Happy Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture held in the United States from December 26 to January 1, culminating in gift-giving and a feast. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. The holiday was created by the professor of Africana Studies. 

Karenga said his goal was to "give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits of the harvest".

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa. They are as follows:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

• Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems and to solve them together.

• Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

• Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.