Celebrating World Holidays: Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa is celebrated by African Americans and commemorates African heritage. Beginning on December 26^th, families gather for seven consecutive nights to light the kinara - a seven-holed candle holder. Each day honours a different principle - unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, a sense of purpose, creativity and faith.

December 31^st marks the night for giving. Families gather for a great feast, featuring traditional African dishes and foods, such as sweet potato pie, baked catfish, black-eyed peas, sesame seeds, peanuts, collard greens and spicy sauces. Children receive zawadi (gifts), usually a book, a symbol of African heritage and something homemade.

During the seven days of Kwanzaa, people decorate their homes and wear clothes in traditional African colours - red, black and green. These colours are important symbols - green represents the fertile land; black the colour of the people; and red the blood lost in the struggle for freedom.

By Rochelle Strauss