“It’s very much a part of the student community here, of their celebration, their network,” says Dr. Kathryn Brewer, English professor at Stillwell and board member for the National Association of African-American Studies.

Kwanzaa means “first fruits” in Swahili, and the holiday is intended to affirm the values of family and community through African-themed ritual and decoration. Gifts are exchanged and a feast is typical, although the occasion is apparently not meant to be in conflict with Christmas.

A seven-candle holder called a kinara is placed on a special mat (mkeka) and stands for such principles as unity, faith, purpose and self-determination. Each child in the household is represented by an ear of corn placed on the mkeka. The colors of black, red and green are present to symbolize, respectively, the African people, their struggle and their hope for the future.

Kwanzaa began in 1966 as an outgrowth of the U.S. Black Power movement of the day. Dr. Maulana Karenga, who is currently chair of the department of black studies at California State University, Long Beach, devised the occasion as a way to strengthen black family and community life, especially through the seven principles or Nguzo Saba.

“The principles are the most important part of it,” remarks Dr. Brewer. “Kwanzaa is part of the December holidays but it’s something the African-American culture can celebrate that’s separate from the mainstream.”

That separation, along with a common confusion that Kwanzaa is a replacement for Christmas, has made for a somewhat uncertain embrace of the holiday among African-Americans. A spokesman for the NAACP notes that the African-American population is primarily Christian, for example, and says Kwanzaa is not marked at the advocacy group’s Baltimore headquarters.

“The people I see who celebrate Kwanzaa don’t celebrate Christmas,” observes Dr. Sandra Lee, professor of mass communications at Grambling State University in Louisiana. “The principles of Kwanzaa are what I do anyway, so the holiday is of no significance to me.”

Still, aided by an increased retailing dimension, the occasion has grown over the years. The National Retail Federation in Washington estimates that 1.6 per cent of U.S. consumers celebrate Kwanzaa. That’s a small ratio relative even to the 6 per cent who mark Hanukkah, let alone the 92 per cent involved in Christmas – but it’s certainly large enough for a good number of feasts.

The Seven Principles

The seven principles (Nguzo Saba) as set out by Kwanzaa founder Dr. Maulana Karenga:

• Unity (Umoja): To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
• Self-determination (Kujichagulia): To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
• Collective work and responsibility (Ujima): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
• Cooperative work and economics (Ujamaa): To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
• Purpose (Nia): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
• Creativity (Kuumba): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
• Faith (Imani): To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.