Page 4 - Florida Sentinel 12-27-16 Online Edition

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Kwanzaa Turns 50:
Are You Celebrating It?
Traditional American Christmas is over. Begin- ning now until the New Year, are you celebrating the 50-year tradition of honoring yourself?
Get your Kinaras (can- dleholders) out, Kwanzaa is turning 50. It’s time to cel- ebrate.
Kwanzaa, the 7-day celebration that honors African American and Pan- African culture, while af- firming black pride begins Monday and runs through Jan. 1.
Maulana Karenga,
who heads Africana Studies at California State Univer- sity-Long Beach established this holiday in the midst of the Civil Rights movement as a celebration of family, community and culture. But, more importantly,
Kwanzaa is about freedom. “Kwanzaa is a celebra- tion of freedom, of the free- dom struggle itself in which Kwanzaa is grounded, a cel-
ebration of our choosing to free ourselves and be our- selves, as Africans, and to rejoice in the richness of our history and culture of
awesome and audacious striving and struggle,” said Karenga in his 50th An- niversary Founder’s Kwanzaa Statement.
The holiday’s name comes from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits,” and is based upon its founding principles, or the Nguzo Saba (the Seven Principles): Umoja, unity; Kujichagulia, self-determi- nation; Ujima, collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa, cooperative eco- nomics; Nia, purpose; Ku- umba, creativity; Imani, faith. The Kinara burns seven candles (which are red, black and green) each signifying a principle.
And Kwanzaa ends with reflection: the Day of Meditation. On this intro- spective day is traditional to ask the three Kawaida ques- tions: “Who am I?” “Am I really who I say I am?” and “Am I all I ought to be?”
PAGE 4 FLORIDA SENTINEL BULLETIN PUBLISHED EVERY TUESDAY AND FRIDAY TUESDAY, DECEMBER 27, 2016