Juneteenth Federal Holiday
Jun. 17th, 2021 04:19 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ysabetwordsmithJuneteenth is now a federal holiday. \o/ Read about its history and how to celebrate it.
Traditional foods play a starring role. Soul food is a blend of historic African foods and what people could get in America. Bear in mind that the African food pyramid is the only one with a base of dark leafy greens.
* Red drink is, literally, any ruddy beverage. Most often, it's some flavor of red soda. There are healthier options. Consider cranberry juice, strawberry lemonade, V8 juice, or hibiscus flower drink. The latter exists in many variations around Africa and the Middle East as a hospitality beverage.
* Many red fruits and vegetables are in season. That makes them fresh, nutritious, and cheap.
* There are two historic versions of red velvet cake that use kitchen chemistry, not food coloring. One relies on a chemical reaction in non-alkalized cocoa powder. The other uses beets. If neither of these appeals, you can also use other red foods to achieve the color.
* Red beans and rice has many variations. Here's one to feed a crowd.
* There are many hot sauce recipes and ways to eat it. Bear in mind that peppers are often high in nutrients. A blazing sauce may not add much, but a mild sauce devoured by the half-cup gives a definite boost.
* Barbecue can be healthy or indulgent. If you don't want extra calories from sauce, choose a dry rub for flavor instead. If you want it red, use one based on a ruddy spice such as paprika. However, "blackened" is another leading favorite, especially on fish and chicken. Here you don't want too much red, and a little sugar helps darken the color.
* Enjoy some dark leafy greens. We love the Alan's Going Green smoothie minus the jalapeño and using a kiwi instead of a lime.
* Many foods associated with luck and prosperity appear both at New Year's and Juneteenth.
* Honor your ancestors with traditional African foods. (It doesn't matter what you look like. All humans trace back to Africa.) Enjoy some recipes. This is our favorite recipe for adalu, a Nigerian dish made with honey beans.
Traditional foods play a starring role. Soul food is a blend of historic African foods and what people could get in America. Bear in mind that the African food pyramid is the only one with a base of dark leafy greens.
* Red drink is, literally, any ruddy beverage. Most often, it's some flavor of red soda. There are healthier options. Consider cranberry juice, strawberry lemonade, V8 juice, or hibiscus flower drink. The latter exists in many variations around Africa and the Middle East as a hospitality beverage.
* Many red fruits and vegetables are in season. That makes them fresh, nutritious, and cheap.
* There are two historic versions of red velvet cake that use kitchen chemistry, not food coloring. One relies on a chemical reaction in non-alkalized cocoa powder. The other uses beets. If neither of these appeals, you can also use other red foods to achieve the color.
* Red beans and rice has many variations. Here's one to feed a crowd.
* There are many hot sauce recipes and ways to eat it. Bear in mind that peppers are often high in nutrients. A blazing sauce may not add much, but a mild sauce devoured by the half-cup gives a definite boost.
* Barbecue can be healthy or indulgent. If you don't want extra calories from sauce, choose a dry rub for flavor instead. If you want it red, use one based on a ruddy spice such as paprika. However, "blackened" is another leading favorite, especially on fish and chicken. Here you don't want too much red, and a little sugar helps darken the color.
* Enjoy some dark leafy greens. We love the Alan's Going Green smoothie minus the jalapeño and using a kiwi instead of a lime.
* Many foods associated with luck and prosperity appear both at New Year's and Juneteenth.
* Honor your ancestors with traditional African foods. (It doesn't matter what you look like. All humans trace back to Africa.) Enjoy some recipes. This is our favorite recipe for adalu, a Nigerian dish made with honey beans.
Holidays
Date: 2021-06-18 02:56 am (UTC)Re: Holidays
Date: 2021-06-18 03:13 am (UTC)I thought about that too.
Then I thought of some other things.
* It's a holiday that will give people another day of rest and a chance to be with their families.
* Federal holidays are more likely than social ones to be recognized with public events, which raises awareness and encourages interaction.
* It's an opportunity to share a feast. Food is bonding.
* Anyone can choose to participate. I chipped in with a food list, because I love African and soul food. Somebody else could do a book list. The more people participate, even if it's as simple as putting up a "Happy Juneteenth" poster at work, the more inclusive society becomes.
* I'm impressed that it got made official, because it's so rare for black people to get to choose their own special occasions, and have that recognized.
* Also it's kind of embarrassing for America that it took an extra 2 years to finish what the Emancipation Proclamation started. That's always going to be fun to poke at. I like doing mischief with history.
* In the end, any holiday is what people make of it. This one can be as concrete as we choose. It's only mouthnoise if people choose for it to be nothing more than that. And everyone gets a vote in how they observe it.
Re: Holidays
Date: 2021-06-18 04:14 am (UTC)I agree. Like I said before, we desperately need more holidays. I hate to be so mercenary about it, though.
>>Federal holidays are more likely than social ones to be recognized with public events, which raises awareness and encourages interaction.<<
Very true. And people have to explain to kids why school is closed, even if they don't want to talk about it. Actually, that'll be interesting, that's right near the end of the school year in places that run September-June, and I'm sure the schools will not love adding a holiday during finals week or post-finals-week.
>>I'm impressed that it got made official, because it's so rare for black people to get to choose their own special occasions, and have that recognized.<<
Yeah, that's true. It's kind of like corporate Pride. Like, queer dollars are worth courting now, and that's something even if it's manipulative nonsense. If the appearance of being better is desirable, it's better than not that, I guess. I think this headache might be an incipient migraine; this wording is annoyingly clumsy..
>>Also it's kind of embarrassing for America that it took an extra 2 years to finish what the Emancipation Proclamation started. That's always going to be fun to poke at. I like doing mischief with history.<<
Yeah, that's hilarious. Horrible, but oh my god so on-brand.
>>In the end, any holiday is what people make of it. This one can be as concrete as we choose. It's only mouthnoise if people choose for it to be nothing more than that. And everyone gets a vote in how they observe it.<<
True. I often wish I was better at holidays. Like, I can't just go out to parades and stuff. Well, I can, but I prefer not to be in pain, so I don't. So most holidays I just end up spending at home, recovering from work and maybe writing. Even my own frikin holidays I miss most of the time, because... I've half typed out half a dozen explanations, and I'm not happy with any of them. But the fact remains that most of the time I don't do anything. It's not like it's possible to miss the fact that Samhain or Yule is coming up, and I'm usually pretty good with time anyway, but here we are. At least I'm consistent, I guess.
(no subject)
Date: 2021-06-18 01:38 pm (UTC)We don't follow all Federal Holidays, and then we throw in the Friday before Easter! That one I could definitely live without. I've never known that one to be a holiday. MLK is not a holiday for us, either, it'll be interesting to see if Juneteenth becomes one. Since summer is so slow, it could be one.
Thoughts
Date: 2021-06-18 05:35 pm (UTC)However! A library can easily honor any holiday with a book display that can be thrown together in a few minutes. If they won't let you do a display on such short notice, then find a list of books about Juneteenth and other African-American topics, write Happy Juneteenth on it, and set it on the circulation desk or recommended reading area. For next year, when you'll have more time to prepare, talk about getting someone do to a reading or have a book circle meet, and put up a whole display.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-06-18 06:18 pm (UTC)We do some displays, we may do more since we are about to have a change in leadership. We'll be finding out soon: our director's last week is next week. Reading groups are more a public library thing, maybe large academics do such. We're a tiny academic, during the summer we're lucky to have more than a half-dozen people through our gate daily.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-06-18 06:41 pm (UTC)I wish you luck with that.
>> Reading groups are more a public library thing, maybe large academics do such. We're a tiny academic, during the summer we're lucky to have more than a half-dozen people through our gate daily.<<
It depends on topic, traffic, and space. A larger facility may have more room to do special programming. At my college, in addition to the big libraries, there were lots of small ones scattered around wherever they would fit. Literally. The Women's Studies Library was crammed into a room or two of the WS building. There was a map library in some other building. One of the English specialty libraries was in one of its department buildings but that was a bigger space. So their support was usually reading lists on a desk or wall and then the activities would be the nearest space they could find, not a regular book club like a public library, but guest speakers and chat meets for special occasions.
Given a local population of topic-interested people, they'll come in for an event. If you have a reading room or study room, that makes activities a lot more feasible. If you're working in a tiny space, either you have to stick with displays only, or find function space elsewhere. *ponder* Or set up a virtual chatroom or bulletin board, if your library has a website.
Re: Thoughts
Date: 2021-06-18 07:13 pm (UTC)Right now we no longer have a webmaster: massive budget-cut shortly after Covid hit last year. We're getting an entire web replacement later this year, we don't have a clue at the mo what the new one will be like or how much control individual groups will have over their portions. With our director retiring, I'm talking with my co-worker who is becoming "Library Coordinator" about various things that we could do, but with our budget being frozen, we don't know what will be happening over the next fiscal year. Our library is very small: our stacks are 42'x52', with a similar space for tables, computers and study rooms. Not a huge place.