There are a whole lot of celebrations in December and we’re going to uplift them all!! We have the Winter Solstice coming on December 21st at 4:19 AM. Kwanzaa begins on December 26th and lasts until January 1st, 2025. Christmas Eve is the 24th of December and Christmas Day is the 25th. Hanukkah begins on the evening of December 25th and lasts until January 2nd, 2025. This is the season of gratitude and love of life, and we appreciate every cultural celebration!
We will learn about Kwanzaa in this writing, and after that we will cover Solstice, Christmas and Hanukkah.
What is Kwanza
When we asked Google “what is Kwanzaa” we got the following answer: “Kwanzaa is an African-American holiday that was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga. Karenga, an African American and Pan-African activist, created Kwanzaa in response to the Watts Rebellion in Los Angeles in 1965. He wanted to create a holiday to bring the African American community together and to encourage pride in their culture.”
That certainly is a beautiful reason to create an event. The Kwanzaa intention is to bring families and communities together. Within the days of celebration there is a lot of inspiration and wisdom.
The Watts Rebellion
The Watts rebellion took place in August of 1965 in the Los Angeles suburb of Watts and it lasted for six days. It was triggered by an arrest, and it involved thousands of Black youth fighting the police. It resulted in 34 deaths, more than 1,000 injuries, nearly 4,000 arrests, and property damage in the amount of millions of dollars.
According to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of African American History and Culture [LINK], “The Watts Rebellion is considered a key turning point in the African American Civil Rights movement. It inspired similar uprisings in cities across the nation and helped shape public understanding of race relations in the United States. In response to the rebellion, California leaders built a new state college near the communities impacted by the rebellion.”
Dr. Karenga’s Creation
Dr. Karenga created Kwanzaa as a seven-day celebration with each day celebrating one of seven principles. The Smithsonian website describes Dr. Karenga’s creation as follows:
“Created in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga, Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday that celebrates history, values, family, community and culture. The ideas and concepts of Kwanzaa are expressed in the Swahili language, one of the most widely spoken languages in Africa. The seven principles which form its core were drawn from communitarian values found throughout the African continent.”
The Seven Day Celebration
We will introduce the principles and then look into them more closely. From the Smithsonian: “These principles are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). Kwanzaa gets its name from the Swahili phrase, “matunda ya kwanza” and is rooted in first fruit celebrations which are found in cultures throughout Africa both in ancient and modern times.”
Before we go over the principles, here is a little more about the celebration in general:
“During the week of Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture. Each day they light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities, such as reciting the sayings or writings of great black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing a meal of African diaspora-inspired foods.
“The table is decorated with the essential symbols of Kwanzaa, such as the Kinara (Candle Holder), Mkeka (Mat), Muhindi (corn to represent the children), Mazao (fruit to represent the harvest), and Zawadi (gifts). One might also see the colors of the Pan-African flag, red (the struggle), black (the people), and green (the future), represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people of the African diaspora by Marcus Garvey.”
The Seven Principles
On each day of Kwanzaa, the celebrants light a candle for that day’s principle on their candleholder (Kinara).
*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 community’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 restore our people to their traditional greatness.
*Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
*Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Appreciation
The Seven Principals are incredibly inspiring and beautiful. Kwanzaa is most definitely a creation of love. Happy Kwanzaa to all who are participating in this beautiful seven-day celebration of life and community. Enjoy!!!
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