![]() ![]() Karenga defines this as faith in community, writing, “To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. The final principle translates to “faith.” Meaning “creativity,” Karenga defines this principle as “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.” Karenga expands on this principle with, “To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.” “To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together,” he writes. Similar to ujima, this principle refers to uplifting your community economically. “To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together,” Karenga writes.Ĭooperative economics. Each day represents one of seven core principles, including unity. Translated as “collective work and responsibility,” ujima refers to uplifting your community. Today marks the last day of Kwanzaa, a seven-day holiday created over 50 years ago to honor Black community and culture. This principle refers to defining, naming, creating and speaking for oneself. Karenga defines this on his Kwanzaa website as: “To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.” Here’s a look at what those principles are, and what they mean. Each day of the festival is dedicated to a specific principle, marked by lighting a new candle on the kinara, a seven-branched candelabra.Įven though Kwanzaa isn’t as widely celebrated as it used to be, its seven principles still hold true for some. The holiday is defined by Nguzo Saba, or the seven principles. The name comes from the Swahili phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits.”Ĭreated in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a black nationalist and professor of Pan-African studies at California State University at Long Beach, Kwanzaa became popular in the 1980s and 1990s in tandem with the black power movement – making up the trio of winter holidays along with Hanukkah and Christmas. ![]() It’s a seven-day non-religious holiday observed in the US, meant to honor African Americans’ ancestral roots. Thursday marked the start of Kwanzaa, also spelled Kwanza (with one ‘a’ at the end). The holiday spans seven days until January 1, when a feast is held and gifts are exchanged. Maulana Karenga, who hoped to create an alternative holiday to Christmas and Hanukkah for African Americans to celebrate their history, families, and communities. Christmas might be over, but Kwanzaa is just getting started. The first Kwanzaa was held in 1966 by Dr. ![]()
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