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I have always been fascinated by how people celebrate their Holy Days, their history & traditions. Sometimes there are different meanings for people in the same country, or different religions claim the same days. In America, most of the holidays have a strongly unifying commercial flavor. It is mostly the immigrants who bring their earnest approaches and traditions in order to connect with the land and culture they left behind. And regarding Black people in America, history lessons for all of us seem to be involved. 

(Still by Karina) 


For enslaved African Americans, the holiday season was the best time of year to escape  

– it offered miracles of a practical sort. 

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2021/12/24/christmas-slavery-escape/ 

“Why Christmas was the best time of year to escape slavery” by Gillian Brockell 

 

Excerpt: 

 

On Christmas Eve 1854, Harriet Tubman, the fearless “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, rescued three of her brothers from the plantation near Cambridge, Md., where they were enslaved. Tubman’s brothers had attempted to escape before but had chosen to return to their wives and children. Then the family found out that the brothers’ enslaver planned to sell them just after the holidays. 

 

The brothers had been given passes to have Christmas dinner with their mother, but they never showed up. Instead, their sister led them on a secret path to freedom. 



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