What Is Kwanzaa? Everything You Need to Know About the Forgotten Holiday
The often-overlooked holiday of Kwanzaa holds valuable lessons.
The holidays are a hectic time of the year. It’s a whirlwind of gift-giving, family dinners and preparing for Hanukkah and Christmas. However, lost in the perfect storm of the holiday chaos lays the often-forgotten holiday: Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa is celebrated after Christmas and runs into the New Year, making it one of the longer holidays, akin to Hanukkah. The holiday typically does not receive a lot of coverage, as it is not considered as mainstream as the others. According to a 2019 survey from AP-NORC, only three percent of Americans celebrate it, which roughly translates to 500,000 people.
Still, holidays don’t discriminate and neither should we. We’ve prepared a comprehensive guide to the forgotten holiday, including its origins, meanings and celebratory traditions.
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What Is Kwanzaa?
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration of African American and Pan-African culture, history, family and values. The celebration occurs the day after Christmas into New Year’s Day, and its name comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, which means “first fruits”, rooted in first fruits celebrations found throughout African cultures. The holiday was founded by Maulana Ron Karenga, an African-American professor of Africana studies at California State University in 1966.
According to the Museum of African American History and Culture, Kwanzaa is based on seven principles: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). According to history, Karenga has said the extra ‘a’ was added simply to accommodate seven children at the first-ever celebration in 1966, each of whom wanted to represent a letter.
“Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but a cultural one with an inherent spiritual quality,” Karenga wrote. “Thus, Africans of all faiths can and do celebrate Kwanzaa, i.e. Muslims, Christians, Black Hebrews, Jews, Buddhists, Baha’i and Hindus, as well as those who follow the ancient traditions of Maat, Yoruba, Ashanti, Dogon, etc.” Though it focuses on African culture, Kwanzaa can be celebrated by everyone.
How Is Kwanzaa Celebrated?
Kwanzaa is celebrated over the course of seven days, each day representing a different principle. The main celebration occurs on December 31st, when a feast is held with all family members and loved ones. The feast, entitled Karamu Ya Imani (Feast of Faith), is a potluck-style dinner that takes place on the last day of celebrations and was developed in Chicago during a 1971 citywide movement of Pan-African organizations.
Similar to Hanukkah, Kwanzaa is also celebrated with candles. You may be familiar with the red, green and black variety spread on the mantle from books or pictures, but few know what they actually mean. Each of the candles represents one of the seven principles, with the center Black candle representing unity. The center candle is lit first on December 26th, and afterward, each candle is relit to provide more light and vision.
The colors of the candles are inspired by the flag created by political activist Marcus Garvey, also known as the Pan-African flag. The red of the top stripe represents the historical struggle Black people have faced across the globe, while the bottom green stripe represents a hopeful future. In the middle, the black stripe embodies African American people.
While gift-giving is traditional during major holidays, Karenga did not want the holiday to become commercialized, so homemade and educational gifts are encouraged instead.
Families also celebrate the holiday by sharing stories of prominent Black writers and political figures, playing African drums and music, and using symbols such as the Nguzo Saba poster, a visual representation of the seven principles.
Continuing Traditions
As the population continues to grow and traditions continue to build and develop Karenga is happy to see how popular the holiday has become and how many homes it has reached.
“I’m grateful to see my work flourish in my lifetime. Many of the great people in our history were not able to see how much their work, suffering and sacrifices enriched our lives and pushed our struggle forward,” Karenga has said. “But I’ve been blessed to see my work begin in a family home, spread around the world and be embraced by millions of African people throughout the world African community.”
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Here at New York Family, we could not love the holidays more and that’s why we’ve created A Very Merry New York Family Holiday Guide! We’ve got everything you need to make 2024 your family’s best holiday ever: Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa events, tree lightings, holiday light shows, gift guide, holiday shopping ideas, books, movies, elf ideas and so much more!
