Kwanzaa And Ashura

Yesterday was Kwanzaa . Each candle stands for the following principles:


Umoja [OO-MO-JAH] ("U-N-I-T-Y"  Queen Latifah) - To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, race. (Black Candle) "There is a battle to be fought, there are obstacles to be overcome. There is a world struggle for human dignity to be won. Let us address ourselves seriously to the supreme tasks that lie ahead." Kwame Nkrumah
Kujichagulia [KOO-GEE-CHA-GOO-LEE-YAH] (Self-Determination) - To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves instead of being defined, named, created for and spoken for by others. (Red Candle)
"Up you mighty race, you can accomplish what you will." Marcus Mosiah Garvey
Ujima [OO-GEE-MAH] (Creative Work & Responsibility) - To build and maintain our community together and make our sisters' and brothers' problems our problems and solve them together. (Green Candle)
"I freed thousands of slaves, I could have freed thousands more, if they had known they were slaves." Harriet Ross Tubman
Ujamaa [OO-JAH-MAH] (Cooperative Economics) - To build and maintain our own stores and other businesses and to profit from them together. (Red Candle)
"I am not a millionaire, but I hope to be some day, not for the money, but because I could do so much to help my race." Madame C.J. Walker
Nia [NEE-YAH] (Purpose) - To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. (Green Candle)
"Policies change, programs change, according to time. But objectives never changes. You might change your method of achieving the objective, but the objective never changes. Our objective is complete freedom, complete justice, complete equality, by any means necessary." Malcolm X
Kuumba [KOO-OOM-BAH] (Creativity) - To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. (Red Candle)
"Potential powers of creativity are within us and we have the duty to work asssduously to discover these powers." Martin Luther King, Jr.
Imani [EE-MAH-NEE] (Faith) - To believe with all our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. (Green Candle)
"Keep the faith, baby." Adam Clayton Powell, Jr.
Quotes from Pyramid Design Enterprises' KWANZAA MOBILE

Today is Ashura .  

Ashura (10 Muharram)

Find this year's date in the multifaith calendar
Ashura has been a day of fasting for Sunni Muslims since the days of the early Muslim community. It marks two historical events: the day Nuh (Noah) left the Ark, and the day that Musa (Moses) was saved from the Egyptians by Allah.
Shi'a Muslim men at the Ashura procession in London in 2002 © Shi'a Muslims in particular use the day to commemorate the martyrdom of Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet, in 680 CE.
In Shi'ite communities this is a solemn day: plays re-enacting the martyrdom are often staged and many take part in mourning rituals.
Every year in London Shi'a Muslims gather for a mourning procession and speeches at Marble Arch. The procession attracts up to 3000 men, women and children from many different ethnic backgrounds.  

The paintings of Moses parting the Red Sea and Noah are by Dr, He Qi .