Tag Archives: spirituality
Gullah/Geechee Linking Good Friday and Passover
Several years ago, Afroculinary specialist and expert, Michael Twitty joined us in celebration on St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. He was in the process of completing his book entitled “The Cooking Gene” which takes people on a journey into the pots of the kitchens and yards of our ancestors. So, it was great to hear from Michael who is Jewish just in time for Passover which begin on “Good Friday.” The rituals for both of these spiritual events differ however. Most Christians celebrate Good Friday in preparation for Resurrection Sunday and interestingly enough, while doing so many forget that Jesus was Hebrew / Jewish.
Shoutin with Daniel!
“The spirit you feed is the one that’s gonna thrive.” So, it is time to decide if you have the spirit that Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah had or have you decided that you would prefer to eat the meat of those that feed you in order to keep you in bondage. I gwine keep standin and shoutin wid de shree and wid Daniel! AMEN!
Jayn we fa Shout at de Brick Baptist Church!
Brick Baptist Church and the Gullah/Geechee Sea Island Coalition invite you to join us for a community sing and film screening on Wednesday, August 16 from 6:30-8:30pm at the Brick Baptist Church Annex on St. Helena Island, SC in the Gullah/Geechee Nation. We will share a series of short films about the tradition of lining hymns and their importance today.
Pray-z in the Park at St. Helena Island Community Market
We hope to #SeeYouOnTheGreen for the first Market Day of the month this Saturday, May 6th. We are celebrating Military Appreciation Month as well as Pray-Z-in-the-Park on the center stage. And since it was such a big hit last month, there will be jump rope/double-dutch, hula-hoop, and community chess available all-day at the Market!
Gullah/Geechee Songs and Spiritual Technology
The Spiritual Technologies Project team made a journey to historic St. Helena Island and to Macintosh County in the Gullah/Geechee Nation in order to document the continuing legacy of hymn lining which started in the praise houses and continues to be retained in the churches today.
Continuing Gullah/Geechee African Reconnections
As we traversed the roads through the valleys and then up into the mountains, I gave thanks for the strength of the women here that I saw hauling items on their backs on the dirt roads and herding the animals. They reminded me of my mother and the elder mothers of my island and all the hard labor that they had gone through while hauling babies on their backs and baskets on their heads as some of these women were also still doing. I thought about the many early mornings that I awoke and traveled fo dayclean ta de field. I could feel myself balancing my neck as I saw other women with the baskets on their heads the way I carried mine in the fields and how I still carry them on stages now around the world and bring out our continuing African traditions from them for groups of people that still want to learn how we thrived and survived.
A Gullah/Geechee Charge to Keep
“A charge to keep I have. A GOD to glorify!”
I have sung these words for the majority of my life, but I never realized how they would be spoken into existence. As I heard the words lined on St. Helena Island growing up and learned to respond along with the rest of the congregation, I never for once thought of the historical context of the entire ritual. Every praise house and church that I went to in the Gullah/Geechee Nation had this tradition, so I didn’t think it was unique. I found out as a traveled that it was not done in other places. I have come to see it slowly fading away.
GOD Be: Hurricane Matthew, De Spirit, and De Gullah/Geechee
I realized that you do not just want GOD to be with you because that is a given. You want GOD to be in you which is a choice! Tenk GAWD fa choosin life and light ya!
Win de Gullah/Geechee famlee bin jayn today fa shout and praise GAWD fa all wha wi bin tru, hunnuh coulda feel how GAWD bin dey tuh! Ebeebodee got a testimonee bout how GAWD bin bless up de Gullah/Geechee famlee pun de islandts een de sea. We also bin da pray for de famlee een oda res a place likka Haiti and NC.
Afta all a disya, I ain kno bout hunnuh, but mi sho kno mo bout who webe and mi hafa sey “Tenki Tenki GAWD fa anointin and bein fa we!” GAWD fa we mo din de world against we, but GAWD dun sho we da all we need is fa GOD BE!
Healing Gullah/Geechee Land Through Prayers and Praise
On Saturday, January 9, 2016 at 1:30 pm, the Beaufort County community will gather at the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park for “Pray-Z in the Park.” Everyone is invited to come out to pray to heal our land.
Gwine Bak ta Olde Landmark: Investing in Gullah/Geechee Souls
“When we become a culture that denies our history, we become just another social club…”
