Hell-I-Days

Give thanks to our Brother Scholar Ishakamusa Barashango for his research in this area. Check out his book:

Afrikan People and European Holidays: A Mental Genocide Book 1 and 2

“Christopher Colombus is a symbol, not of a man, but of imperialism. Imperialism and colonialism are not something that happened decades ago or generations ago, but they are still happening now with the exploitation of people. … The kind of thing that took place long ago in which people were dispossessed from their land and forced out of subsistence economies and into market economies — those processes are still happening today.”

-John Mohawk, Seneca, 1992

Colombus was a sadistic rapist, exploiter and conqueror. He did not discover America, he pillaged a land of many nations that he found already inhabited. The best thing we can say about Colombus is that he’s dead. -JC

for more info check the book….

“Christopher Colombus & The African Holocaust”

by John Henrik Clarke

http://www.transformcolumbusday.org/

The modern holiday of Halloween may have its origins in the ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain. The festival of Samhain is a celebration of the end of the harvest season in Gaelic culture, and is sometimes erroneously regarded as the “Celtic New Year”. Traditionally, the festival was a time used by the ancient pagans to take stock of supplies and slaughter livestock for winter stores. The ancient Gaels believed that on October 31, the boundaries between the worlds of the living and the dead overlapped and the deceased would come back to life and cause havoc such as sickness or damaged crops. The festivals would frequently involve bonfires, where the bones of slaughtered livestock were thrown. Costumes and masks were also worn at the festivals in an attempt to mimic the evil spirits or placate them. When the Romans occupied Celtic territory, several Roman traditions were also incorporated into the festivals. Feralia, a day celebrated in late October by the Romans for the passing of the dead as well as a festival which celebrated the Roman Goddess Pomona, the goddess of fruit were incorporated into the celebrations. The symbol of Pomona was an apple, which is a proposed origin for the tradition of bobbing for apples on Halloween.

Frank James speech: http://www.nativevillage.org/Inspiration-/Thanksgiving%20The%20National%20Day%20of%20Mourning.htm

True Story of First “Thanksgiving”

Most of us associate the holiday with happy Pilgrims and Indians sitting down to a big feast. And that did happen – once.

The story began in 1614 when a band of English explorers sailed home to England with a ship full of Patuxet Indians bound for slavery. They left behind smallpox which virtually wiped out those who had escaped. By the time the Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts Bay they found only one living Patuxet Indian, a man named Squanto who had survived slavery in England and knew their language. He taught them to grow corn and to fish, and negotiated a peace treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag Nation. At the end of their first year, the Pilgrims held a great feast honoring Squanto and the Wampanoags.

But as word spread in England about the paradise to be found in the new world, religious zealots called Puritans began arriving by the boat load. Finding no fences around the land, they considered it to be in the public domain. Joined by other British settlers, they seized land, capturing strong young Natives for slaves and killing the rest. But the Pequot Nation had not agreed to the peace treaty Squanto had negotiated and they fought back. The Pequot War was one of the bloodiest Indian wars ever fought.

In 1637 near present day Groton, Connecticut, over 700 men, women and children of the Pequot Tribe had gathered for their annual Green Corn Festival which is our Thanksgiving celebration. In the predawn hours the sleeping Indians were surrounded by English and Dutch mercenaries who ordered them to come outside. Those who came out were shot or clubbed to death while the terrified women and children who huddled inside the longhouse were burned alive. The next day the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony declared “A Day Of Thanksgiving” because 700 unarmed men, women and children had been murdered.

Cheered by their “victory”, the brave colonists and their Indian allies attacked village after village. Women and children over 14 were sold into slavery while the rest were murdered. Boats loaded with a many as 500 slaves regularly left the ports of New England. Bounties were paid for Indian scalps to encourage as many deaths as possible.

Following an especially successful raid against the Pequot in what is now Stamford, Connecticut, the churches announced a second day of “thanksgiving” to celebrate victory over the heathen savages. During the feasting, the hacked off heads of Natives were kicked through the streets like soccer balls. Even the friendly Wampanoag did not escape the madness. Their chief was beheaded, and his head impaled on a pole in Plymouth, Massachusetts — where it remained on display for 24 years.

The killings became more and more frenzied, with days of thanksgiving feasts being held after each successful massacre. George Washington finally suggested that only one day of Thanksgiving per year be set aside instead of celebrating each and every massacre. Later Abraham Lincoln decreed Thanksgiving Day to be a legal national holiday during the Civil War — on the same day he ordered troops to march against the starving Sioux in Minnesota.

This story doesn’t have quite the same fuzzy feelings associated with it as the one where the Indians and Pilgrims are all sitting down together at the big feast. But we need to learn our true history so it won’t ever be repeated. Next Thanksgiving, when you gather with your loved ones to Thank God for all your blessings, think about those people who only wanted to live their lives and raise their families. They, also took time out to say “thank you” to Creator for all their blessings.

Metacomet

Metacom was the 2nd son of Massasoit. He became a chief in 1662 when his brother Wamsutta (or King Alexander) died.

Wamsutta’s widow Weetamoo (d. 1676), sachem of the Pocassets, was his ally and friend for the rest of her life. Metacom married Weetamoo’s younger sister Wootonekanuske.

At first he sought to live in harmony with the colonists. As a sachem, he took the lead in much of his tribes’ trade with the colonies. He adopted the European name of Philip, and bought his clothes in Boston, Massachusetts.

But the colonies continued to expand. To the west, the Iroquois Confederation continued expanding, pushing hostile tribes east, thereby encroaching on his territory.

Finally, in 1671 the colonial leaders of the Plymouth Colony forced major concessions from him. He surrendered much of his tribe’s armament and ammunition, and agreed that they were subject to English law. The encroachment continued until actual hostilities broke out in 1675.

Metacomet hurried to catch up with his warriors, to lead them in the uprising that would later bear his name. Mary Rowlandson, who was taken captive during a raid on Lancaster, Massachusetts, wrote about a meeting with Metacomet during her captivity.

When the war eventually turned against him, he took refuge in the great Assowamset Swamp in southern Rhode Island. Here he held out for a time, with his family and remaining followers.

Hunted by a group of rangers lead by Captain Benjamin Church, he was fatally shot by Praying Indian John Alderman, on August 12, 1676, on Mount Hope in Bristol, Rhode Island. After his death, his wife and eight-year-old son were captured and sold as slaves in Bermuda, while his head was mounted on a pike at the entrance to Fort Plymouth where it remained for over two decades. In the short story The Devil and Daniel Webster Metacomet is fictionally shown to have been killed by a blow to the head (he was actually shot in the heart} and is shown to have been a villain to the United States-although in truth he never gave any alleigence to the United States!

Pagan Origins of Christmas

Sinter Klaas

Sinterklaas (also called Sint-Nicolaas in Dutch and Saint Nicolas in French) is a holiday tradition in the Netherlands and Belgium, celebrated every year on Saint Nicholas’ eve (December 5) or, in Belgium, on the morning of December 6. The feast celebrates the name day of Saint Nicholas, patron saint of, among other things, children.

In the Netherlands, Saint Nicholas’ Eve, (December 5) is the chief occasion for gift-giving. The evening is called pakjesavond (“presents’ evening”). Traditionally, presents are ingeniously wrapped, and are therefore called surprises. Also, presents are traditionally accompanied by a poem from Saint Nicholas.

Sinterklaas is the basis for the North American figure of Santa Claus. It was during the American War of Independence, that the inhabitants of New York City, a former Dutch colonial town (New Amsterdam) which had been swapped by the Dutch for other territories, reinvented their Sinterklaas tradition, as Saint Nicholas was a symbol of the city’s non-English past.[1] The name Santa Claus is derived from older Dutch Sinte Klaas.

Saint Nicholas was a Greek bishop of Myra in present-day Turkey and became the patron saint of children based on various legends that include resurrecting children from death and saving them from prostitution.

Sinterklaas has a long white beard, wears a red bishop’s dress and red mitre (bishop’s hat), and holds a crosier, a long gold coloured staff with a fancy curled top. Sinterklaas carries a big book with all the children’s names in it, which states whether they have been good or naughty (zoet of stout) in the past year.

He also rides a white horse (Schimmel-meaning “white horse”) called Amerigo over the rooftops. In Flanders (Belgium) the horse is sometimes called “Slecht Weer Vandaag”, meaning “Bad Weather Today”. This name is of recent creation and was introduced by the VRT television series “Dag Sinterklaas” written by Hugo Mathyssen (1993). In the series Bart Peeters visits Sinterklaas (Jan Decleir) in his castle and finds out that Sinterklaas had gotten a new horse and couldn’t think of a name. When Zwarte Piet (Frans Van der Aa) entered Sinterklaas’ winter castle, Sinterklaas immediately asked if Zwarte Piet knew a name. Not having heard the question, Zwarte Piet said “Slecht Weer Vandaag”, commenting on the weather. Sinterklaas thought Zwarte Piet was actually naming the horse, and the name stuck.

Zwarte Piet

Sinterklaas is assisted by many mischievous helpers with black faces and colourful outfits, modelled after 16th century Spanish clothing. These helpers are called Zwarte Pieten (Black Petes) in Dutch (see below for names in other languages). During the Middle Ages, Zwarte Piet was a name for the devil. Having triumphed over evil, it was said that on Saint Nicholas’ eve, the devil was shackled and made his slave. Although the character of Black Pete later came to acquire racial connotations, his origins were in the devil figure. This racialisation is reflected in the reworking of the characters’ mythos. From about 1850, Pete was said to be an imported African servant of Saint Nicholas. Today however, a more politically correct explanation is given: Pete’s face is said to be “black from soot” (as Pete has to climb down chimneys to deliver his gifts). Nevertheless, the tradition has been accused of being racist, and attempts have been made to introduce Gekleurde Pieten (Coloured Petes), who are coloured blue, red, etc., instead of black. This phenomenon of “Coloured Petes” was introduced nationally in 2006. The explanation given for this was that “Sinterklaas passed through a rainbow with his boat”.[2]

Traditionally Saint Nicholas only had one helper, whose name varied wildly. “Piet” or “Pieter”, the name in use now, can be traced back to a book from 1891[3]. The idea that Sinterklaas has not one but many helpers was introduced by Canadian soldiers who had liberated the Netherlands during World War II and helped organise the first post-war Sinterklaas celebration.[citation needed]

In other regions where Sinterklaas is celebrated, like southern Belgium or Northern France, Saint Nicholas has different companions.

Pagan Traditions

This quintessentially Christian holiday has pagan roots. Centuries ago, Germanic tribes celebrated the winter solstice by lighting fires and candles and bringing evergreens into their homes to symbolize the returning light and the coming of spring.

Christians, in a bid to convert these “nonbelievers,” followed their timing and adapted their rituals: They designated Dec. 24 as the night of Christ’s birth and made the evergreen tree a symbol of the Christmas holiday.

Pre-Christian origins

Main article: List of winter festivals

A winter festival was traditionally the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included less agricultural work needing to be done during the winter, as well as people expecting longer days and shorter nights after the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere.[8] In part, the Christmas celebration was created by the early Church in order to entice pagan Romans to convert to Christianity without losing their own winter celebrations.[9][8] Certain prominent gods and goddesses of other religions in the region had their birthdays celebrated on December 25, including Ishtar, Sol Invictus and Mithras. Various traditions are considered to have been syncretised from winter festivals including the following:

Saturnalia

Main article: Saturnalia

In Roman times, the best-known winter festival was Saturnalia, which was popular throughout Italy. Saturnalia was a time of general relaxation, feasting, merry-making, and a cessation of formal rules. It included the making and giving of small presents (Saturnalia et Sigillaricia), including small dolls for children and candles for adults.[10] During Saturnalia, business was postponed and even slaves feasted. There was drinking, gambling, and singing, and even public nudity. It was the “best of days,” according to the poet Catullus.[11] Saturnalia honored the god Saturn and began on December 17. The festival gradually lengthened until the late Republican period, when it was seven days (December 17–24). In imperial times, Saturnalia was shortened to five days.[12]

Natalis Solis Invicti

Main article: Sol Invictus

Alleged representation of Christ in the form of the sun-god Helios or Sol Invictus riding in his chariot. Third century mosaic of the Vatican grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica, on the ceiling of the tomb of the Julii.

Alleged representation of Christ in the form of the sun-god Helios or Sol Invictus riding in his chariot. Third century mosaic of the Vatican grottoes under St. Peter’s Basilica, on the ceiling of the tomb of the Julii.

The Romans held a festival on December 25 called Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, “the birthday of the unconquered sun.” The use of the title Sol Invictus allowed several solar deities to be worshipped collectively, including Elah-Gabal, a Syrian sun god; Sol, the god of Emperor Aurelian (AD 270–274); and Mithras, a soldiers’ god of Persian origin.[13] Emperor Elagabalus (218–222) introduced the festival, and it reached the height of its popularity under Aurelian, who promoted it as an empire-wide holiday.[14]

December 25 was also considered to be the date of the winter solstice, which the Romans called bruma.[10] It was therefore the day the Sun proved itself to be “unconquered” despite the shortening of daylight hours. (When Julius Caesar introduced the Julian Calendar in 45 BC, December 25 was approximately the date of the solstice. In modern times, the solstice falls on December 21 or 22.) The Sol Invictus festival has a “strong claim on the responsibility” for the date of Christmas, according to the Catholic Encyclopedia.[1] Several early Christian writers connected the rebirth of the sun to the birth of Jesus[15] “O, how wonderfully acted Providence that on that day on which that Sun was born . . . Christ should be born”, Cyprian wrote.

Frederick Douglas speech: “The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro” http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4h2927t.html

http://www.freemaninstitute.com/douglass.htm