#blackholidays

It's December 26th, the first day of 🎁 Kwanzaa – an annual seven-day celebration of 🌍🗽 African-American culture that's been held every December 26th to January 1st. Author, scholar, and activist Maulana Karenga created the festival in 1966 during the aftermath of the Watts riots in Los Angeles. His goal was to "give blacks an alternative to the existing holiday of 🎄 Christmas and an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." He also added that "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday." Most African-American families celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa.

The word "Kwanzaa" is derived from the Swahili phrase "matunda ya kwanza," which means 🍍 "first fruits." Matunda Ya Kwanza festivals are still held to this day in Southern Africa in association with December's ☀️ Summer Solstice. Karenga decided to spell the African-American holiday's name with an additional "a" to increase the number of letters to seven – a auspicious number in Matunda Ya Kwanza rituals – and to use Swahili as the official language of Kwanzaa.

Each of the Seven Days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the Seven Principles:

Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' 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, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

There are also Seven Symbols associated with Kwanzaa:

Mkeka: A mat on which other symbols are placed

Kinara: A candle holder for seven candlesticks

Mishumaa Saba: Seven candles

Mazao: Crops

Mahindi: Corn, which represents the children celebrating and may also be part of the holiday meal

Kikombe cha Umoja: A Unity Cup for commemorating and giving shukrani (thanks) to African Ancestors.

Zawadi: Gifts