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Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Life

© Aiesha Turman

Kwanzaa is a distinctly African American tradition that has been celebrated since December 1966. However, Africans and African-Americans of all religious faiths and backgrounds can and do practice Kwanzaa. It was conceived and develepod by Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga and is celebrated from Decemember 26 to January 1.

Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili. It has its roots in the first harvest celebrations that still continue to be practiced in various cultures throughout Africa. Kwanzaa was borne during the tumultuous time in United States history where blacks were beginning to assert their rights as this nation and were engaging in activities that celebrated their heritage and who they were as a people.

Kwanzaa is a spiritual, festive and joyous celebration of the oneness and goodness of life and claims no ties with any particular religion. Kwanzaa is geared to nourish the social and spiritual needs of African-Americans. Kwanzaa is a way of life; not just a celebration. As a living social practice, it is a week of actual remembering, reassessing, recommitting, rewarding and rejoicing. For evaluation of African Americans and their history, how they relate to their past, reassess their thoughts and practices, and recommitting themselves to the achievement of Black liberation and the betterment of life for all African Americans. Each day focuses on the Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles. They are:

UMOJA (UNITY) (oo-MOE-jah): To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

KUJICHAGULIA (SELF DETERMINATION) (koo-jee-cha-goo-LEE-ah): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

UJIMA (COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY) (oo-JEE-mah): To build and maintain our community together and to make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

UJAMAA (COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS) (oo-JAH-mah): To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit together from them.

NIA (PURPOSE) (nee-AH): To make as our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

KUUMBA (CREATIVITY) (koo-OOM-bah): To do always as much as we can, in the way that we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it.

IMANI (FAITH) (ee-MAH-nee): To believe with all our hearts in our parents, our teachers, our leaders, our people and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

The symbols of Kwanzaa serve as instructive and inspirational objects that represent and reinforce desirable principles, concepts and practices as reflective of both traditional and modern concepts which evolved out of the lives and struggles of African-American people. They include: