What exactly is Kwanzaa?

Question

I know its sometime of African American holiday. But i never really understood wat it was. I dont know anyone who celebrates it. So im confused.

Answer 1

a new make believe holiday.

Answer 2

Kwanzaa is an African American holiday but let me enlighten you a bite. It is a week long holiday and it starts on December 26 and runs through January 1. It was created in 1966 and it is a holiday about principles and gift giving while celebrating the African culture.

Answer 3

NO IT CAN BE CELEBRATED IN THE U.S. AND AFRICA OR ANYWHERE ITS FOR ANYONE AFRICAN AMERICAN (OF AFRICAN DECENT)
ITS FOR 7 DAYS (DECEMBER 26 - JANUARY 1)
& EACH DAY REPRESENTS 1 PRINCIPLE THAT WILL HELP BLACK PEOPLE RESTORE THEIR FORMER AFRICAN GREATNESS

HERE IS A SONG ABOUT IT:
From our roots deep in Africa
Springs the greatness of who we are
Habari gani – now what’s the news?
There’s a celebration!
Seven Principles, seven days
We light kinaras and sing in praise
Teach traditions and ancient ways
Hailed for generations (foundation)
Kwanzaa – we’re celebrating Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa – celebrating Kwanzaa
First, Umoja means unity
Family and community
Second Kujichagulia
Self determination
Third, Ujima, collectively
We solve our problems responsibly
Fourth, Ujamaa, prosperity
Through cooperation
Kwanzaa – we’re celebrating Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa – celebrating Kwanzaa
Next is Nia, so purposeful
We feel the power within us all
Kuumba means creativity
And anticipation
Last, Imani means faith and trust
In our leaders and each of us
Seven Principles, wise and just
Give us inspiration
Kwanzaa – we’re celebrating Kwanzaa
Kwanzaa – celebrating Kwanzaa
Umoja, Kujichaguli, Ujima, Ujamaa,
Nia, Kuumba, Imani
(REPEAT)

Answer 4

Kwanza is a holiday created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, a professor at CSU, Long Beach and popularized by the Black Nationalist movement. They claimed that Christmas was "the white man's holiday" and wanted to create an alternative.

It was cobbled together from African traditions and American customs, designed to start right after Christmas as an anti-Christmas. It resembles elements of Christmas and Hannukah (candles and gifts).

It was popularized by telling blacks that it helped them "reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and "common humanist principles."

It is not widely celebrated, but is gaining popularity as businesses seek to use it as one more source of income.

Answer 5

You can get all the info you want at this site www.promrkaraga.com the creator of Kwanzza and it will enlighten you on the true facts about Kwanzza and about its orgin. Also it's on this site www.roneverett.com then you can find out people who celebrate Kwanzza and you won't be as confused.

Answer 6

The Christians have their Christmas, the Jews have their Hanukkah, and the blacks had nothing so someone invented a holiday which a race could celebrate. This is a true 'Politically Correct' invention.

Answer 7

My dad told me it is about like love and kindness and stuff for like 12 days. We don't celebrate it but that is what it kind of is.

Answer 8

kwanzaa is not celebrated in africa. i regard that as really strange. what do you think?

Answer 9

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:

a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;

a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;

a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;

a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and

a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.

Rooted in this ancient history and culture, Kwanzaa develops as a flourishing branch of the African American life and struggle as a recreated and expanded ancient tradition. Thus, it bears special characteristics only an African American holiday but also a Pan-African one, For it draws from the cultures of various African peoples, and is celebrated by millions of Africans throughout the world African community. Moreover, these various African peoples celebrate Kwanzaa because it speaks not only to African Americans in a special way, but also to Africans as a whole, in its stress on history, values, family, community and culture.

Kwanzaa was established in 1966 in the midst of the Black Freedom Movement and thus reflects its concern for cultural groundedness in thought and practice, and the unity and self-determination associated with this. It was conceived and established to serve several functions.

First, Kwanzaa was created to reaffirm and restore our rootedness in African culture. It is, therefore, an expression of recovery and reconstruction of African culture which was being conducted in the general context of the Black Liberation Movement of the '60's and in the specific context of The Organization Us, the founding organization of Kwanzaa and the authoritative keeper of its tradition. Secondly, Kwanzaa was created to serve as a regular communal celebration to reaffirm and reinforce the bonds between us as a people. It was designed to be an ingathering to strengthen community and reaffirm common identity, purpose and direction as a people and a world community. Thirdly, Kwanzaa was created to introduce and reinforce the Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles.) These seven communitarian African values are: Umoja (Unity), Kujichagulia (Self-Determination), Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility), Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics), Nia (Purpose), Kuumba (Creativity), and Imani (Faith). This stress on the Nguzo Saba was at the same time an emphasis on the importance of African communitarian values in general, which stress family, community and culture and speak to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense. And Kwanzaa was conceived as a fundamental and important way to introduce and reinforce these values and cultivate appreciation for them.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor, Department of Black Studies at California State University, Long Beach, author and scholar-activist who stresses the indispensable need to preserve, continually revitalize and promote African American culture.
Finally, it is important to note Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one, thus available to and practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the rich, ancient and varied common ground of their Africanness.