the Mass of Christ has come and gone, and i'm still in the midst of trying to figure it all out. what's a young, culturally-aware brotha to do? this mass of Holy-daze had me in a bit of a whirl, and i'm sure i'm not all alone. here's the bottom line:
when i was a child, i behaved as a child, etc....
i have pretty darned fond memories of being a kid at Christmas time. i remember egg nog, boughs of holly, the good old tree, and waking up to presents under the tree. i remember singing all the songs and hanging all the lights, and even the little manger scene under the tree. i recall the feel-good energy when everyone greeted everyone in peace, at least for a few weeks of the year. even people who didn't like people treated those people nice at Christmastime. what a miracle.
when i became a man, i put away childish things...
ah...adulthood. no Santa Claus/Clause/Klaus, et al. no reindeer or claymation specials. and cultural awareness that made me question the psychological aftermath of placing African-American children into the lap of a mythology that looks nothing like them, then giving those icons credit for the year of hard work and sacrifice that went into filling a living room with gifts at the yuletide. yeah, i was jaded for a while. then i had a kid.
then i remembered the magic of my childhood.
then i desired something special for her.
then i was stumped.
i came up with many things, including elaborate efforts to return the focus of Christmas to CHRIST, which is an uphill battle in the commercial American culture we live in now. i mean, let's be honest, my best buddy JC is having a tough time with old Saint Nick. The patron saint of pawnbrokers is levelling the Son of God at the mall, online, at eBay, and even in a lot of tree-and-light-adorned churches. i was like...man, what's a brothaman to do? how can i make magic for my daughter so that she can have fond memories that also affirm who she is as a little black girl? is it at all possible? i was stumped.
then i found Kwanzaa...
Kwanzaa was a lot of fun back in the day. we'd have community feasts and activities for the kiddies. each night of the seven, there was a different gathering at someone's residence. i looked forward to this time of year, and even through tough times with my relationship and the accompanying "offspring's mother's theatricalness," i sensed the beginning of a ritual that would invoke good memories all around during this season.
but somehow, Kwanzaa got away from the community. you could now find Kwanzaa gift packs in the major stores. there were Kwanzaa kits online. then, the unthinkable happened: Kwanzaa events started costing money to attend. AHHHHHHH!!!! i screamed inside my skull: Kwanzaa has become Christmas II. i was hurt. i ran into some young adults who were raised fairly nationalist in thought and they had a wonderful, giving spirit with Kwanzaa, but they had a pointed negativity toward EVERYTHING Christmas, including Christ. that's not what i wanted for my daughter.
will this madness end?
so now, i'm at the Crossroads once again. last year, my young one and i celebrated what i call "Christ-Mass," a celebration of everything Jesus (Birth, Re-Birth, Sacrifice, Giving). i made a display of lighted staffs, three of them. one with an Ankh (key of life), one with a Mogen David (two inverted pyramids), and one with an Ethiopian (Coptic) Cross. underneath, i placed a basket that represents The Ancestors. i gave out a dollar per year alive for a year of good conduct, a nice gift, and promise of a shopping spree. it was pretty nice. i suppose i was trying to find a middle ground. i still want to. i want to raise any kids i may ever have to be respectful of all others' beliefs they encounter, while being grounded in ours. i want them to understand the facts, and yet not lose the mystique of dreaming.
it's like reading fiction. i used to not read it. i was with the brothers who agreed that we needed non-fiction to solve our people's problems. then i realized that fiction helps us to dream, and by dreaming, we create and re-create our world for a better tomorrow. so that's where i am right now. i don't know if i'm alone or not, but i get the feeling that i'm not. so if you're out there, chime in a little on what you do, so that i won't feel too all alone in this quest to be merry and magical.
have a great holiday season either way...
love and peace
joc
