Happy Kwanzaa!

Today marks the first day of the cultural celebration known as KWANZAA. A seven-day, post-Christmas celebration that highlights African traditions and principles, but has become an annual rite in African-American homes.

Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa (Dec. 26th to Jan. 1st) is dedicated to one of the following principles:

1. Umoja (Unity) To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.
2. Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.
3. 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.
4. Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics) To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
5. Nia (Purpose) To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
6. Kuumba (Creativity) 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.
7. Imani (Faith) To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Families celebrating Kwanzaa decorate their households with objects of art, colorful African cloth, especially the wearing of the Uwole by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in Kwanzaa ceremonies and to give respect and gratitude to ancestors.

Libations are shared, generally with a common chalice, "Kikombe cha Umoja" passed around to all celebrants. A Kwanzaa ceremony may include drumming and musical selections, libations, a reading of the "African Pledge" and the Principles of Blackness, reflection on the Pan-African colors, a discussion of the African principle of the day or a chapter in African history, a candle-lighting ritual, artistic performance, and, finally, a feast (Karamu).

I have yet to celebrate Kwanzaa, but I probably will -- one day :)

• To learn more about Kwanzaa, go HERE or HERE.
• To find graphics to promote Kwanzaa on your webpage, MySpace or Facebook, go HERE.
• And to learn about the new Kwanzaa-inspired film "The Black Candle" (narrated by Maya Angelou), go HERE.

HAPPY KWANZAA!