Written by DeAnna Britton, Relate Contributing Writer

Kwanzaa is one of the holidays many people don’t know very much about. Kwanzaa is an African-American and Pan-African holiday that lasts from December 26th through January 1st. In Swahili, Africa’s most popular language “Kwanzaa” means “first fruits”. There are five activities that are associated with the “first fruits” celebration.

These five elements are:

• ingathering
• reverence
• commemoration
• re-commitment
• celebration

Kwanzaa is a time for people to come together to build stronger bonds among themselves, to be thankful to the creator for everything that blesses their lives, to reflect on the past and learn from mistakes and to honor their ancestors. It also involves a recommitment to practice the best of the African cultural thought and to celebrate “the good of the divine, natural and social”.

The reason why Kwanzaa was created was to strengthen the seven basic principals in the African culture. These principals are called Nguzo Saba, in Swahili meaning seven principals. The first one is unity; to maintain family, community, nation and race unity. Next comes determination; the objective is to have someone define, name, create and speak for oneself. The third principal is collective work and responsibility, meaning that it is the community’s responsibility to come together to help one another with their problems, and make them a community problem and work to solve them. Fourth is to have the community stand strong and build their own stores and other businesses and make a profit as a whole. Fifth principal that is reinforced by the celebration of Kwanzaa is purpose to build and develop the community in a way that restores people to their original greatness. The sixth principal is creativity; use creativity in order to find a way to leave the community more beautiful and beneficial than the people inherited it as. The seventh principal is to reinforce faith, to believe in the people, family, teachers and the victory over struggle.

There are many spiritual practices involved with Kwanzaa that many people in other places other than African countries and America never knew about. It is important to learn the different holidays that people celebrate in America, as well as other countries. If you don’t personally celebrate Kwanzaa, that doesn’t mean you can’t take away something valuable from the tradition. People who celebrate Kwanzaa, celebrate more than just a season, they celebrate family, friends, community and their faith. If you look closely, you could find something to add to your own celebration and practice of life in general.

Tags: African culture, basic principles, build strong bonds, creator, First Fruits Celebration, Kwanzaa, Pan-African Holiday, Swahili, tradition