HAPPY KWANZAA

OVERVIEW OF KWANZAA

Kwanzaa is a week-long, African American holiday observance held from December 26 to January 1. Timed to serve as an alternative to the growing commercialism of Christmas, it was founded in 1966 by Ron Everett, a.k.a. Maulana Karenga, African-American activist and director of the Black Studies department at the California State University, Long Beach. Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but a cultural one, a syncretic festival, based on various elements of the first harvest celebrations widely celebrated in Africa, around the 10th month of the year.

HISTORY OF KWANZAA

The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase 'matunda ya kwanza', meaning "first fruits". The additional "a" was added to "Kwanza" so that the word would have seven letters, one for each of the Seven Principles, or Nguzu Saba, of Blackness. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles. In order, they are:

* Umoja (Unity),
* Kujichagulia (Self-determination),
* Ujima (Collective work and responsibility),
* Ujamaa (Cooperative economics),
* Nia (Purpose),
* Kuumba (Creativity), and
* Imani (Faith).