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The birth of a festival

You probably know the Christmas, the Spring Festival and Ramadan are important holidays in the world. But have you heard about Kwanzaa? Kwanzaa is a seven-day festival celebrating the culture and history of African Americans. The week following Christmas Day, many African American families get together to greet the new year and think about the past.

African Americans have a long history and a rich culture, but Kwanzaa is a young holiday. Kwanzaa was born in 1996, when people created a new festival so that African Americans would be able to celebrate their history and culture. The people who created Kwanzaa used the word for the “first fruit” in Swahili, one of the largest languages in Africa. They chose the world because there are many festivals in Africa called “first fruit” festivals. The African first- fruit festival had many things in common: people would get together to celebrate their harvest; they used to give thanks for their harvests and for life; they used to honor their ancestors, celebrate their past, and the group or society they lived in. the festivals were a way to celebrate history and culture, as well as the new year.

The people who created Kwanzaa liked the characteristics of the African festivals so much that they used them to write the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa. The seven principles are:

1. Unity. We must build unity of family, community and nation.

2. Self-determination. We have to build our own lives, think for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

3. Living together. We should build our community and solve our problems together.

4. Working together. We should build and support our factories and shops.

5. Purpose. We should remember our past and build our future. We should honor our ancestors.

6. Creativity. We must do as much as we can to make our community better and more beautiful.

7. Faith. We should believe in our family, our people, our teachers and our leaders.

People celebrate Kwanzaa from December 26 to January 1. the dates were chosen so that Kwanzaa begins the day after Christmas Day and ends on New Year’s Day. This way, people who celebrate Kwanzaa can enjoy the spirit of the holidays without all the commercial activities of Christmas. Since Kwanzaa is a time for learning as well as joy, people celebrate it by lighting a candle each day and discussing one of the seven principles of Kwanzaa, family and friends gather to enjoy a large meal and to celebrate the New Year.

Creating a new festival may seem an unusual way to celebrate history and culture, but we are in fact all creating new festivals each year. Each time we celebrate a festival it changes a little and in that way we keep our culture alive. The Spring Festival, Christmas, Ramadan, Kwanzaa and all the other holidays and festivals help us understand who we are, remember where we come from, and share our hopes for a happy future.