End of ADS-L Digest - 20 Dec 1995 to 21 Dec 1995 ************************************************ There are 13 messages totalling 673 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. Kwanzaa 2. WOTY from David Barnhart (4) 3. Algeo/Barnhart WOTYs - sidebar 4. sidebar 5. Algeo/Barnhart WOTYs (5) 6. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Fri, 22 Dec 1995 01:29:29 -0600 From: "Salikoko S. Mufwene" Subject: Kwanzaa In message Thu, 21 Dec 95 11:14:59 EST, murphy!acmcr!vr[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]prism.uchicago.edu (Vicki Rosenzweig) writes: > As far as I know, Kwanzaa is not celebrated anywhere in Africa: > it was invented in the United States sometime around 1970. Thanks to Vicki, I finally decided to check "Kwanzaa" with a Tanzanian friend on mine, because I just assumed that this may be a Tanzanian tradition. Reason? I have attended about three Kwanzaa-related presentations in the past six years and every presenter claims that the tradition was copied from/inspired by something done in Tanzania and the name is Swahili. My firend says she knows of no such celebration in East Africa, even though the word "Kwanzaa" is Swahili. I still wonder whether the tradition was invented ex-nihilo, without a distant model other than traditions which celebrate the new year. The closest model, according to my friend, is harvesting festivities, which follow a different protocol. Doesn't this fall in the category of syncretisms, albeit a planned one? Happy holidays, Sali. ********************************************************************** Salikoko S. Mufwene s-mufwene[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu University of Chicago 312-702-8531; FAX: 312-702-9861 Department of Linguistics 1010 East 59th Street Chicago, IL 60637 **********************************************************************