Kwanzaa is an annual celebration of African-American culture from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a communal feast called Karamu, usually on the sixth day. Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, rather a cultural one practiced by Africans of all religious faiths who come together based on the rich, ancient and varied common ground of their African heritage.

Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa:

• Umoja (Unity): To strive for, and to maintain, unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

• Kujichagulia (Self-determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.

• Ujima (Collective work and responsibility): To build and maintain our community, make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems, and to solve them together.

• Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and businesses and to profit from them together.

• Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

• Kuumba (Creativity): To always do as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.

• Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Families celebrating Kwanzaa decorate their households with objects of art, colorful African cloth such as kente, especially the wearing of kaftans by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in Kwanzaa ceremonies and to give respect and gratitude to ancestors.