue? On what branch of the subject do the people of this country need light? Must I undertake to prove that the slave is a man? That point is conceded already. Nobody doubts it. The slave-holders themselves acknowledge it in the enactment of laws for their government. They acknowledge it when they punish disobedience on the part of the slave. There are seventy-two crimes in the State of Virginia, which, if committed by a black man (no matter how ignorant he be), subject him to the punishment of death; while only two of these same crimes will subject a white man to like punishment.

What is this but the acknowledgment that the slave is a moral, intellectual, and responsible being? The manhood of the slave is conceded. It is admitted in the fact that Southern statute books are covered with enactments, forbidding, under severe fines and penalties, the teaching of the slave to read and write. When you can point to any such laws in reference to the beasts of the field, then I may consent to argue the manhood of the slave. When the dogs in your streets, when the fowls of the air, when the cattle on your hills, when the fish of the sea, and the reptiles that crawl, shall be unable to distinguish the slave from a brute, then I will argue with you that the slave is a man!

For the present, it is enough to affirm the equal manhood of the Negro race. Is it not astonishing that, while we are plowing, planting, and reaping, using all kinds of mechanical tools, erecting houses, constructing bridges, building ships, working in metals of brass, iron, copper, silver, and gold; that while we are reading, writing, and ciphering, acting as clerks, merchants, and secretaries, having among us lawyers, doctors, ministers, poets, authors, editors, orators, and teachers; that we are engaged in all the enterprises common to other men -- digging gold in California, capturing the whale in the Pacific, feeding sheep and cattle on the hillside, living, moving, acting, thinking, planning, living in families as husbands, wives, and children, and above all, confessing and worshipping the Christian God, and looking hopefully for life and immortality beyond the grave -- we are called upon to prove that we are men?

Would you have me argue that man is entitled to liberty? That he is the rightful owner of his own body? You have already declared it. Must I argue the wrongfulness of slavery? Is that a question for republicans? Is it to be settled by the rules of logic and argumentation, as a matter beset with great difficulty, involving a doubtful application of the principle of justice, hard to understand? How should I look today in the presence of Americans, dividing and subdividing a discourse, to show that men have a natural right to freedom, speaking of it relatively and positively, negatively and affirmatively? To do so would be to make myself ridiculous, and to offer an insult to your understanding. There is not a man beneath the canopy of heaven who does not know that slavery is wrong for him.

What! Am I to argue that it is wrong to make men brutes, to rob them of their liberty, to work them without wages, to keep them ignorant of their relations to their fellow men, to beat them with sticks, to flay their flesh with the lash, to load their limbs with irons, to hunt them with dogs, to sell them at auction, to sunder their families, to knock out their teeth, to burn their flesh, to starve them into obedience and submission to their masters? Must I argue that a system thus marked with blood and stained with pollution is wrong? No - I will not. I have better employment for my time and strength than such arguments would imply.

What, then, remains to be argued? Is it that slavery is not divine; that God did not establish it; that our doctors of divinity are mistaken? There is blasphemy in the thought. That which is inhuman cannot be divine. Who can reason on such a proposition? They that can, may - I cannot. The time for such argument is past.

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh! had I the ability, and could I reach the nation's ear, I would today pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The feeling of the nation must be quickened; the conscience of the nation must be roused; the propriety of the nation must be startled; the hypocrisy of the nation must be exposed; and its crimes against God and man must be denounced.

What to the American slave is your Fourth of July? I answer, a day that reveals to him more than all other days of the year, the gross injustice and cruelty to which he is the constant victim. To him your celebration is a sham; your boasted liberty an unholy license; your national greatness, swelling vanity; your sounds of rejoicing are empty and heartless; your shouts of liberty and equality, hollow mock; your prayers and hymns, your sermons and thanksgivings, with all your religious parade and solemnity, are to him mere bombast, fraud, deception, impiety, and hypocrisy - a thin veil to cover up crimes which would disgrace a nation of savages. There is not a nation of the earth guilty of practices more shocking and bloody than are the people of these United States at this very hour.

Go search where you will, roam through all the monarchies and despotisms of the Old World, travel through South America, search out every abuse and when you have found the last, lay your facts by the side of the everyday practices of this nation, and you will say with me that, for revolting barbarity and shameless hypocrisy, America reigns without a rival.



Amen Par Ankh (Sacred House of Life) and Amen Ankh Urban Farm; is a local Urban Farm nestled around a Spiritual Outreach and Education Center in the heart of midtown Kansas City, Missouri. Contact Us and become a member, as We Celebrate the Cycles of Life! Email: amen.parankh@gmail.com , or amen.ankh@live.com, and Call: 816-281-7704 to sign-up for courses and support. Look for us on Twitter & LinkedIn. We Celebrate the Cycles of Life, Wellness and Balance in our everyday existence on earth. We assist in Wellness for Physical Fitness, Mental Health, and Spiritual Attunement - to realize the fullest capacities of life, health, prosperity, and strength. We provide Whole Life Coaching, Energy work, A Par Ankh Reading Room, Org-Ankh Electric foods, Herbal Teas & Juice bar, Outdoor Experiences.