Kwanzaa is a week-long holiday honoring African culture and traditions. It falls between December 26 and January 1 each year. Maulana Karenga, an African-American leader, proposed this observance and it was first celebrated between December 1966 and January 1967.
Kwanzaa is a celebration of community, family and culture, established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African roots and heritage.
Kwanzaa is based on the agricultural celebration of Africa called “the first fruits” celebrations, which celebrate the times of harvest, gathering, reverence, commemoration of the past, recommitment to cultural ideals, and celebration of the
good.
There are 7 principles and 7 primary symbols that emphasize a unique set of values and ideals during the 7 days of Kwanzaa, ending January 1.
The concepts and symbols derive from traditions and practices throughout Africa and the African disapora. The language used in describing these principles and symbols is Kiswahili, a common language in East Africa and one of the most widely-spoken languages on the continent.
Principles
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.
Symbols
There are symbols which have a special meaning to the celebration of Kwanzaa. The mkeka is a straw mat which symbolizes the tradition as the foundation on which all else rests. The kinara is a seven-space candle holder, representing the original stalk from which the African people originated.
The mishumaa saba (seven candles) stand for the Seven Principles. The muhindi are the ears of corn which represent the offspring (children) of the stalk (parents of the house). The zawadi (gifts) represent the fruits of the labor of the parents and the rewards of seeds sown by the children.
Lighting the Kinara
The kinara contains seven candles, three red, one black, and three green. These colors are told to be originally given by Marcus Garvey, a 19th-century civil rights activist and leader of the Pan-Africanism movement. The movement's aim is to unite people of the African diaspora globally.
The kinara is not lit from left to right, but in a unique pattern to reflect unity, the struggles of the present and past, and the Earth and the abundance of possibilities in the future.
On day one, the black candle - also known as the unity candle - is lit. On the second day, the red candle right next to the unity candle is lit, and then on the third day, the green candle next to the unity candle is lit. The pattern alternates in this manner until day seven.
Celebrating Kwanzaa
Those who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in their own unique ways, but celebrations often include songs and dances, African drums, poetry reading, story telling and a large traditional meal called a Karamu.
Sources:
Building Bridges of Awareness: 2021-22 Cultural Awareness Guide. Cultures, Communities & Inclusion, Office of the Dean of Students, Georgia State University.
Hale Black Cultural Center Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration (36th Annual Pre-Kwanzaa Celebration). (2021). Office of Diversity and Inclusion, Ohio State University. https://odi.osu.edu/hale-black-cultural-center-pre-kwanzaa-celebration.
King, Stephanie L. (2020). The Principles and Meaning of Kwanzaa. Oprah Daily, Dec. 7, 2020.
https://www.oprahdaily.com/life/a34894866/kwanzaa-principles-candles-meaning/
The Meaning of Kwanzaa (n.d.). Anacostia Museum. https://anacostia.si.edu/exhibits/past_exhibtions/kwanzaa/kwanz.htm
The Seven Princples of Kwanzaa (2020). National Museum of African American History & Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved Dec. 26, 2021 from https://nmaahc.si.edu/explore/stories/seven-principles-kwanzaa.
Information compiled by Jeremy Craig, Communications Manager for the Office of the Provost