After Christmas . . . Kwanzaa

I was never a holiday kind of guy.

Perhaps it was because we observed few holiday rituals of any kind. Although we put up a Christmas tree every year, there was no ceremony to it--no drinking of eggnog or listening to carols while hanging ornaments. To me, the tree seemed more or less like another piece of furniture.

During the past few years, however, the holiday season has taken on a new meaning for me as my family sits at the dinner table the week following Christmas to celebrate Kwanzaa. This cultural observance for black Americans and others of African descent was created in 1966 by Maulana (Ron) Karenga, now chairman of black studies at California State University Long Beach.

Kwanzaa is a word coined by Karenga from Swahili to mean “first fruits of the harvest.” There is no festival of that name in any African society, but Karenga synthesized elements from many African harvest festivals to create a unique celebration now observed by more than 5 million Americans.

When I first told my wife I was thinking about observing Kwanzaa, she barred the way to our attic and said she’d never chuck our Christmas tree lights and antique ornaments. I told her that wouldn’t be necessary. Kwanzaa, which runs from Dec. 26 to New Year’s Day, does not replace Christmas and is not a religious holiday. It is a time to focus on Africa and African-inspired culture and to reinforce a value system that goes back for generations.

Like many people, I was introduced to Kwanzaa by chance in late December a few years back. I was visiting the American Museum of Natural History when I heard the sibilant sound of African rattles. It was coming from a dance performance, part of the Kwanzaa celebration that has been held annually at the museum since 1978.

The holiday didn’t make much of an impression on me then, but I returned to it after the birth of my son. I wanted him to have a three-dimensional sense of his African heritage. I wanted him to experience the pride of learning about the sublime Russian poet Aleksander Pushkin, the extraordinary American composer Duke Ellington, and Alexandre Dumas, author of “The Three Musketeers.” I wanted him to learn about the West African medieval empires and about African explorers and inventors.

I wanted him to understand that through tenacity, hard work and purposefulness, blacks have flourished as well as survived. I wanted to train him to look for opportunity, and to prepare for it. And I wanted to have a forum for showing him examples of past successes, and for showing him that those people inevitably gave back to the black community in particular and to the general community in which they lived.

I thought about my goals for my son and decided that Kwanzaa was the best lens through which to view the landscape of the African diaspora and the lessons it has to teach. Because it is only one week long and because it climaxes with a glorious feast, Kwanzaa has an intensity and focus that provides the perfect atmosphere for my son to experience the joys of being black. Kwanzaa also has the celebratory aspect that will provide memories for him--and now my daughter--to savor as adults and to pass on to their children.

When my family lights the black, red and green Kwanzaa candles the last week of December, we do so with millions of other black Americans around the nation. Major community celebrations are held in just about every city that has any kind of black population.

Our first meal consisted of dishes that brought forth sweet memories of my childhood. I remember helping my grandmother make collard greens and I remembered sorting the black-eyed peas for the Hoppin’ John she cooked. I remember visiting West Africa when I was 18 and tasting the spicy tingle of peanut soup for the first time. And, of course, there was a lifetime of corn bread.

Like my family’s Christmas, our Kwanzaa tends to be a small celebration comprising our nuclear family of four. After our Kwanzaa meal, I relate the biography of a black man or woman or tell of a black folk tale, myth or historical event that illustrates one of the seven principles (see “A Kwanzaa Primer”).

During my family’s Kwanzaa we don’t drink from the unity cup, but rather pour a small libation into it and leave it in the center of the table. And we prefer to use free-standing candles instead of putting them in a kinara.

That may change, however, with this coming Kwanzaa or the Kwanzaa after that. Since the celebration of Kwanzaa is only a quarter of a century old this year, it is still very dynamic, and I know Kwanzaa is destined to transform further as African-Americans calibrate their observances to what they are comfortable with and to the needs of their individual families.

It took several years for me to feel comfortable saying “happy Kwanzaa.” But I think that is only natural. Any holiday, and the rituals that go with it, derives its symbolic and social power from its cultural context. It takes time for a cultural context to crystallize.

CATHERINE BAILEY’S BOUNTIFUL BLACK BEAN SOUP

1 pound dried black beans, rinsed and picked over

4 quarts chicken stock, homemade or canned

1 bunch celery with leaves, chopped

1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped

2 large onions, chopped

Grated zest of 1 large lemon

1/4 cup lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 large lemon, thinly sliced, then slices quartered

Place beans in large saucepan. Add enough water to cover beans by 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat. Boil 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, cover tightly and let stand 1 hour. (Or soak beans overnight in large bowl with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch.) Drain.

Combine beans in 5-quart Dutch oven or soup kettle with chicken broth, celery, carrots, onions and lemon zest. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, until liquid is just below surface of beans and ingredients are very tender, 2 1/2 to 3 hours.

Using slotted spoon, transfer soup solids in batches to food processor and puree. Transfer puree to large bowl and add cooking liquid. (Or puree solids and liquid together in blender. Or force soup through coarse sieve or pass it through food mill, discarding skins.)

Return soup to Dutch oven. Stir in lemon juice, salt and pepper and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until heated through. Place lemon quarter in bottom of each bowl. Pour in soup and serve immediately. Makes about 3 quarts or 10 to 12 servings.

Each serving contains about:

159 calories; 1,553 mg sodium; 2 mg cholesterol; 3 grams fat; 21 grams carbohydrates; 13 grams protein; 1.98 grams fiber; 15% calories from fat.

DEE DEE DAILEY’S NEW TRADITION JOLOF RICE

1 cup dried black-eye peas, rinsed and picked over

3 quarts water

1/3 cup oil

1 (3-pound) chicken, cut into 8 pieces

2 large onions, chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3 tablespoons grated peeled ginger root

1 tablespoon curry powder

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 1/2 cups canned crushed tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups long-grain brown rice

8 medium carrots, cut into 1/2-inch-thick rounds

1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 2-inch lengths

Place black-eye peas in large saucepan. Add enough water to cover black-eye peas by 1 inch. Bring to boil over high heat and cook 1 minute. Remove pan from heat, cover tightly and let stand 1 hour. (Or soak peas overnight in large bowl with enough cold water to cover by 1 inch.) Drain well.

Place black-eye peas in 5-quart Dutch oven and add 3 quarts water. Bring to boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium and cook 15 minutes. Drain peas in colander set over large bowl, reserving both peas and 4 cups cooking liquid. Discard remaining cooking liquid.

Heat oil in 5-quart flame-proof casserole. Add chicken in batches and cook over medium-high heat, turning often, until browned on all sides, about 6 minutes per batch. Using tongs, transfer chicken to plate and set aside.

Add onions, garlic and ginger to casserole and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until tender, about 4 minutes. Add curry powder and cayenne and stir 1 minute. Stir in reserved cooking liquid, tomatoes, tomato paste and salt. Bring to boil. Stir in brown rice, reserved black-eye peas and carrots and return to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Cover and cook 10 minutes. Return chicken to casserole. Cover and cook 15 minutes.

Stir green beans into rice mixture. Bake, covered, at 400 degrees until rice is tender and chicken shows no sign of pink at bone when prodded with tip of sharp knife, about 30 minutes. Remove casserole from oven and let stand 15 minutes before serving. Makes 8 servings.

Each serving contains about:

441 calories; 456 mg sodium; 59 mg cholesterol; 19 grams fat; 42 grams carbohydrates; 26 grams protein; 2.39 grams fiber; 40% calories from fat.