Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa
2003 Kwanzaa celebration with Maulana Karenga, its founder, and others
Observed by	African Americans, parts of African diaspora
Type	Cultural and ethnic
Significance	Celebrates African heritage, unity, and culture.
Celebrations	Unity Creativity Faith Giving gifts
Date	December 26 to January 1
Related to	Pan-Africanism

Kwanzaa (/ˈkwɑːn.zə/) is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67.

Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, as the first specifically African-American holiday, (but see also Juneteenth). According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits of the harvest", although a more conventional translation would simply be "first fruits". The choice of Swahili, an East African language, reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s, although most of the Atlantic slave trade that brought African people to America originated in West Africa.

Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzo Saba, the "seven principles of African Heritage" which Karenga said "is a communitarian African philosophy". For Karenga, a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored an essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose and direction."