UMOJA (UNITY)

To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

Song for reflection:ONE LOVE, Bob Marley

Thought for the Day: “I am, because we are; and since we are therefore I am”. - J. S. Mbiti

Today's Recipe: Joe Barry Carroll’s Collard Greens and Hot Water Cornbread

Activity for the Day: Create a picture of your own interpretation of UNITY. Use any materials you desire: construction paper, crayons, color pencils, paint, collage cutouts, stencils, etc. After you have created your picture, share the contents of it with your family members, friends, significant others, etc. Tell the story of what’s in your picture and why you chose to include that. How is UNITY represented in your photo? Have your family members, friends, significant other, etc. share with you their creation and explanation behind it.

KUJICHAGULIA (SELF-DETERMINATION)

To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

Song for reflection: OPTIMISTIC, Sounds Of Blackness

Thought for the Day: “To counter the fixation on a rhetoric of victimhood, black folks must engage in a discourse of self-determination.” - Bell Hooks

Today's Recipe: Chef Empress Jah’s “Haitian Legume - Vegetable Stew”

Activity for the Day: Trace your hand and write down words inside your hand tracing that describes you. They can be any words that describe everything about the makings of you. Write them in any way you want. BOLD, lower case, cursive, BIG, small, word cutouts from magazines, etc. After you have written as many words as you can come up with about yourself, meditate and say a prayer over all of those things and that they will serve you with GREATNESS.

Don’t forget to share your daily creations with us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).

UJIMA (COLLECTIVE WORK AND RESPONSIBILITY)

To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.

Song for reflection: WAKE UP EVERYBODY, John Legend, The Roots, Common, Melanie Fiona

Thought for the Day: “We are each other’s harvest; We are each other’s business; We are each other’s magnitude and bond.” - from “Paul Roberson” by Gwendolyn Brooks

Today's Recipe: Chef Empress Jah’s “Diri Blan and Sos pwa nwa (White Rice and Black Beans)”

Activity for the Day: Gather your family members, friends, and neighbors and let’s CLEAN UP OUR COMMUNITY! Grab a few trash bags, rakes, latex gloves, and any other tools needed. Meet at the front entrance of your neighborhood or a common place where people of the community may gather (playgrounds, bus stops, etc.). Any trash or unwanted debris, pick it up and discard properly. If there is an opportunity to maybe plant a few flowers there, do so! You will feel great and your neighborhood entrance will look great as well! Bring some hot apple cider or hot chocolate to share!

Don’t forget to share your daily creations with us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).

UJAMAA (COOPERATIVE ECONOMICS)

To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Song for reflection: F.U.B.U, Solange

Thought for the Day: “We unwittingly stand at the crossroads—should we go the way of capitalism and try to become individually rich as capitalists, or should we go the way of cooperatives and economic cooperation where we and our whole community could be rich together?” - W.E.B. Du Bois

Today's Recipe: Joe Barry Carroll’s GUMBO

Activity for the Day: Support (5) Black businesses today in some kind of way. Shop in their stores. Dine in their restaurants. Write a good review on their business. Highlight them on social media. If you are a Black business owner, highlight some of your favorite customers and other black businesses you support. Everything will work full circle and we all will be rich together!

Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).

NIA (PURPOSE)

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

Song for reflection: BLACK BUTTERFLY, Deniece Williams

Thought for the Day: “If you have a purpose in which you can believe, there’s no end to the amount of things you can accomplish.” - Marian Anderson

Today's Recipe: Joe Barry Carroll’s COBBLER CUSTARD PIE

Activity for the Day: Take a long walk and think about (3) things that you did well in the year (2024); Think about (3) things you didn’t do so well with that you’d like to leave behind in the year (2024); and finally, think about (6) promising things you’d like to do, accomplish, begin in the new year. As you think about these things, take stops in your walk and meditate/pray over those things. Then proceed to your walk. Write the (6) items down that are the promising for the new year (2025). This can serve as your guide and reminder of your purpose-filled 2025 year. Happy New Year to you!

Don’t forget to tag us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).

KUUMBA (CREATIVITY)

To do always as much as we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

Song for reflection: WE GONE BE ALRIGHT, Kendrick Lamar

Thought for the Day: “To be sensual, I think, is to respect and rejoice in the force of life, of life itself, and to be present in all that one does, from the effort of loving to the breaking of bread.” - James Baldwin

Today's Recipe: Tabitha Brown’s Sauteed Veggies and Rice Stuffed Bell Peppers

Activity for the Day: Prepare a meal with your loved ones and feast together. Use some of the recipes shared here if you’d like! During your feast, have each person to present an artistic expression of some sort during your “Kwanzaa Family/Friends Talent Show”! Activities may incude dancing, singing, poetry, or any talent you want to do! Capture photos and videos of your talent show and don’t forget to tag us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).

IMANI (FAITH)

To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Song for reflection: LIFT EVERY VOICE AND SING, Kurt Carr & Kurt Carr Singers

Thought for the Day: “What counts in life is not the mere fact that we have lived. It is what difference we have made to the lives of others that will determine the significance of the life we lead.” - Nelson Mandela

Today's Recipe: Tabitha Brown’s Mushroom Al Pastor Tacos

Activity for the Day: Today is the first day of the New Year! It is a fresh start and a time to be encouraged! Take a full sheet of white contruction paper and cut it in half (or use ready made blank greeting cards). Cut out inspiring words from a magazine, newspaper, or any type of material that has words on it (or simply write your own inspiring words). Glue the words to the front of the card. On the inside, write an inspiring and encouraging message for the new year. Create (5) greeting cards like this and mail them or give them to family members, friends, neighbors, or even strangers. This unexpected encouraging greeting card will spread positivity for the whole new year!

Don’t forget to tag us in your creations on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!

Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).