Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Our Blackness

December 26th - January 1st

As an African American, I have never actually celebrated Kwanzaa, and damnit, I have been missing out! With so many members of the black community coming together this year to fight injustices and stand up for the rights of all, I made a vow to learn more about this holiday and participate in a historical, yearly celebration of my heritage. So, of course, I decided to share the background on my blog as a step (trying to cross off my Kujichagulia and Kuumba...see below).

Kwanzaa is a holiday that honors our African heritage (here in the US, and across the world) with a week-long celebration after Christmas. The name "Kwanzaa" is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza", meaning "first fruits". This represents the origination of the celebration as the first harvest to the home, celebrating the bonding, appreciation, gifts, and values of our people. The holiday consists of: 

The Seven Principles (The Nguzo Saba)

  1. Umoja (Unity)
    • strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race
  2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
    • define, name, create for, and speak for ourselves
  3. Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
    • build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems, and solve them together
  4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
    • build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses, and profit from them together
  5. Nia (Purpose)
    • make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness
  6. Kuumba (Creativity)
    • always do as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it
  7. Imani (Faith)
    • believe with all our hearts in our people, parents, teachers, leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle

The Symbols

The symbol most recognized is the Mishumaa Saba, or the Seven Candles, that represent each of the seven principles. The candles include one black (the people, Umoja), three red (their struggle, Kujichagulia, Ujamaa, Kuumba), and three green (future & hope, Ujima, Nia, Imani). The celebration also includes the lighting of the candles, starting with the center then left to right, and the giving of gifts each day. Gifts are supposed to include a book and heritage symbol (which I did not know, so my mom and I were planning on trading fuzzy socks, makeup, and other cute, small goodies...). Thank goodness for the Official Kwanzaa Website...check it out.

Before anyone confuses this post for selfishness or pushing the "black agenda" (I know, sounds crazy, but some will assume), let me assure you that I only want to learn about the celebrations of black heritage, and help others learn about holidays and experiences outside of their own. With that being said.....

#BlackLove #BlackExcellence and #HerizaKwanzaa 🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯🕯

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