Bill Text: NY K00637 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Memorializing Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim May 27, 2023, as Pinkster Day in the State of New York

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-06-06 - adopted [K00637 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-K00637-Introduced.html

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Assembly Resolution No. 637

BY: M. of A. Cunningham

        MEMORIALIZING  Governor  Kathy  Hochul to proclaim
        May 27, 2023, as Pinkster Day in the  State  of  New
        York

  WHEREAS,  It is the sense of this Legislative Body to call attention
to those days set aside to enhance the cultural enrichment of the  State
of New York and to preserve the heritage of African Americans; and

  WHEREAS,  Attendant  to  such  concern,  and in full accord with its
long-standing traditions, this  Legislative  Body  is  justly  proud  to
memorialize  Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim May 27, 2023, as Pinkster
Day in the State of New York; and

  WHEREAS, Originally a Dutch  festival  derived  from  the  Christian
feast  of  Pentecost,  Pinkster is a celebration of the coming of spring
and a time of rest to be enjoyed among friends and family;  the  holiday
has  evolved into primarily an African American holiday infused with the
African Bantu culture of Congo and Angola; and

  WHEREAS, Pinkster was the only time each year when Africans enslaved
in New York were legally allowed to gather  with  their  families,  play
music  and dance in public, and trade goods; in doing so, they preserved
their cultures and built  new  rituals  to  transform  Pinkster  into  a
festival of African culture; and

  WHEREAS,  By  the  1700s,  celebrations  in New York City would sell
goods varying from oysters and beverages to  herbs  and  sassafras  bark
amidst  the merriment of games, drinking, dancing, and music; in Albany,
the celebration took place at the top of "Pinkster  Hill,"  the  current
site of the New York State Capital; and

  WHEREAS, The celebration would last three to four days and presiding
over  the days of activity was a temporarily honored "King" elected from
within the enslaved members of  the  community  who  exercised  symbolic
jurisdiction over the whole of the festivities; and

  WHEREAS,  In  1811,  New  York  began  outlawing  this centuries-old
holiday, forcing African  Americans  to  preserve  their  traditions  in
private; by the 1970's, the Pinkster festival was revived; and

  WHEREAS,  Efforts  were  made to revive the Pinkster Festival at the
Phillipsburg Manor House in Sleepy Hollow, New  York,  where  an  annual
recreation is observed; and

  WHEREAS,  Leading  the Pinkster celebrations for decades, Chief Baba
Neil Clarke is a master drummer and performer who researches and teaches
the history of percussion, especially the role of the  African  drum  in
the Americas; and

  WHEREAS,  Today,  Pinkster  is  recognized  as  the  oldest  African
American holiday of the  original  thirteen  colonies  that  became  the
United States of America; and

  WHEREAS,  This  Legislative Body, in its official recognition of the
African Festival of Pinkster, renews its connection to the rich cultural
traditions of its ancient past; and

  WHEREAS,  Events  such  as  The  African Festival of Pinkster, which
celebrates diversity and peace, contribute to  fulfilling  our  Nation's
great legacy of equality and opportunity for all, and profoundly enhance
our shared commitment to freedom and justice; now, therefore, be it

  RESOLVED,  That  this Legislative Body pause in its deliberations to
memorialize Governor Kathy Hochul to proclaim May 27, 2023, as  Pinkster
Day in the State of New York; and be it further

  RESOLVED,  That  a  copy  of this Resolution, suitably engrossed, be
transmitted to The Honorable Kathy Hochul, Governor of the State of  New
York.