Our first Kwanzaa!

This has been fun and interesting for some of our family! I have been estatic to do this holiday! For those of you who haven't heard of Kwanzaa it's an African American Holiday celebrated Dec 26-Jan 1st. Even thought it's right after Christmas it has nothing to do with Christmas at all! It's truly an Awesome Holiday with really good message to celebrate. The first night we set up our Kinora set our daughter Halli looked freighted. The Kinora set looks similar to a Hanakuaa set, so she thought we were celebrating a new religion and she wasn't so sure about it. I explained that Kwanzaa is not a new religion it a holiday and we can celebrate it in a way that fits our family just like most families do with Christmas.

Unfortunatly a couple of days after we starting celebrating KWANZAA I came down with one the worst stomach flues that last almost a week. Our kids kept begging for me to get out of bed so we could celebrate. Sadly I wasn't able to. But it was so exciting to see how much they LOVED Kwanzaa and I know they will look forward to it again next year.
The Symbols of Kwanzaa How to set up your Kinora set and it prime focus!

Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols and two supplemental ones. Each represents values and concepts reflective of African culture and contributive to community building and reinforcement. The basic symbols in Swahili and then in English are:

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 two supplemental symbols are:

Bendera (The Flag)
The colors of the Kwanzaa flag are the colors of the Organization Us, black, red and green; black for the people, red for their struggle, and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle. It is based on the colors given by the Hon. Marcus Garvey as national colors for African people throughout the world.

Nguzo Saba Poster (Poster of The Seven Principles)


Each night their are 7 principles to go along with the 7 symbols. We started the first night with the principle of Unity and then continue each night with each principle each night.

Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Nia (Purpose)
To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

Kuumba (Creativity)
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.

Imani (Faith)
To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.