In December 2016, millions of people across the U.S. will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa. Here’s everything you need to know about the holiday.<\/p>
Kwanzaa is a secular holiday that celebrates the African-American community and its culture, heritage and values. According to an excerpt <\/a>from Dorothy Winbush Riley’s book, “The Complete Kwanzaa: Celebrating Our Cultural Harvest<\/em><\/a>,” “During Kwanzaa, we study, recall, and reflect on our history and the role we are to play as a legacy to the future.”<\/p> Kwanzaa is a seven-day holiday that’s observed each year from December 26 to January 1.<\/p> The name comes from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza,” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a language widely spoken throughout Africa. <\/p> Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga<\/a>, professor and chair of Africana Studies at California State University, Long Beach, and founder of the African cultural organization, The Organization Us<\/a>. Dr. Karenga created Kwanzaa as a way to bring African-Americans together to celebrate their culture, heritage and communities.<\/p> The exact number of people who celebrate the holiday is unknown, but it’s likely in the tens of millions. Since Kwanzaa is not tied to a religion, many people celebrate both Kwanzaa and another religious holiday, such as Christmas.<\/p> Celebrities who have been known to celebrate Kwanzaa include Oprah Winfrey and Maya Angelou, among others.<\/p> Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa symbolizes one of the holiday’s seven principles, called the “Nguzo Saba.” The Nguzo Saba<\/em> are African-American values that focus on building and reinforcing community. They are:<\/p> In order to properly observe Kwanzaa, you will need to have seven key items:<\/p> At a high level, Kwanzaa celebrations involve families gathering together on each of the seven nights to reflect upon one of the Nguzo Saba<\/em>. During each gathering, the children of the family will light the candle that represents the particular principle being discussed. These candles will stay lit until Kwanzaa is over.<\/p> But, as with any other holiday, the specific details involved in celebrating Kwanzaa will differ from family to family. For example, some families choose to light the mishumaa saba <\/em>from left to right, whereas other families will alternate. Despite these differences, however, there are some general practices all families follow. Here’s what a typical Kwanzaa celebration involves:<\/p> Children receive zawadi <\/em>that encourage their growth, self-determination, achievement and success, and reward them for any accomplishments they made throughout the year. These gifts usually include a book on African heritage, as well as some kind of heritage symbol. Presents are often homemade or purchased from African-American-owned businesses.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In December 2016, millions of people across the U.S. will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa. Here’s everything you need to know about the holiday. What Is Kwanzaa? Kwanzaa is a secular holiday that celebrates the African-American community and its culture, heritage and values. According to an excerpt from Dorothy Winbush Riley’s book, “The Complete Kwanzaa: Celebrating Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":909,"featured_media":13424,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"enable_toc":false,"care_reviewed_by":0,"care_post_updated_flag":true,"care_updated_date":"","last_update":"2016-12-06","view_count":7635,"footnotes":"","_members_access_role":[],"_members_access_error":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"member-type":[4],"vertical":[6,12],"platform":[2],"class_list":["post-2381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","member-type-all","vertical-children","vertical-holidays-seasons","platform-resources"],"acf":[],"created":"2016-12-05","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":197915,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2381\/revisions\/197915"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"member-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/member-type?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=2381"},{"taxonomy":"platform","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.care.com\/c\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/platform?post=2381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When Is It?<\/strong><\/h2>
What Does “Kwanzaa” Mean?<\/strong><\/h2>
How Did It Start?<\/strong><\/h2>
Who Celebrates Kwanzaa?<\/strong><\/h2>
Why Is It Celebrated for Seven Days?<\/strong><\/h2>
What Things Do You Need to Celebrate Kwanzaa?<\/strong><\/h2>
How Do You Celebrate It?<\/strong><\/h2>
What Types of Gifts Do Children Receive During Kwanzaa?<\/strong><\/h2>