Kwanzaa, founded in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Kerenga, is undoubtedly the most recognized of all Holidays for Black Folks. Kwanzaa meaning “First Fruits” presents Black people in America with seven principles called the Nguzo Saba to be celebrated after Christmas beginning December 26 through January 1 each year. Many people celebrate Kwanzaa instead of Christmas. The name Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba are from the Swahili language of Africa. It is considered a Pan-African language chosen to reflect Black Americans’ commitment to the whole of Africa and African culture versus a specific ethnic or national group or culture.

Dr. Maulana Kerenga has developed a website that provides deep context to the Kwanzaa holiday, its purpose principles, language and practice. We could not do any more justice to educating you about Kwanzaa than to connect you with the rich content that has been curated on the official Kwanzaa website. The following is a description of Kwanzaa shared from the website that focuses on explaining it as a “creative cultural synthesis”.

THE HOLIDAY KWANZAA is a product of creative cultural synthesis. That is to say, it is the product of critical selection and judicious mixture on several levels. First, Kwanzaa is a synthesis of both Continental African and Diasporanl African cultural elements. This means that it is rooted in both the cultural values and practice of Africans on the Continent and in the U.S. with strict attention to cultural authenticity and values for a meaningful, principled and productive life.

Secondly, the Continental African components of Kwanzaa are a synthesis of various cultural values and practices from different Continental African peoples. In a word, the values and practices of Kwanzaa are selected from peoples from all parts of Africa, south and north, west and east, in a true spirit of Pan_Africanism.

And finally, Kwanzaa is a synthesis in the sense that it is based, in both conception and self-conscious commitment, on tradition and reason. Kawaida, the philosophy out of which Kwanzaa is created, teaches that all we think and do should be based on tradition and reason which are in turn rooted in practice. Tradition is our grounding, our cultural anchor and therefore, our starting point. It is also cultural authority for any claims to cultural authenticity for anything we do and think as an African people. And reason is necessary critical thought about our tradition which enables us to select, preserve and build on the best of what we have achieved and produced, in the light of our knowledge and our needs born of experience. Through reason rooted in experience or practice, then, we keep our tradition as an African people from becoming stagnant, sterile convention or empty historical reference. Instead, our tradition becomes and remains a lived, living and constantly expanded and enriched experience.

From: “Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture – by Maulana Karenga / pp 15-16 / Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press (2008)

Click the photo below to learn more about Kwanzaa and how to celebrate:

Visit the Official Kwanzaa Website to explore and learn the richness of Kwanzaa and we encourage everyone to incorporate the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) of Kwanzaa into daily life not just during the holiday season but everyday throughout the entire year.