Kwanzaa and Second Day of Christmas

Kwanzaa is a seven-day African-American cultural holiday - an American holiday inspired by African traditions. The word kwanza is Swahili for “first”, as in "first fruits", because in some parts of Africa this is the season for first fruits harvest festivals. Kwanzaa is a time of thanksgiving for the earth, but also a time to honor ancestors, and a time for African-Americans to celebrate their heritage and learn about African traditions and values.

This is also the second day of the twelve-day festal tide - a sacred, festive season. In some old traditions, this whole season was seen as a sort of Sabbath: Prepare ahead of time and then spend the Twelve Days doing as little work as possible. It's a good time to rest, reflect, and find peace within.

And it's the Third Quarter Moon - now the Moon is waning and light is decreasing again. The Third Quarter Moon energy is yin - quiet, internal, heart-driven, intentional Being-ness. At this phase we can ease off a bit on actively pursuing goals, slow down, go within, and attend to inner work and self-care.

Agenda:

1. Kwanzaa principles

2. Christmas retreat

3. Unity Reading

4. Community goals for 2022

5. Practice unity

6. Map and plan renewal habits

1. Kwanzaa principles:
Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture, called the Nguzo Saba, which in Swahili means the Seven Principles. 

All of the Kwanzaa principles focus on community because in African philosophy a true human is always a person-in-community; this is reflected in the African saying, "I am because we are"- a good counter balance for the Me First thinking of the American culture. All of us can benefit and grow by celebrating these principles.

The first value is Umoja (oo-MOH-jah), which is unity- the unity of working and playing together with family and community, in harmony.

2. Christmas retreat:

My tradition is to make the 12 Days of Christmas into a mini-retreat for myself. I'm doing some reading and writing every day, focusing on my priorities and what I'm called to do (or not do) next in my life. My plan for the 12 Days:

• Start each morning with meditation, prayer, and reading
• Think about, and set goals for 2022.
• Contemplate, honor, and practice a different one of my life priorities on each of the 12 days.

Today I am honoring Unity and Community.

What does unity mean to me? With whom do I need more unity? How can I help us find unity? 

What does it mean to be radically inclusive, and how can I do that?

How can I foster love, truth, and harmony in my various communities? What particular virtues do I need to upgrade for each? 

Do I minister to my communities in a spirit of love and humility?How can I model better the self-transcendence needed for living in a spiritual community?

3. Reading:

I'm reading from the Faith and Practice of North Pacific Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

[Early] Quakerism was not an individualistic faith. Quakers trusted God’s Spirit to draw each person into her place in the community and expected her and her gifts to flourish in the context of being loved, loving, and serving in that body. The individual became fully herself only as she experienced her connection to the community. To be cut off from the body was to lose one’s source of life and to wither and die spiritually. ~Margaret Benefiel, 1996

Un-self-centered behavior is hard for humans. It’s especially hard today because popular modern psychology ... encourages self-fulfillment and self-assertion as priorities that – without great care – can foster self-centeredness. These cultural priorities are one reason for the need for communities with a commitment or covenant to aspire to self-transcendence rather than self- fulfillment, to mutuality as well as a personal relationship with the Divine. Spiritual communities are where we practice the counter-cultural behaviors of living love with others committed to the same struggle, where we encourage and admonish one another in tenderness. ~Patricia Loring, 1999 

4. Community goals for 2022:

I'm just beginning the work of setting goals and resolutions for the New Year. My theme for today is Community. 

My ideas so far for community goals next year:

• Define my role in each of my activist communities and a set of guidelines for myself.
• Find ways to model and teach self-transcendence rather that self-fulfillment with my Quaker community.
• Ritualize a daily love awareness habit: Set individual "virtuous love goals" for each community, so that I grow in a useful way. 

5. Map and Plan Renewal Habits:

At the third-quarter moon each month I make a plan for self-renewal - a steady and persistent nurturance of the physical, mental, and spiritual parts of myself, but at the end of each year, I take a deeper look, and set some goals for the new year.

Physical self-care involves eating well, exercising, sleeping enough, playing, and also, because it's part of physical survival, budgeting, saving, and spending within my means.

-What self-care habits do I consistently practice that nurture and support my physical health? 

-What self-care habits do I most need to add now in my life, to give me greater energy and increase my health and well-being?

-What is holding me back from practicing these?

Mental nurturance comes in the form of life-long learning - the process of acquiring and expanding knowledge and skills throughout my life. Learning is just as nurturing as is eating good food; if you give your brain something fascinating and challenging to digest, in small bites, you will be amazed at the insights and ideas that will bubble up, and the new mental strength and clarity you will gain. 

-What are my present interests and projects that might benefit from some research? What current events or issues do I wonder about?

-What new skills might be useful? How might I like to better myself?

-What are my favorite ways to learn (books, podcasts, classes, experimentation...)?

Spiritual nurturance has (at least) four parts: Awareness practices, such as meditation or journaling, virtue habits, soul searching, which is the ongoing quest to understand your purpose and intentions, and opening to God or a higher power. Spiritual growth is the basis for a better and more harmonious life, a life of calmness, clarity, courage, and inner strength. 

What kinds of awareness practices have worked for me in the past? What new kinds of practices sound fun and fascinating?

What virtuous habits and behaviors would I like to try to build, that will help me to act with greater love and responsibility, and will also renew my soul?

What practices would help me to get a better picture of my purpose in life, who I want to be, and what I want to contribute?

What practices would help me to open to a Higher Power, or the possibility of a Higher Power?

Today I will begin to brainstorm a broad set of renewal habits, including those that I practice now, and those that would, if added, make a difference in my life, and a comprehensive set of possible subjects of learning that covers every area of personal interest, each of my life priorities, inner and outer areas of study, new skills, and current events.