Monday was Umoja- Unity, Tuesday was Kujichagulia which is a Kwanzaa principle that means Self-Determination. Education about the 7 day Black cultural holiday is important every year. But first, who created Kwanzaa?
Kwanzaa was created in the 1960s by Dr. Maulana Karenga. He was a Black nationalist in California where so many organizations were throw8their fist in the air and declaring Black power. The turmoil between Karenga’s U.S. organization and the Black Panthers was one of many tactics used by the FBI to create problems among Black Civil Rights and the youthful Black power organizations.
Maulana later became a college professor. Karenga created Kwanzaa as a way of uniting and empowering the African American community in the aftermath of the deadly Watts Rebellion. Karenga combined aspects of several different harvest celebrations, such as those of the Ashanti and those of the Zulu, to form the basis of the week-long holiday.
It is important to understand the Kwanzaa table setting. First, it is decorated with the essential symbols of Kwanzaa, such as the Kinara (Candle Holder), Mkeka (Mat), Muhindi (corn to represent the children), Mazao (fruit to represent the harvest), and Zawadi (gifts). The colors of the Pan-African flag, red (the struggle), black (the people), and green (the future), represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people of the African diaspora by Marcus Garvey.
The principles, called the Nguzo Saba (seven principles in Swahili) are values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing community among African-Americans. Kwanzaa also has seven basic symbols which represent values and concepts reflective of African culture. An African feast, called a Karamu, is held on December 31. Everyday participants greet one another with “Habari gani” which is Kiswahili for “how are you/ how’s the news with you?” The first-fruits celebrations go as far back as ancient Egypt and appear in other African civilizations. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of “first fruit” celebrations: ingathering, reverence, commemoration, recommitment, and celebration. The seven principles, or Nguzo Saba, were a set of ideals created by Dr. Maulana Karenga.
The seven principles:
- Unity: Umoja (oo–MO–jah) To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race. DEC 26
- Self-determination: Kujichagulia (koo–gee–cha–goo–LEE–yah) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves. DEC 27
- Collective Work and Responsibility: Ujima (oo–GEE–mah) To build and maintain our community together and make our brother’s and sister’s problems our problems and to solve them together. DEC 28
- Cooperative Economics: Ujamaa (oo–JAH–mah) To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. DEC 29
- Purpose: Nia (nee–YAH) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. DEC 30
- Creativity: Kuumba (koo–OOM–bah) 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. DEC 31
- Faith: Imani (ee–MAH–nee) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle. Jan 1
The symbols:
Mazao (The Crops) These are symbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor.
Mkeka (The Mat) This is symbolic of our tradition and history and therefore, the foundation on which we build.
Kinara (The Candle Holder) This is symbolic of our roots, our parent people — continental Africans.
Muhindi (The Corn) This is symbolic of our children and our future which they embody.
Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles) These are symbolic of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the matrix and minimum set of values which African people are urged to live by in order to rescue and reconstruct their lives in their own image and according to their own needs.
Kikombe cha Umoja (The Unity Cup)This is symbolic of the foundational principle and practice of unity which makes all else possible.
Zawadi (The Gifts) These are symbolic of the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by the children.
The Nguzo Saba aims to inspire Black people to be united, self-determined, accountable for their communities, financially invested in Black-owned businesses, purposeful with their lives, creative and full of faith.
Kujichagulia or self-determination marks day two. The essence of this principle is the ability to “define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves,” she explains. Despite limited media portrayal of the Black experience, this principle summons a people to write their own narrative.
