Yuletide Stories
Find Joy in Life and Honor Roots from Africa
Kwanzaa means ‘First Fruits’ and celebrating African heritage.
Kwanzaa celebrates life and African heritage, and it occurs the seven days following Christmas. It’s a renewal of commitment to the seven guiding principles, and the celebration defies the commercialism of the holidays. Moreover, seeing that colonialism steals lives and cultures, this holiday offers a chance to learn and remember one’s roots. So what is Kwanzaa exactly?
“Dr. Maulana Karenga introduced the festival in 1966 to the United States as a ritual to welcome the first harvests to the home. Dr. Karenga created this festival for Afro-Americans as a response to the commercialism of Christmas. In fact one might say that Kwanzaa has similarities with Thanksgiving in the United States or the Yam Festival in Ghana and Nigeria. The word “kwanza” is a KiSwahili (Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania) word meaning “first.”
Five common sets of values are central to the activities of the week: ingathering, reverence…
