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Welcome to Mosaic, your Novant Health podcast for diversity, inclusion and equity. You'll learn more about the mosaic of similarities and differences that make us stronger, and how health equity benefits us all. Piece by piece. We're telling the stories of the beautiful mosaic of Novant Health.

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Hello again, this is Becky Knight coordinator of Novant Health 14 business resource groups. Business resource groups, or BRG's, are an important part of the Novant Health diversity inclusion and equity strategy. A BRG is a voluntary group of team members organized around an aspect of common identity, such as age, race, ethnicity, religion, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation or veteran status. The groups work together to support each other our business in diversity and inclusion strategies and constituency needs. One of the themes over the past year has been for our BRG's to host webinars to highlight holidays and observances that have special meaning to them. These webinars are an accessible way for our team members to share about their traditions, beliefs and culture. And it lets us get to know each other better, and to be able to better understand and anticipate the needs of our patients and communities. And this episode of mosaic, we'll hear from several Novant Health BRG members, sharing about Dia de los Muertos. samhain, Transgender Day of Remembrance, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa.

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First we have David Avalos, sharing about Dia de los Muertos.

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Dia De Los Muertos basically is a custom, it's a custom that is derived from an old ancient Aztec custom. And then there has been some influence from the Catholic Church. So Dia De Los Muertos is translated into Day of the Dead here in the United States. Death is something that's very grim and solemn and sad. And that is not the way they view death in Mexican culture. So day of the dead is really a celebration. So it's a celebration of life, it's to honor your ancestors that have moved on, or that have passed away. So we're here in the States people are kind of solemn and sad, and tend to wear dark clothes and things of that nature. In Mexican culture, it's very loud and vibrant and colorful. So there's, there's a lot of beauty involved with the celebration of this Day of the Dead, you're going to hear later on about Samhain and how on that day, there's this veil that's between our world and the spirit world. And it is believed that the veil is thin during this time. So it allows spirits to enter into our world. And that's not a scary thing in Spanish culture. That's something where these are your ancestors. This is your family. So you want to welcome them. So that's why they have these altars with offerings and they have celebrations and parties and they usually cook food and the food that they cook is usually what that relative's favorite meal was. So um, Day of the Dead you all will probably know it as All Saints Day or All Souls Day. So we celebrate it on November first and November second. So November 1 is technically believed that's when the children who have passed come back to visit and celebrate. They call them on angelitos, which means little angels. And then on the following day, November 2, that's when the adults turn up for the festivities. They don't call them the angels, they call them the deceased, they call them difuntos. Family members usually will prepare for several weeks in advance for this summer celebration, creating their offerings and decorating their altars and things of that nature.

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Next, Willette Balsamo speaks about Samhain.

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You know it, most people know it, as Halloween. Here are some of the other names, there are many. All Hallows Eve, Samhain, it's hard to pronounce. A lot of the a lot of things come from Celtic, or Irish, if you will, Scotland, The Isles the British Isles. A lot of it came from them. Also Egypt. There's many many histories of where Wiccans, more modern version of witchcraft. But it was also practice in China. So everybody's got their own little twist on this. So the pronunciation is pronounced “sow win” like s-o-w  like a Mama Pig, or “sow ween.” The meaning of that. There's a couple of beliefs that it means summer's end, while others find that called fire of peace, and a lot of that has to do with the bonfires and the harvest, it’s also called third harvest, spirit night, hollow mass, Mischief Night, probably heard that, ancestor night and more. And it's also during this time that we open our hearts and our bodies to death. We honor those that have died whenever it's usually those this year, but it doesn't matter you can honor whomever you wish. We acknowledge sorrow and loss. We believe in an afterlife. We also believe in rebirth or reincarnation.

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Our coexist and pride BRGs co hosted a webinar for Transgender Day of Remembrance. Here is Nick Stewart.

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Began over 20 years ago, Transgender Day of Remembrance is observed to focus on the persistent struggles, transgender people face in their everyday lives, and how others can share their love, support and hope. Today, we especially remember those who in the past year, have lost their lives as a result of transphobia and anti transgender violence. We come together to acknowledge that all people of all identities are welcome in our organization, in our facilities, and in our communities. We recognize today that some face violence and hatred simply for being who they are. We gather against acts of exclusion, anger and hate. And we respond with remembrance, hope, and love. We come together from different backgrounds, origins, groups and disciplines to intentionally remember that we are one humanity, and that all people are created beautifully. We stand together for those who have died for their families, and for those among us who identify as transgender, that they might know that they are not alone, that we stand with them, and that they are loved.

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Now we'll learn about Hanukkah from Marcia Lampert. 

Hanukkah is a holiday that's really mostly based on folklore. It's not what we would consider a holy day. Our holy days are around the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, well, and Passover as well. So this is really a holiday that celebrates a bright message and a theme and allows us to celebrate freedom. The word Hanukkah means rededication. And that was the story in 2000 BC that a group of people destroyed the temple. And when they destroyed the temple, the eternal flame, there was not enough oil for the flame to continue more than one day. But miraculously, it went on for eight days. We go by like Muslim, we go by the lunar calendar, so it's never the same day every year, but it usually ends up in December. For eight nights, we light the candles and we say a prayer. And we also very much in the theme of everything we do we always eat. So we are always eating during holidays, foods that symbolize something. But in Hanukkah, because of the oil, the oil from the temple that lasted for eight days. The foods that we generally eat our homemade potato pancakes, you know, in oil, and jelly doughnuts made an oil, very healthy. So a lot of gathering singing songs. Again, making it fun. But keeping the same of this light that lasted for eight days, how we were able to take back the temple and renew our faith. 

Finally, you Vaughn Dixon shares about Kwanzaa.

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Beginning December 26, and lasting for seven days. Kwanzaa is a celebration of community, family and culture, established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African roots and heritage. And there are three official Kwanzaa colors. Black, red and green. There are seven candles, one Black Candle, three red candles, and three green candles. Each candle represents one of the seven principles guiding Kwanzaa they are placed in a mission Masaba in a specific order, each candle is lit on a specific day of Kwanzaa of the seven day celebration. The Black Candle the principal represents you Mojo, which means the concept of unity is a focus on the unity of family, community, nation and race. This candle is always lit first on the opening day of Kwanzaa of which again is the 26th of December, day two is collegia Gulia, which is self determination is the second principle. It represents defining, naming, creating, and speaking for oneself. This is the second candle lit on day three, which is you Jama. This is the third principle and is defined as collective work and responsibility. This encompasses building and maintaining the community by working together, taking on each other's problems and solving them together. This is the third candle. The fourth candle is the principle of cooperative economics, you Jama. This encompasses building and maintaining individually owned stores, shops, and other businesses. This goal is to profit from these endeavors as a community so we're talking about socio economics and the community. This is the fourth candle lit.

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There are three green candles, each representing a specific principle. These candles are placed on the right of the Black Candle, and the last ones that are lit on day five, which is Nia Nia. This is the principle of purpose and takes on the collective vocation of building the community and developing it as a way to restore African Americans and pan Americans to their traditional greatness. This is the fifth candle that is lit on day six, which is Khumba KUUM. Ba this candle celebrates the principle of creativity. The goal of this principle is to do everything possible to make a difference and leave the community in better condition than what was inherited. This is the sixth candle that is lit. And finally on day seven, you Imani? I am a ni Imani. This is the crucible of faith. It challenges people to believe in each other and honor their struggle as righteous and that they'll be victorious. This is the last candle to be lit. All seven candles are lit on this particular day.

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Thanks for listening to mosaic your podcasts for diversity, inclusion and equity and Novant Health. Stay tuned for our next exciting episode.