Kwanzaa
December African-American celebration
Kwanzaa is an African American cultural holiday celebrated from December 26 to January 1.
Created in 1966, it honors African heritage through seven principles—unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
Families light candles on a kinara, exchange gifts, and share meals: We celebrate both Christmas and Kwanzaa.
Seven-branched Kwanzaa candleholder
Seven-branched Kwanzaa candleholder
- libationCeremonial drink offering
- drummingPercussive rhythm-making
- dancingRhythmic bodily motion
- feastingEating sumptuously together
ceremony · decorations · storytelling · poetry · music
Year's final month
- holidayDay of rest
- winterYear's coldest quarter
- year-endLate December period
- HanukkahEight-day Jewish celebration
gift-giving · festive · annual · observance
Communal family bond
- unityWholeness through cohesion
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- purposeReason something exists
- creativityCapacity for original thought
faith · values · ethics · community-building · responsibility · empowerment · legacy · character
Of that southern continent
- African-AmericanU.S. ethnic identity category
- SwahiliBantu language of East Africa
- 1966A mid-century year
- diasporaScattered population sharing origins
ancestry · roots · history · tradition · identity · Afrocentrism · reclamation · founding
kinara
Seven-branched Kwanzaa candleholder
corn · gifts · candleholder
kinara
Seven-branched Kwanzaa candleholder
feasting · ceremony · decorations · storytelling · poetry · music
December
Year's final month
Hanukkah · gift-giving · festive · annual · observance
ujamaa
Communal family bond
- unityWholeness through cohesion
- self-determinationControl over one's fate
- purposeReason something exists
creativity · faith · values · ethics · community-building · responsibility · empowerment · legacy · character
African
Of that southern continent
- African-AmericanU.S. ethnic identity category
- SwahiliBantu language of East Africa
- 1966A mid-century year
diaspora · ancestry · roots · history · tradition · identity · Afrocentrism · reclamation · founding · origin
- Black CultureNAACP, HBCUs, Black churches, civil rights movement, Harlem Renaissance
- African diasporaSanteria, Vodou, orisha, orishas, ancestor veneration
- celebrationsgraduation, festival, party, wedding, fireworks
- festivalsfestival, festivals, carnival, carnivals, Carnival
- traditionstradition, custom, customs, cultural practices, rituals
- holidaysChristmas, Easter, Thanksgiving, Halloween, Valentine's Day
KwanzaaChristmas
Winter nativity celebration
white Christmas · Christian holidays · religious holidays · Hanukkah · Easter
Kwanzaaassimilation
Absorbing into a whole
cultural erasure · Eurocentrism · whitewashing · colorblindness · cultural hegemony
- happy KwanzaaHoliday greeting in late December