For the river in Angola, see Cuanza River. For the currency, see Angolan kwanza. For the album by Albert Health, see Kwanza (The First).

Kwanzaa (/ˈ k w ɑː n . z ə/) 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.[1] 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,[2] (but see also Juneteenth). According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning first fruits of the harvest,[3] 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.[4]

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.[5]

During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said that it was meant to be an alternative to Christmas, that Jesus was psychotic, and that Christianity was a white religion that black people should shun. [6] However, as Kwanzaa gained