Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is a Black American holiday which celebrates Black culture through Afrocentirc hertige. It was first found by Dc. Maulana Karenga of Cal State. He first used the holiday with his family. Kwanzaa comes from the Swahili word kwanza, which means "first" as in matunda ya kwanza (first fruits) It is said that the last a was added to Kwanza, during a Kwanzaa program. The story says that the children were holding the letters of Kwanzaa on big cards, but by some mistake one child was left with an extra "a," whcih made her cry, so everyone added the extra "a" so she would not feel left out, but most likely the extra "a" was added due to tranlation rules, such as would happen with any language.

The core of Kwanzaa is the number 7. Being a member of the Nation of Gods and Earths I feel that I have special understanding the number 7, which was always been the number used to represent God. Many cultures have seen that 7 is a special number. In the Bible god rested on the 7th day to represent that the author figured to be completion. Their are tribes who worship the number 7. In the Chinese New Year the 7th day is called the Day for Human Beings, and it is supposedly the day that the deity Nu Wu created man.

Kwanzaa truely reflects this idea because within the holiday there are seven days, December 26th to January 1st, there are seven principles, and seven symbols. The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa are called the Nguzo Saba, which means seven principles. They are:
Umoja, which means unity of
Kujichagulia, which means self determination
Ujima, which menas collective work and responsibility Ujamaa, which means cooperative economics, in other words, support black business
Nia, which means purpose
Kuumba, which means creativity
Imani, which means faith, but it also means several other things in Swahili, and being in the Nation of Gods and Earths faith is a word that is connected to believing in a mystery god, which I don't Knowledge the existence of. Imani also means kindheartness, confidence, trust, conscience, conviction, belief, kindness, and others, so to my understanding kindness is closer to the concept that I'm feeling.

The seven symbols of Kwanzaa are the mazao (the fruits, vegetables, and nuts of the holiday because as we all know Black people were not originally heavy meat eaters, as shown by the Gi/wi and !Kung of Africa. The next symbol is the mkeka, which is the placement on which the food is arranged. The kinara is the seven branched candelarum, making sure to have black candels in the middle, red to the left, and green to the right. The red, black, and green, comes from the bendera, whcih is the African flag created by Marcus Garvey. On the first day the black candel is lit, then each following day they are alternated from left to right, to show that if there is no struggle (red for blood) there is no future (green for peace) The next symbol are the candels themselves or the mishmaa saba. The next symbol is used to represent the children, and it's the ears of corn, the muhindi or vihindi. The kikombe cha umoja is the chalice in which libations are poured in remberance of those ancestors that have passed. Last, but not least are the zawadi or the gifts, which are passed out oon the final day. Each day should be accompanied by a story about one of our ancestors that reflects the days lesson.

Kwanzaa is often incorrectly compared to Christmas and Hannukah. Kwanzaa is its own day as a matter of fact it is often celebrated along with one of the other two holidays.