So, you’ve never celebrated Kwanzaa or have even heard of it. Nor do you realize that it’s not a religious holiday and is not an African holiday. Maybe you had a friend once in elementary school in 1997 who yelled out on the playground, “Happy Kwanzaa” and you didn’t know how to react so you shouted, “But, Jesus!” Now is the time to broaden your horizons.

I know, I know. You’re whispering to yourself, “Another one?” Yes. Another one. I realize that there’s Christmas, Hanukkah, Advent, Bodhi Day, Pancha Ganapti, Human Rights Day, New Year’s Eve, Watch Night, and a host of others all occurring within the month of December. Yet, somehow, I have the utmost faith that you will be able to digest one more holiday, taking a small portion of your time to learn about its origins, historical context, significance, acceptance, and practices within the African American community. Furthermore, you may choose, after perusing the contents of this piece, to engage in practicing Kwanzaa, observing it, or simply doing neither. We simply live by the belief that it is always best to be at least slightly informed than to sit around your black friends during the holiday season offering unwarranted, wacky comments about an aspect of African American culture that you have no knowledge of. Bless!

Kwanzaa?

Founded by Dr. Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa is a week-long African American holiday first celebrated in 1966-1967. Observed both in the United States and in other areas of the African Diaspora in the Americas, the holiday runs a 7 day course from December 26th-January 1st of every year and was found to combat the over-commercialization of Christmas. Dr. Karenga wished to bring forth the idea of celebrating the idea of a unified black community that symbolizes a family and fully embraces every tenant of black culture to the forefront. While most believe that this celebration is a part of some Pan-African religious tradition, it is not. In fact, it has nothing to do with religion. It is a secular holiday and a way to bring together blacks within the diaspora.

The word Kwanzaa itself is derived from the Swahili language (a language spoken by the Eastern and Central African peoples) and means “first”. Dr. Karenga wanted to create a holiday that celebrated the “first fruits” and represents what it means to be African and human in every sense.

Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles)

The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa are grounded in the ideas of family, community, and culture and are coupled with symbols that represent each (Visit Kwanzaa’s Official Site to see the Symbols). They are as follows (Principles are listed first in Swahili and then in English:

Umoja- Unity: To strive for and 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 brother’s and sister’s 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 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 more 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.

Acceptance and Practices

As noted previously, many Black Americans and Black people across the diaspora do not celebrate Kwanzaa. Many of the Christian faith have been brought up to believe that celebrating the secular holiday is in direct antithesis to Christmas and Christianity. It is not. This theory seems irrelevant when we acknowledge the fact that Christ was actually a black man. I’m sure He doesn’t mind the men and women of His faith connecting to the very essence of who He was as the flesh-ridden version of The Most High. I digress.

Others do not celebrate because they simply do not know the historical context nor have they been prompted to learn. Nonetheless, we all have seen specials on PBS and Reading Rainbow showing us the practice of Kwanzaa and wondered why those who celebrate get extra gifts. Here’s why: giving gifts during the week-long observance is done mainly for children but is done in a way that commemorates the African tradition of learning and expanding knowledge, and in a way that holds onto the values of African traditions and history. According to the official site, gifts are usually a book and an African symbol. Furthermore, each day of the celebration is opened with a greeting, “Habari Gani?”, which means “How are you? or How’s the news with you?” and the response is the principle designated for that day. For instance, on the first day, you may be greeted with “Habari Gani?” and your response should be “Umoja.”

If you have gotten to this sentence and feel as though you may want to celebrate Kwanzaa this year, good for you. If not, good for you, as well! Remember, however, that should you decide to celebrate, be sure to prepare. Become well-versed in the holiday’s principles and origins, approaching the celebration with deep understanding and a passion for its precepts. Moreover, do not mix Kwanzaa’s practices with the practices of other traditions or celebrations, as this would be in direct opposition to the second principle. Lastly, use only the best of your best to celebrate.

Hopefully, this short introduction has given you the background on Kwanzaa that you have been searching for. May you go forth with the desire to celebrate it or simply be able to refute ignorant comments during group discussions.

Sources:

OfficialKwanzaaWebsite.org. 1999-2015. Accessed: 12-05-2015. http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/index.shtml
Ali-Dinar, B. University of Pennsylvania-African Studies Center. “Kwanzaa-What is it?”. 1990. Accessed: 12-05-2015. http://www.africa.upenn.edu/K-12/Kwanzaa_What_16661.html

Kwanzaa: A Non-Religious Celebration of Royal Roots