FESTIVUS FOR THE RESTUVUS. I consider myself a rather festive person. I acknowledge and celebrate just about all of the major holidays. My personal favorite is Thanksgiving because it involves family and a really good meal, but I digress. In a world that is becoming more and more politically correct, just about every holiday is under attack! I consider Halloween the start of the holiday season, because let's face it - here in America we love Halloween. I think it's cool to take a day of the year to ham it up, and wear whatever you want. As an adult who celebrates Halloween, the inspiration and creativity behind the costumes are what interest me most. However, there are some people who choose not to celebrate Halloween because of it's orgin. It's believed that it was a day to celebrate spirits (bad ones I presume). It used to be called 'All Hallows Eve'. I won't pretend to be well researched on the topic 1- because i'm feeling a bit lazy at the mo, and 2- I don't really care. To me, a holiday is what you make it. Am I ok with devil worshiping? No. I grew up in a devoutly Christian household, but my parents simply introduced Halloween as a time to be creative and dress up in whatever silly costume I could think of. And for doing so, you get loads of candy. Jackpot! Who doesn't want to go to school dressed as a fairy princess? This was my time to shine! To me, it's a day where a kid gets to be a kid and nothing more (As an adult, it's an excuse for more drunken debauchery and for girls to dress as whores. Who doesn't love that?!) On to Thanksgiving. There's the question of whether or not we should celebrate the arrival of the Mayflower since genocide of Native Americans ensued promptly after the meal. This one strikes a nerve as a descendant of disenfranchised people (wait, currently disenfranchised people, my dear AA's) but I do love a good meal, and no one at in my family is thinking about the camaraderie between the Pilgrims and Native Americans when we're hand in hand in prayer surrounding a shiny turkey and a bowl of collard greens. Trust this!! Thanksgiving is about thanking God and each other for being a blessing in your life, and the ability to share it with each other. Moving on the Christmas. Remember that ludicrous attack on Christmas a couple of years ago? "Merry Christmas" was no longer appropriate for retailers. It had to be "Happy Holidays. They even wanted to do away with the Christmas tree by calling it a "Holiday tree". This was just utterly ridic! The tree is just a pagan symbol that somehow became attached to Christmas throughout the years, it has no sacred meaning. So why would it ruffle the feathers of non-Christians? If you don't celebrate Christmas, then you were ignoring Christmas in it's entirety. I seriously doubt that Johnnny Atheist wanted desperately to light candles and sing at Rockefeller Plaza - but didn't do so because that enormous plant in the middle of the Square was being referred to as a Christmas tree. And this movement wasn't brought on by the Jewish because as far as I've seen, they've been quite content with Chanukah for the past forever. So to me, it was all unnecessary media hype that these corporations bought in to. I'm telling you, the media is dangerous (but keep reading my blog). Anyway, I'd guess that less than 10% of my fellow AA's celebrate Kwanzaa. More are leary of it because of the rumor that it was intended as an alternative celebration for Christmas (Not true, by the way). I believe a great majority is indifferent to it, and the rest don't even know what it is. I began celebrating Kwanzaa in high school through a youth organization I was involved with. I don't need to take part in a libation ceremony every year, but I do appreciate the principles that it promotes; unity (Umoja), faith (Imani), and self determination (Kujichagulia) to name a few. I don't know that anyone has a problem with New Years'. Oh, except for maybe the Chinese, who believe it's some time in February. I could go on - Valentine's Day is a scam created for the sole benefit for the card-making companies, Black History Month is now irrelevant and obsolete (you'll hear more from me about this one) and of course the protest of some major companies giving their employees Good Friday off. Who is the hater in your office that is complaining about a day off? You didn't hear me complaining about Columbus day (another celebration of impending genocide) when I was a government employee. I celebrated it as a day to sleep in! Wow this post is long!