Move Aside Christmas, Here’s a Guide to How to Celebrate Kwanzaa

For many, particularly Black folks, the holiday festivities continue with the celebration of Kwanzaa - a jubilee around Black culture and unity.

If you don’t have a clue what this holiday is about or forgot how nicely The Proud Family explained it in that one holiday episode… let me help you.

The African American-Pan-African holiday was created in 1966 by Africana Studies Professor Maulana Ron Karenga, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture. His goal was to “give Black people an alternative to the existing holiday and give them the opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society,” according the Brookhaven Courier.

All the concepts of the holiday are traditionally expressed in Swahili which is where the meaning of “Kwanzaa” is derived from: “matunda ya kwanza” which means first fruits. President Bill Clinton was the first U.S. president to recognize it as a holiday.

The seven principles! When you see the table set in a Kwanzaa-celebrating home, you’ll notice a Kinara - a candle holder carrying three red candles on the left, one black candle in the middle and three green candles on the right. Those candles are lit one by one, starting with the black one, as the seven days of Kwanzaa progress and each of them represent the seven principles of the holiday: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith).

Families do a number of things to celebrate the holiday from creating art, donning African garments, attending festivals or gift giving. However, the biggest component to Kwanzaa festivities is the food. You can always count on a special meal being made while incorporating the flavors of Southern, Caribbean, South American and African dishes.

On the sixth day of Kwanzaa, the feast of Karamu is where you want to be at to see a spread of all spreads.

No person of any specific religion chooses to celebrate Kwanzaa. I mean, it’s not about religion anyway. It’s more about Black people embracing one another, the rich culture they’ve created and the roots from which it comes from as well as uplifting one another to learn and grow into the best version of our-beautiful-Black-selves.