The struggle is none other than to rescue and reconstruct Black history and culture, to shape them in the people's image and best interest, and to self-consciously contribute to the forward flow of African and human history.

KWANZAA, THE AFRICAN AMERICAN holiday celebrated from December 26 through January 1, is grounded in the traditional agricultural or "first-fruits" celebrations of Africa. Kwanzaa is a time for the ingathering of the people, for celebration of their heritage and their achievements, for reverence for the Creator and the Creation, for commemoration of the past, for recommitment to their ideals and values, and for honoring and rejoicing in the goodness of life.

Kwanzaa was created in the 1960s, in the midst of the Black Liberation Movement. The holiday was conceived in the context of The Organization Us as a way to create, recreate, and circulate African culture as an aid in building community, enriching Black consciousness, and reaffirming the value of a cultural grounding for life and struggle. Kwanzaa was created out of Kawaida, a communitarian African philosophical framework that argues that the key challenge for Black people is the challenge of culture; Kawaida - an ongoing synthesis of the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world - states that what Black people must do is to discover and evoke the best of their culture, both ancient and current, and use it as a foundation for bringing into being models of human excellence and possibilities to enrich and expand the people's lives.

Kwanzaa is now celebrated by millions of people of African descent throughout the world. As a cultural holiday, it is practiced by people from all religious traditions, all classes, all generations, and all political persuasions, on the common ground of their Africanness in all of its historical and current diversity and unity.

LIKE THE FIRST-FRUITS CELEBRATIONS of Africa, Kwanzaa is organized around five fundamental activities, which are informed by ancient views and values that reaffirm and reinforce ideals of family, community, and culture.

KWANZAA is marked in two basic ways: in family-centered activities, and in community gatherings and public celebrations. At mealtime or in daily activities, the family works together during Kwanzaa's seven days to introduce, teach, and express the Nguzo Saba in particular and African values and practices in general. The people come together in larger groups, especially on the nights of Umoja and Kuumba, for communal ceremonies involving tambiko (libation), expressions of unity, instruction, entertainment, and - on December 31 - a magnificent feast prepared cooperatively by all attending.

During Kwanzaa, the people greet each other using Swahili phrases; the names of the days - and the values to be emphasized on each - are also expressed in Swahili. This language, which is spoken in many African countries, was selected for the holiday to reflect African Americans' commitment not just to a specific ethnic or national group but to the whole of Africa and African culture. Swahili is Pan-African is character, and so are African Americans, who claim for their heritage not just one lineage or location but rather all the people and the continent of Africa.

ANY PARTICULAR MESSAGE that is good for a particular people, if it is humanistic in its content and ethical in its grounding, speaks not just to that people - it speaks to the world. Kwanzaa is celebrated in that spirit, as having a particular meaning for Africans as well as a universal message for all people of good will. Its tamshi la tambiko (libation statement) expresses clearly the values and vision that Black people cherish and maintain as they celebrate Kwanzaa.

Our fathers and mothers came here, lived, loved, struggled and built here. At this place, their love and labor rose like the sun and gave strength and meaning to the day. For them, then, who gave so much, we give in return. On this same soil we will sow our seeds and build and move in unity and strength. Here, too, we will continue their struggle for liberation and a higher level of human life. May our eyes be the eagle, our strength be the elephant, and the boldness of our life be like the lion. And may we remember and honor our ancestors and the legacy they left for as long as the sun shines and the waters flow.

For our people everywhere then:

For Shaka, Samory, and Nzingha and all the others known and unknown who defended our ancestral land, history, and humanity from alien invaders;
For Garvey, Muhammad, Malcolm, and King; Harriet, Fannie Lou, Sojourner, Bethune and Nat Turner and all the others who dared to define, defend, and develop our interests as a people;
For our children and the fuller and freer lives they will live because we struggle;
For Kawaida and the Nguzo Saba, the new system of views and values that gives identity, purpose, and direction to our lives;
For the new world we struggle to build;
And for the continuing struggle through which we will inevitably rescue and reconstruct our history and humanity in our own image and according to our own needs.

Maulana Karenga

This page is part of the "AFRICA: One Continent. Many Worlds." web site. All photographic images and text contained within these web pages ARE COPYRIGHTED and may not be commerically reproduced, or utilized in any manner, without the prior written consent of the owner. Permission to reproduce this page must be obtained from the University of Sankore Press, Los Angeles.

This article is adapted from Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture by Dr. Maulana Karenga (University of Sankore Press, Los Angeles, 2nd edition, 1977). Used with permission.

Reprinted from Terra, September/October 1997, pp. 6-9.

jca