Another title for this blog could be: “Everything I Know About Kwanzaa I Learned From Elmo.” It’s a reference to a “Happy Holidays” Elmo video my 2-year-old daughter loves to watch over and over and over—-by now we both have the thing memorized. Kwanzaa happens to be one of the holidays Elmo learns about from his young “friends” on the tape.
Elmo does a fantastic job of simplifying the holiday–allowing children of all ages to better comprehend and appreciate it. Viewers learn that Kwanzaa is a modest celebration. At the heart of the seven-day festival is a focus on heritage, family and community. The Elmo tape inspired me to research the holiday. The more intricate information I found will be tucked away and shared with my daughter when she gets a little older.
Of course, there’s no time like the present to share what I learned about the holiday with readers of this blog… To start, Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one and is meant to serve as an inspiration to African-American families and the community to keep in touch with their roots through a celebration of history and traditions.
The word Kwanzaa means “first fruits of the harvest” in Swahili and was first recognized as a holiday in 1966 thanks to its creator, Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of the Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, and a well known scholar and activist. An estimated 20 million people throughout the world today celebrate Kwanzaa’s rituals and customs, inspired by ancient Africa.
The seven-day celebration begins each year on December 26th and ends on January 1st. The festival celebrates seven simple principles: umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith).
One of the seven principles is discussed each night of Kwanzaa as a family member lights a candle in the candelabra, known as the kinara. The final night of the holiday is marked with a feast of African foods, songs, storytelling, and a gift exchange. Gifts, or zawadi, are mainly for children and focus on educational and inspirational themes. They always include a book and a heritage symbol. The presents are meant to be symbolic and are meant to encourage the practice of the holiday’s principles throughout the year.
What other Kwanzaa activities do you participate in?
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