Kwanzaa Our Unique Tradition that Blends Our Cultures

The people of Africa are not the only ones to celebrate Kwanzaa. Non-African families can begin Kwanzaa traditions to celebrate the African people, and this helps to create cultural diversity within the home.

When I lived in the town of Duarte, California with my in-laws back in the mid 80's I did attend a Kwanzaa celebration with their neighbors. Although I was present at one nightly celebration, it inspired me so much that I began doing this celebration as part of my own holiday celebrations. As my children grew older and more traditions became mixed in we had to make our Kwanzaa celebration a one-night thing, but it works for us.

My own December traditions involve parts of the Christmas, Kwanzaa an of course Neo-Pagan celebrations. Together these three traditions make my celebrations unique and celebrate the cultural and religious differences in one happy medium. I have found that simply celebrations one cultural does not mean you have to ignore the others. Multi-cultural celebrations can be so much fun.

Traditionally the first night of Kwanzaa is December 26, and it is where Unity is celebrated. The second night of Kwanzaa is Kujichagulia, and this night celebrates the self-determination we have as individuals. The third night of Kwanzaa, which is three days after Christmas, is Ujima, which essentially is a joint work effort and responsibility within the family of man.

The fourth night celebrates Ujamma, which is cooperative economics, while the fifth night is Nia or ones purpose in life. The sixth night is Kuumba, which means creativity, and the seventh night celebrates Imani or our faith.

We wrap them all into one day that celebrates all of these nights as a unit. We gather as a family, just me and my children to talk about accomplishments and what making them during the current year has meant to us. This is usually done while eating corn fritters which are not only tasty they also help us to celebrate the fruits of the season.

We discuss determined individuals within movies, you know those people who go out and get things done. Watching determined people inspires us to be determined people, so rent a movie. Become inspired as a family, by a strong determined person in a movie.

We celebrate by working together, and we usually take down the Christmas tree. As each decorations are placed in the protective boxes we are working together to accomplish a goal and celebrating unity that makes us a family.

A new photo album is created with photographs from the proceeding year, and if the kids have a special memory they want included they write it down. We stick the memory papers in the photo album along with the photos.

We usually have one big dinner that includes a big pot of homemade soup with sausage and rice in it along with sweet potato biscuits to go with it. It is many ingredients going into one pot creating the unity of flavors of different cultures.

Old coats, which are still very useable, are gathered and dropped off in a Salvation Army box, to help those people who may not have a warm coat that fits properly. Our Kwanzaa tradition helps us to renew our faith in ourselves, each other, and the world around us.

Resources;
http://holidays.kaboose.com/kwanzaa/

http://www.agirlsworld.com/amy/pajama/winter/Kwanzaa.html

http://www.bhg.com/holidays/kwanzaa/traditions/kwanzaa-celebrations/

http://www.homeandfamilynetwork.com/holiday/kwanzaa/kwanzaa-celebrations/631