Day No. 7: IMANI - Faith
"The African race is like a rubber ball �
the harder
you knock it to the ground,
the higher it will rise."
� Traditional saying
IMANI (eeMAHnee): Faith � To believe with all
your heart in
yourself, ancestors, leaders, race and the righteousness and victory of the African American struggle.
Affirmation: I have unshakable and invincible faith in GOD
and his goodness. Fear of the unknown, concerns about
the future and regrets about the past are all swept away.
I meet each day with active faith and give thanks for both
expected and unexpected good.
Forgive me elders, but I forgot about this earlier this week.
EVERY Kwanzaa celebration begins with a KUKARIBSHA (Welcome).
This opening statement by the host or eldest person present
and and includes recognition of distinguished guests and all
elders. The Kukaribisha should be preceded by a request
to the elders for permission to begin the ceremony.
IMANI LIBATION
An essential part poured at the beginning of any ritual or event in African society,
a libation is simply a prayer accompanied by an offering.
The libation calls upon and asks blessings from God,
ancestral spirits and family members who have recently passed on.
This long-standing tradition is born of the knowledge that life never dies.
Everything that lives returns to its source.
The source of life � our ancestral heritage � is revealed again and again to the world.
Thus life is a circle. In that circle, there is no distinction between past, present and future.
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| To The Creator, who provides all things great and small, we lift our voice in prayer. |
Ashe.
For The Motherland, cradle of civilization.
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For the mother and father spirits, to our families,
our relatives, our ancestors, long since removed but never departed and their indomitable spirit.
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For the elders from whom we can learn much.
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For our youth, who represent the promise of tomorrow.
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For our people, the original people.
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For our struggle and in remembrance of those who have struggled on our behalf.
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| For Umoja, the principle of unity which should guide us in all that we do.
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Today,the day we celebrate the spirit of Imani (faith).
today, and all other days of the year, we celebrate the spirits of those who have gone before who represent the values of Imani.
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We celebrate the spirits of:
Amenhotep IV of Egypt
- Bob Marley of Jamaica
- Ben Ali Mohamet of the United States.
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We celebrate the spirits of:
(CALL ON YOUR OWN ANCESTORS...)
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| Today and all days, we celebrate the spirits of all those who are here with us.
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On this final day of Kwanzaa, we dedicate ourselves to uphold the values of Imani and all the principles of the Nguzo Saba. In the year and the new century that has just come in, we will have faith in the
future, faith in our people and faith in ourselves that we may work to create a better world.
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Thoughts For Imani
*Believe in the universal laws and practice them daily.
*Recognize the Highest Power and manifest it daily in your life.
*Practice loving � giving love, accepting love and expecting love.
* Accept yourself as you are and live life on your own terms.
* Maintain your morality and humanity.
* Overcome obstacles with faith, courage, endurance and persistence.
* Honor, revere and respect the Divine in yourself. Remember to be nice and expect the best for yourself.
* Speak words with feeling, life and meaning to experience
the desires of your mind. Your words give body to your thoughts.
* Use your imagination to project and clothe your ideas in reality.
* Imagine a successful, prosperous harvest for yourself.
You are what you imagine yourself to be.
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IMANI FOOD FOR THOUGHT:
Still I Rise
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries.
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I'll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Out of the huts of history's shame
I rise
Up from the past that's rooted in pain
I rise
I'm a Black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into the daybreak that's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
Maya Angelou
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TAMSHI LA TUTAONANA (Farewell Statememt)
Each Kwanzaa celebration concludes with a Tamshi la Tutaonana or farewell
statement. This is done by shouting "Harambee (Let's pull together)," a call
to unity, seven times, raising your fist in the air each time.
On the final "Harambee" you hold the final sylable
and holding your fist in the air as well.
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
HARAMBEE!!!!
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