Two years ago, I posted Why I Celebrate Kwanzaa, sharing how I came to embrace it as an inspirational way to close the holiday season and begin the new year. I’m celebrating this year with an expansion of my “why”.
Kwanzaa is a holiday of the spirit.
Kwanzaa is the gathering of family, friends, and community. When we come together to strengthen our families and communities and honor the lessons of the past, we can face the future with more joy and optimism.
Kwanzaa gives reverence for the Elders and Ancestors. The elders in any group of people, no matter its nature – kinship, ethnic, cultural, religious – have the gift of wisdom to share. And we are our ancestors dream. Maya Angelou has a quote that says, “I come as one, but I stand as 10,000.”
Kwanzaa is a holiday that should be celebrated by everyone, not just the black community. While it commemorates the past, learning, cultures, and achievements of Africans/African Americans, if we “stand as 10,000” we all have African ancestors.
Kwanzaa is about the spirit of people – all people regardless of color or race. Kwanzaa is a holiday of the human spirit – not the Divine. The two, the human spirit and the Divine, were meant to co-exist.
Kwanzaa is a celebration of the Good of Life. Kwanzaa is a recommitment to the highest cultural ideals, such as truth, justice, respect for people and nature, and caring for the vulnerable
A message that all of the winter solstice holidays have in common is that the world would be a better place if we were in the Spirit all year long. Such as it is for Kwanzaa.
Image: Illiana Garner
