How Do You KWANZAA?

Is it a question of definition, or of devotion?

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When someone asks, “How do you Kwanzaa?”

 

It may arrive softly, stemming from unfamiliarity, an honest yearning to understand a celebration that is African-centered, community-anchored, and rich with legacy. It may come from the neighbor who has seen the colors, heard the drums, watched the candles glow, but hasn’t yet been invited into the meaning, the memory, the movement.

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For others, the question is born of curiosity: Where are the celebrations this year? Who is gathering? What will we build, honor, and uplift together across the city? It becomes an entry point. Not just to attend an event, but to step into a sense of belonging, tradition, artistry, and communal joy.

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And then there is the deepest reading of the question a mirror held up to the soul:
How do you embody:

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• Umoja (Unity)

• Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

• Ujima (Collective Work & Responsibility)

• Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

• Nia (Purpose)

• Kuumba (Creativity)

• Imani (Faith)

 

Not only during the seven days, but in the ordinary hours of your becoming? Do you practice collective care when no candle is lit? Do you honor the work of your hands when no choir is singing? Do you stand for purpose, creativity, unity, and self-determination in the quiet, in the labor, in the reconciliation, in the daily choices that shape our liberation story?

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To Kwanzaa is not just to celebrate. It is to remember, restore, and recommit. It is to live the principles not as guests of a holiday, but as architects of a future worthy of our ancestors, our elders, and our children.

So, as you move through this page, through this season, and through the city’s offerings, ask yourself again:

 

How do you Kwanzaa?

In curiosity.
In community.
In consciousness.
In culture.
In the everyday practice of excellence, dignity, and possibility.

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