NPR: A Holiday Multimedia Roundup

A Holiday Multimedia Roundup

A dancer from the Ethiopian Ambassador's Children's Group performs for a Kwanzaa celebration.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

Nothing like some good multimedia to get you in the holiday spirit.

Today's the first day of Kwanzaa, a seven-day cultural holiday celebrating African commonality. The Baltimore Sun did a Web package this month. Check out the clever quiz designed to give a primer on the under-covered holiday.

For those of you still in the Christmas mood, check out the Magnum Group's breathtaking photography. December 25 in black and white.

Also, my geeky side loves timelapse slideshows. Check out Gail Jewel and her husband Richard Murphy setting up their Christmas decorations in 1:40 minutes. Thanks, Washingtonpost.com.

Pauline Bartolone

9:03 AM ET | 12-26-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

My wife is Kenyan. As such, she speaks Swahili fluently. So let's dispel a few myths about the "celebration" of Kwanzaa. First, the name. "Kwanzaa" does not mean "first fruits." It means simply "first." It is normally an adjective, although, just as in English, can be a noun: e.g., "Gari ni kwanzaa yangu" (This car is my first.) Any "Kamusi la Kiswahili" (Swahili Dictionary) could tell you that much. So, by virtue of the poor translation, this holiday is flawed.

Next, it can't celebrate African commonality because Africans don't celebrate it. If they do, it's only as an export from America and not an organic celebration. The fact that, I, an Irish-American, have to explain to my brother-in-law, a Kenyan-American, what "Kwanzaa" is --aside from the dictionary meaning he already knows-- says all which need be said of the non-Africanness of the "celebration."

Now, I could go into the fact that the founder collaborated with the FBI to try to turn the Civil Rights Movement violent. And I could mention the non-too-subtle Marxism of some of the "virtues." But, the points I made should be enough to discredit the "holiday."

Sent by Matthew Scallon | 7:30 PM ET | 12-27-2007

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