Tuesday, December 31, 2024: We celebrate Kwanzaa: I rise Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear"

- From "Still I Rise" by Maya Angelou

Unlike Christmas and Hanukkah, Kwanzaa—the youngest of the major winter holidays—was conceived in the United States, and is not based directly on ancient religious festivals.

Africana professor and activist Maulana Karenga created the week-long celebration back in 1966 by drawing from a number of African traditions. Since its creation, the goal of Kwanzaa has been "to introduce and reinforce seven basic values of African culture which contribute to building and reinforcing family, community and culture among African American people as well as Africans throughout the world African community."

The holiday starts on December 26 and ends on January 1. Each of the seven days corresponds to the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity (umoja), self-determination (kujichagulia), collective responsibility (ujima), cooperative economics (ujamaa), purpose (nia), creativity (kuumba) and faith (imani).

Let us not engage the world hurriedly.

Let us not grasp at the rope of wealth impatiently.

That which should be treated with mature judgment,

Let us not deal with in a state of anger.

When we arrive at a cool place,

Let us rest fully;

Let us give continuous attention to the future;

and let us give deep consideration to the consequences of things.

And this because of our (eventual) passing.

—meditation from the Odu Ifá

A Prayer for Kwanzaa

O come all you faithful, rejoicing and victorious,

Come, let us embrace the mystery in the spirit of life, as we celebrate the goodness of Kwanzaa and the the African American heritage.

Come and give thanks for companions on the journey in the struggle for freedom and justice.

Our roots in the soil and soul of Mother Africa reach far and wide.

Creator of all, lead us to be true to our nature with respect and dignity for life,

from conception to its natural end at death.

Bless and keep us in solidarity one to another.

Ache.

by Addae Ama Kraba

"The holiday, then will of necessity, be engaged as an ancient and living cultural tradition which reflects the best of African thought and practice in its reaffirmation of the dignity of the human person in community and culture, the well-being of family and community, the integrity of the environment and our kinship with it, and the rich resource and meaning of a people's culture." —Dr. Maulana Karenga

"The seven principles of Kwanzaa—unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith—teach us that when we come together to strengthen our families and communities and honor the lesson of the past, we can face the future with joy and optimism. —President Bill Clinton

"It is clear that we must find an African solution to our problems, and that this can only be found in African unity. Divided we are weak; united, Africa could become one of the greatest forces for good in the world." —from I Speak of Freedom by Kwame Nkrumah.

"We are each other's harvest; we are each other's business; we are each other's magnitude and bond." —from "Paul Robeson" by Gwendolyn Brooks

"It will be hard, James, but you come from sturdy peasant stock, men who picked cotton, dammed rivers, built railroads, and in the teeth of the most terrifying odds, achieved an unassailable and monumental dignity. You come from a long line of great poets, some of the greatest poets since Homer. One of them said, 'The very time I thought I was lost, my dungeon shook and my chains fell off.'" —from "A Letter to my Nephew" by James Baldwin