We hope everyone’s summer is going well! This month, we chose to highlight Krishna Janmashtami and Marcus Garvey Day. Join us as we shine a light on these two events.
Krishna Janmashtami, also called Gokulashtami, is one of the most important deities and annual Hindu festivals. This festival celebrates the birth of Krishna and the eight incarnations of the God Vishnu, also known as the God of Preservation. This year, the event is celebrated on August 26 and corresponds to the eighth day of Bhadon in the Hindu calendar. This festival date varies annually between July, August and September.
During these celebrations, Hindus fast and offer prayers to Lord Krishna and Laddoo Gopal Ji. Devotees also clean and decorate their homes, especially the puja room, a room dedicated to prayer and worship. Each room has an idol that they adorn with jewelry and garlands. The festival is a time when one should avoid cruelty and Tamasic activities such as being rude or reckless. The fast allows only tea, sweet lassi and buttermilk.
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Marcus Garvey (1887 – 1940) was born and raised in Saint Ann’s Bay, Jamaica. He is known as the founder of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA), the Negro World Newspaper and the Black Star Shipping Company. Garvey was a civil rights activist whose message was to achieve black nationalism through the celebration of African history and culture. His philosophy and various organizations combined religious components with political and economic characteristics.
Garvey is best remembered as a champion of the back-to-Africa movement and the originator of the “black is beautiful” movement. During his life, he was hailed as a redeemer and received the nickname “Black Moses” for trying to lead his people to freedom.
Due to questionable business practices to fund his enterprises, J. Edgar Hoover, head of the FBI hired a black agent to spy on Garvey. In 1922, Garvey was indicted for mail fraud and served part of a five-year prison term before being deported in 1927 to Jamaica. Garvey passed away at the age of 52 on June 10, 1940.
Upcoming IDEAs Council topics:
September – Suicide Prevention Month and Mexican Independence Day
October – Filipino-American Heritage Month and the beginning of Navratri
November – Diabetes Awareness Month and World Freedom Day