Is it possible for a population to celebrate itself so much that if forsakes the rest of society?
The main purpose of this holiday is to celebrate a population of people as opposed to a religious event; i.e. Jesus’ birth at Christmas and the miracle of the oil during Chanukah. Perhaps the fact that it is a holiday created for a minority group, celebrated by a minority of that population would explain why it has not gained a firm stronghold with in the American culture.
One thing that is characteristic of the United States is that we have a diverse culture and we celebrate it in various ways through out our daily lives, holidays are one such example of how we celebrate diversity. However is there a point when celebrating so much diversity doesn’t promote unity? If we maintain socialization within one particular population, neglecting all other populations with in our society does that just bring about more ignorance, intolerance and prejudice, the very things that our society has fought long and hard to try to move beyond.
Kwanzaa in and of itself is a good idea. Karenga saw that there was no specific holiday for the African American population within the United States. One of the unfortunate effects of slavery was that much of the African culture was lost when these people were brought to this country. Every other ethnic group that immigrated to the United States was able to keep their religious beliefs (though there were some hindrances from the established population). When Africans were brought over as slaves they were forced to forsake their native culture and embrace the culture of those that enslaved them. Some of that culture survived and can be seen in much of our daily lives if we look hard enough but the outstanding culture that most of the population of this country enjoys is lost for this one particular part of the population.
The fact that Kwanzaa is celebrated by an extremely select few is perhaps the reason as to why it has gained so much criticism from the majority. A holiday that celebrates a culture as opposed to a religious belief is seen by many as a way of setting themselves apart from a population that is still in many ways trying to find a stable sense of unity amongst a people that have so many differences.
Whatever a person’s opinion is on the holiday they have to agree that any technique to bring about tolerance, unity and compassion for a fellow person is a good thing. The only caution is that in this strive for unity one population is not favored over another. This can do more harm than good in the long run counter acting the necessity for a unified society.
