Yahneake Sterling, Staff Reporter
Family lighting candles celebrating Kwanzaa.
Christmas is normally the time of year when we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ and the sacrifice that was made to save man from his sins.
However, various celebrations for the season have evolved over the centuries since Christ walked the earth.
Among them is the Kwanzaa holiday, which is a non-religious African-American holiday, which celebrates family, community, and culture and is celebrated for seven days, December 26-January 1.
The holiday was created in 1966 by black American Dr. Maulana Karenga to celebrate the heritage of African descendants living in the United States.
But the festive celebrations has spread its wings to countries such as Canada, Africa and Jamaica. It is estimated that at at least 15 million people celebrate Kwanzaa yearly.
This year, the Kwanzaa holiday celebrations in Jamaica is being put on by the folks at Ashanti's Oasis, a vegetarian restaurant located in Hope Gardens, St. Andrew.
Though Kwanzaa is celebrated over seven days, the holiday will be recognised on December 29, Carole Waldron Restaurant Manager of Ashanti's Oasis told The Gleaner.
"The main aim is to feel the history of Africans and it is mainly for the children to be educated on the history and to tell them that we can make something of ourselves," Ms. Waldron said.
Performances by several local cultural artists, storytelling and poetry are just a few of the entertainment items planned for the day which begins at 12 noon.
Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
1. December 26: Unity - this means you (black people) strive to maintain unity in the family, community and nation.
2. December 27: Self Determination - On this day black people are to define themselves, and their name and create for themselves.
3. December 28: Collective Work and Responsibility - Blacks will build and maintain their communities. They are also to make their brothers and sisters problems their own and help to solve them.
4. December 29: Co-operative Economics - this is aimed to build and maintain our (blacks) own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.
5. December 30: Purpose - This is to make our (blacks) collective vacation the building and developing of our communities in order to restore our people.
6. December 31: Creativity - the aim is to do as much as we can, in the we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
7. January 1: Faith - The day when you believe with all our hearts in our people.
