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Thanks to the diversity of religious and ethnic groups that come together to form North American culture, wintertime is a veritable feast of holidays. From Thanksgiving to Hanukkah, Christmas to welcoming in the New Year, the party seems never to end!
One holiday that has received increasing attention in recent years is Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration created to honor the ancestral heritage shared by African-Americans.
Observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, Kwanzaa was created in 1966, by civil right activist Ron Karenga, as a way “to give Black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history," by uniting in meditation and study around African traditions around principles.
The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza," which means "first fruit.” Karenga chose the name because he envisioned Kwanzaa as an American branch of First-Fruit celebrations common to many African cultures. Traditional First-Fruit celebrations are held when the new season's crops ripen, which, in the southern hemisphere, occurs in December or early January.
During the seven days of Kwanzaa, families decorate their households with art and colorful cloth from Africa, and many will dress in traditional African garb. Festivities include feasting, gift-giving, and playing drums and other musical instruments. Another common observation is the lighting of the kinara, a seven-branched candelabrum, similar to a Jewish menorah. Each day during Kwanzaa, a new candle is lit on the kinara, dedicating that day to one of the Nguzo Saba, or “Seven Principles of Kwanzaa,” which Karenga deemed to be "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world."
These principles, along with Karenga’s definitions, are as follows:
Umoja (Unity): “To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.”
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): “To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.”
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): “To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.”
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): “To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.”
Nia (Purpose): “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.”
Kuumba (Creativity): “To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.”
Imani (Faith): “To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.”
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Happy Kwanzaa
Thanks to the diversity of religious and ethnic groups that come together to form North American culture, wintertime is a veritable feast of holidays. From Thanksgiving to Hanukkah, Christmas to welcoming in the New Year, the party seems never to end! One holiday that has received increasing attention in recent years is Kwanzaa, a weeklong celebration created to honor the ancestral heritage shared by African-Americans.
Observed from December 26 to January 1 each year, Kwanzaa was created in 1966, by civil right activist Ron Karenga, as a way “to give Black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history," by uniting in meditation and study around African traditions around principles.
The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza," which means "first fruit.” Karenga chose the name because he envisioned Kwanzaa as an American branch of First-Fruit celebrations common to many African cultures. Traditional First-Fruit celebrations are held when the new season's crops ripen, which, in the southern hemisphere, occurs in December or early January.
During the seven days of Kwanzaa, families decorate their households with art and colorful cloth from Africa, and many will dress in traditional African garb. Festivities include feasting, gift-giving, and playing drums and other musical instruments. Another common observation is the lighting of the kinara, a seven-branched candelabrum, similar to a Jewish menorah. Each day during Kwanzaa, a new candle is lit on the kinara, dedicating that day to one of the Nguzo Saba, or “Seven Principles of Kwanzaa,” which Karenga deemed to be "the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world."
These principles, along with Karenga’s definitions, are as follows:
Umoja (Unity): “To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.”
Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): “To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.”
Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): “To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.”
Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): “To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.”
Nia (Purpose): “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.”
Kuumba (Creativity): “To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.”
Imani (Faith): “To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.”
Tags: kwanzaa