This article was not written by a Peace Corps Thailand volunteer currently serving in country.
Kenyetta Johnson, G88, Community Environmental Corps, Panamá
KWANZAA. The holiday characteristic for its Pan-African roots and celebrators. Kwanzaa is both a holiday understood and misunderstood, represented in pop-culture yet underrepresented within the homes of Americans. Here is a Kwanzaa song by the famous singer Teddy Pendergrass – Happy Kwanzaa to paint a generalized picture of the holiday in the late 80s-early 90s.
When I was a child, I remember celebrating Kwanzaa. See, my mom was engaged to a man who strongly identified with pro-Black and pan-African culture. Kwanzaa fit the bill just nicely! Between my mom’s 4 kids and his 2 kids, the 6 of us would visit family-friends’ homes and feast! There were typically the smells of incense, sounds of drums, and jolly chatter. Each day of Kwanzaa was a different coloring page of excitement for us children.
Of course at these ages, I hadn’t fully grasped the meaning or significance of Kwanzaa. As a child, it was just nice to be out and about in communal spaces, eating delicious food, and being social. Shortly after my mom’s relationship ended, so did the tradition of celebrating Kwanzaa. That is, until a couple of years ago when I began partnering with an organization for my job.
This organization supports and encourages the nurturing of young pan-African teenagers. One of their goals is to introduce pan-African traditions and customs to teenagers with the help of community members. Each year, this group organizes a week-long Kwanzaa celebration. I attended a couple of events and tried to re-learn all that I could about Kwanzaa. Before Peace Corps service I went on a quest to find what lies behind the celebration of Kwanzaa.
What I have learned thus far is that Kwanzaa is a celebration of pan-African autonomy, pride, love, and appreciation for family. Below are the days of Kwanzaa with its corresponding principles followed by an image of each word, pronunciation, and symbol. Each day has a different focus:
December 26: Umoja– Unity
December 27: Kujichagulia– Self Determination
December 28: Ujima– Collective Work and Responsibility
December 29: Ujamaa– Cooperative economics
December 30: Nia– Purpose
December 31: Kuumba– Creativity
January 1: Imani– Faith
Normally, family members would get together and light a candle each day leading up to a feast called Karuma. Often these daily celebrations would be accompanied by music, dance, and/or stories.
The thoughts around Kwanzaa are so diverse that I decided to ask some friends and family members how they viewed Kwanzaa and whether they celebrated in the past or present. I hope their thoughts and words can give the reader a new perspective on how some Black people interact with Kwanzaa in America. The next few lines will be solely the responses of people I know on how they feel about Kwanzaa (in their own words). For confidentiality, I have removed their names and given a description of them along with age range.
“I don’t have any connection to Kwanza unfortunately, I have never celebrated. It’s not what my family put time into learning and we always just celebrated Christmas. It was my moms favorite holiday, I say unfortunate because I feel like it should be part of our culture to learn!
-Friend, age late 20’s
“I don’t celebrate kwanzaa. but we went over it in the fourth grade. Kwanzaa is a spin on Xmas and that its derived from black people adjusting to a cultureless society after slavery.”
-Cousin, age early 30’s
“I like and celebrate Kwanzaa, I don’t really burn the candles or anything but I go to different events. I didn’t start celebrating Kwanzaa until I moved to Atlanta in my twenties. I did know about it growing up. From what I know about its history, it was mostly celebrated on the west coast until the late 80’s.
It’s good to incorporate the 7 principles into your life. It’s a time when we can reflect on our culture that stems from Africa and now in America. It showcases how African Americans view things. Like many other things it’s become commercialized but that’s just part of being a holiday. Walmart [Super store] will find a way to make some money!
My daughter has a Kwanzaa dinner every year with her friends. The last 2 years I was there celebrating with her and her friends, talking about Kwanzaa. So it seems like a lot of young folks are interested in it. There are way more tv shows about it. I also wrote a short story that is based on Kwanzaa called Paw Paw’s Kwanzaa.
It is interesting to see how young people view it nowadays cause I am not out in the community as much as I used to be. The community I am usually around, well most of the children grew up celebrating [Kwanzaa] now they are young adults. So it’s something they’ve been doing their whole lives.”
-Family friend, age early 50’s
“I recently just got an understanding of Kwanzaa. I’ve never celebrated it but it is something I’m interested in and want to try to celebrate this year. It should be something celebrated more and installed in our younger generation. I feel like they have no morality and don’t know where they come from and who we really are.”
-Friend, age late 20’s
“I think young people should celebrate it to reconnect to their culture and the principles accentuated by it. It would be beneficial to get us away from the deceptions and self defeating practices of Xmas. I was raised in such a way that it’s served its purpose in my life for the times I was exposed to it. I don’t need it.”
-God Father, age late 40’s
“The African Christmas but it’s also a full celebration. Last time I celebrated was when I was 10 with my mom and my brothers and dad. To me it’s more about family and the gift of giving.”
-Siblings, ages late 20’s
“I can’t say I’ve actually celebrated Kwanzaa, but know it’s an African American holiday and believe the core principles are ones we should celebrate daily.”
-Old Coworker, age late 30’s
“To be honest, I’ve never celebrated it. I don’t think many African Americans celebrate it. Because first off I truly believe my ancestors come from this land of America. So adapting to African culture to me doesn’t seem…. idk the word for it. Yes the candles have great symbolism but I honestly don’t understand why we as black folk have to celebrate something that’s pan African.
Just not educated and care about what you can physically get out of it.”
-Cousin, age late 20’s
“Kwanzaa is about celebrating Black life and tradition. Highlighting our history, paying homage to our ancestors, and loving ourselves. Probably much more than that for real.
The last time I truly celebrated it was probably 6 years ago.”
-Friend, age mid 30’s
“I’ve never celebrated Kwanzaa or Christmas traditions for the reasons some do, I do celebrate coming together with friends and family around this time of year tho. The holidays today seem to be about getting gifts and decorations, I don’t mind it, but the younger generation should be taught the true meaning of the holidays and how it began, then let them decide how they want to celebrate it, Kwanzaa or the traditional way. As long as it’s positive and everyone is happy, I’m cool with both.
Never knew much about it, until my adult years.”
-Family Friend, age late 40s
“I’ve never celebrated because of a lack of knowledge about how to celebrate or because not knowing the meaning and purpose of the holiday.”
-Friend, age late 20’s
“Kwanzaa to me is celebrating my culture with my village. The last time I celebrated was December 2021. For each day of Kwanzaa, I lit a candle to represent the principle of the day and did a craft with my loved ones. The first day, I lit a red candle for Ujoma and made my own Mkeka mat which I placed under my candle holder. We used The Seven Days of Kwanzaa book by Angela Shelf Medearis as a guide.
In modern time, I think Kwanzaa is an excellent and educational way to honor African American heritage and culture. I believe it assist our younger generations in figuring out their purpose while teaching them a sense of community amongst their own people. It encourages us and our youth to lead and uplift our community by teaching the principles of Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity and Faith.
Kwanzaa also teaches the value of investing our hard earned cash in the Black community. It teaches us and our youth how to make our own money and build and maintain our businesses which ultimately sustains our community and world and motivates us to invest in ourselves and our people.
Overall, Kwanzaa to me is love! Kwanzaa is self-love. It is self-care. It is the love of being Black and the love of Black people.”
-Friend late 20’s
Below is a video for more information about Kwanzaa
Sticky Rice 