KWANZAA KORNER
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ABOUT KWANZAA
KWANZAA is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the West African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. It was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a professor of Africana Studies.
During the week of Kwanzaa, families and communities come together to share a feast, to honor the ancestors, affirm the bonds between them, and to celebrate African and African American culture. Each day they light a candle to highlight the principle of that day and to breathe meaning into the principles with various activities, such as reciting the sayings or writings of great black thinkers and writers, reciting original poetry, African drumming, and sharing a meal of African diaspora-inspired foods. The table is decorated with the essential symbols of Kwanzaa, such as the Kinara (Candle Holder), Mkeka (Mat), Muhindi (corn to represent the children), Mazao (fruit to represent the harvest), and Zawadi (gifts). One might also see the colors of the Pan-African flag, red (the struggle), black (the people), and green (the future), represented throughout the space and in the clothing worn by participants. These colors were first proclaimed to be the colors for all people of the African diaspora by Marcus Garvey.
ACTIVITY: On each day of Kwanzaa, light a candle for that day’s principle on your candleholder (Kinara).
THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES OF KWANZAA WITH SUGGESTED ACTIVITIES
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa are: UMOJA (Unity); KUJICHAGULIA (Self-Determination); UJIMA (Collective Work and Responsibility); UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics); NIA (Purpose); KUUMBA (Creativity); and IMANI (Faith).
Please refer to the following suggestions as you plan activities for each day of Kwanzaa. Please share your daily creations with us on Instagram and Facebook so we can feature you!
Tag us (IG: @hammondshouse | FB: @HammondsHouseMuseum).
DAY 1 (December 26)
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.
DAY 2 (December 27)
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).
DAY 3 (December 28)
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).
DAY 4 (December 29)
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).
DAY 5 (December 30)
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 (2023); Think about (3) things you didn’t do so well with that you’d like to leave behind in the year (2023); 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 (2024). This can serve as your guide and reminder of your purpose-filled 2024 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).
DAY 6 (December 31)
KUUMBA (CREATIVITY)
To do always as much as we can, in order to leave our communnity more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
Resources:
“Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture” by Maulana Karenga. (University of Sankore Press. Los Angeles. 1998)
The National Museum of African American History & Culture | Smithsonian
The Official Kwanzaa Website (www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org)
The Atlanta Black Star