So it turns out that today is the 3rd day of Kwanzaa.
In order to enhance my skills at interpreting, I volunteer when I can. Most of the situations which require interpreters also (by law) require the company to hire certified interpreters, which doesn't leave me a ton of opportunities to practice. One situation where it's not required to hire a certified interpreter is in a church setting, so I have two different churches that I usually alternate interpreting for.
Today the church I went to interpret for (my client didn't show up, but I stayed for most of the service anyway) talked about Kwanzaa.
I don't remember what the native words for each principle and piece are, but I learned that at the Kwanzaa table there are certain items and each item represents a principle of Kwanzaa.
Let's see how I do.
First, there's a 7-candle candle holder (don't even remember what that's called...). There are 7 candles. Three red, three green, and a black one in the middle. Those represent the 7 principles of Kwanzaa.
Each child in the family also gets an ear of corn. The significance of the corn is that each ear of corn grows individually but is attached to the stalk, representing unity, which are two principles of Kwanzaa (individuality and unity). The reason only the children get one is that it represents their future and what they will become.
Around the candle holder is fruit to represent working together, as in a harvest.
Then there are place mats made out of dried corn husks to represent the family ancestors. Each member of the family, plus the candle holder, gets a place mat to tie the generations together, calling to mind the fifth principle of purpose.
Another item on the table is a wooden cup, from which every member of the family drinks to further signify unity and the sixth principle of faith.
The last principle is that of creativity in giving. They give gifts, often home-made to signify creativity and thoughtfulness.
I may have messed some of it up, but I thought it was interesting since I'd never known anything about Kwanzaa. I really wish I could have been there for their other "Celebration of Light" sermons throughout December. They talked about Hanukkah and Christmas as well as Denali and some others I'd never heard of before. I was interpreting at the other church the other weeks though. I've been thinking of somehow incorporating the December holidays into my ASL class so my students can learn about all the different celebrations... Not sure how to do that yet though.
Well, now I'm off to my own church. Hope you enjoyed this little schpeal (however you spell that...).
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Tressa, I finally found you! Alert me so that I know when you've posted something new. Cool!
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