{"id":358,"date":"2015-12-14T10:41:01","date_gmt":"2015-12-14T15:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.marialatimore.com\/?p=358"},"modified":"2018-06-12T06:13:11","modified_gmt":"2018-06-12T10:13:11","slug":"the-significance-of-kwanzaa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.marialatimore.com\/general\/the-significance-of-kwanzaa\/","title":{"rendered":"The Significance of Kwanzaa"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"

Kwanzaa is an African-American celebration of life that is held every year from December 26 to January 1. Though Kwanzaa is based on East African concepts and uses the KiSwahili language (spoken primarily in eastern and central African countries such as Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania), its origins are American. Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chair of\u00a0Africana Studies\u00a0at California State University, Long Beach created Kwanzaa in 1966. In KiSwahili, Kwanzaa means \u2018fresh fruits of the harvest<\/em>.\u2019 In celebrating Kwanzaa, we reflect on the blessings of our culture, and honor our history and ancestors.<\/p>\n

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are represented by the\u00a0mishumaa saba<\/em>\u00a0(seven candles) in the\u00a0kinara<\/em>\u00a0(candleholder). The colors of the candles \u2014 3 red, 1 black and 3 green \u2014 reflect the colors in flags of African liberation movements. Each day the family gathers to light one candle and to focus on and share their thoughts on one principle. At our Kwanzaa festival, different children light each candle, and read the principle for it.<\/p>\n

As stated on\u00a0http:\/\/www.history.com\/topics\/holidays\/kwanzaa-history<\/a>, the seven principles or\u00a0nguzo saba<\/em>\u00a0of Kwanzaa are:<\/p>\n

1. \u00a0Umoja (oo-MO-jah): Unity<\/strong><\/p>\n

To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0Kujichagulia (koo\u2013gee\u2013cha\u2013goo\u2013LEE\u2013yah): Self-determination<\/strong><\/p>\n

To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves, and speak for ourselves.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0Ujima (oo\u2013GEE\u2013mah): Collective Work and Responsibility<\/strong><\/p>\n

To build and maintain our community together and make our brother\u2019s and sister\u2019s problems our problems and to solve them together.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0Ujamaa (oo\u2013JAH\u2013mah): Cooperative Economics<\/strong><\/p>\n

To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0Nia (nee\u2013YAH): Purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n

To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0Kuumba (koo\u2013OOM\u2013bah): Creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0Imani (ee\u2013MAH\u2013nee): Creativity<\/strong><\/p>\n

To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.<\/p>\n

In addition to the\u00a0kinara<\/em>, we decorate our table with the other symbols of Kwanzaa. The\u00a0mkeka<\/em>\u00a0(mat) made from straw and cloth goes down first as it symbolizes the foundation that we stand on and build upon.\u00a0Mzao<\/em>\u00a0(fruit and vegetable crops) which represent the collective work of the harvest and African American\u2019s ties to agriculture, are placed on the mat.<\/p>\n

Muhindi<\/em>\u00a0(corn) symbolize the children and future generations. One ear of corn is laid on the mat for each child in the household.\u00a0Zawadi<\/em>\u00a0(small presents) are part of the traditional celebration, but to reduce the expense and pressure of buying more stuff, we do not exchange gifts.<\/p>\n

One of the highlights and most emotional parts of our celebration is when my Nigerian brother-in-law, Bourdi Apreala, uses the\u00a0kkimbe cha umoja<\/em>\u00a0or unity cup to pour libations on the hearth to honor and remember our ancestors. He chants the libation in his native language, Ijo, and insists that it be done only with alcohol to fortify the ancestors.<\/p>\n

And of course, there\u2019s lots of good food to eat. I usually serve traditional southern and African foods like black eyed peas with okra, fried chicken, collard greens and Jollof rice.<\/p>\n

This year some of the Kwanzaa principles really resonate with me and feel especially significant. Starting my consulting business has really been about self-determination (Kujichagulia<\/em>) and purpose (Nia<\/em>) for me. By taking full control over my work life I have the freedom to determine how far and wide I can go, and this will allow me to succeed or fail based upon my abilities, perseverance and hard work. I have a strong sense of purpose and commitment to apply my knowledge to make a difference in the community by helping nonprofit organizations to deploy transformative programs.<\/p>\n

The principles of\u00a0Ujima<\/em>\u00a0(Collective Work and Responsibility) and\u00a0Ujamaa<\/em>\u00a0(Cooperative Economics) are also meaningful and important to me. By focusing my business to work with mission-driven organizations dedicated to social change, my goal is to collaborate with them to implement solutions which help communities thrive. In today\u2019s divisive and partisan environment, it\u2019s more important than ever that we don\u2019t become numb to the suffering of others, but that we work collectively to alleviate the suffering and build strong communities.<\/p>\n

The traditional Kwanzaa greeting of \u201cHabari gani<\/em>\u201d means \u201cHow are you?\u201d or \u201cHow\u2019s the news with you?\u201d However and whichever holiday you celebrate, I hope that you are good, and wish you a happy one.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In addition to Christmas, my family also celebrates Kwanzaa. Usually, my husband and I host a Kwanzaa party every year on the Saturday after Christmas. We love bringing together our diverse friends and family at an event that helps us to acknowledge and give thanks for our lives, family and community. So what is Kwanzaa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe Significance of Kwanzaa - Maria Latimore Group<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The meaning of Kwanzaa and why we celebrate it.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.marialatimore.com\/general\/the-significance-of-kwanzaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Significance of Kwanzaa - Maria Latimore Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The meaning of Kwanzaa and why we celebrate it.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.marialatimore.com\/general\/the-significance-of-kwanzaa\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Maria Latimore Group\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/MLatimoreGroup\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-12-14T15:41:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-06-12T10:13:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.marialatimore.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Kwanzaa2-Image2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Maria Latimore\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@mlatim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@mlatim\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Maria Latimore\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Significance of Kwanzaa - 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