Tag: Kwanzaa

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Kwanzaa at the Carver Museum 2023

Join CDF Freedom Schools® Austin as we celebrate family, community, and culture with the Carver Museum and Cultural Center for the annual community Kwanzaa Celebration & Ujamaa Marketplace held on

Kwanzaa kinara and symbols

Saturday, December 30, 2023
1 pm to 3 PM
at the
George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center‎
1165 Angelina St.
Austin, TX 78702

Admission is free and open to the public. Bring the whole family to this intergenerational event!

Read Aloud Guest Book Cover: You Will Do Great Things by Amerie, illustrated by Raissa Figueroa Headshot of Qi DadaSee our Freedom Schools scholars and wasaidizi on stage, as we share the principles of Kwanzaa, and offer Freedom Schools cheers and chants and a read aloud with our guest reader Qi Dada reading You Will Do Great Things by Amerie, as a part of the annual community program that also features performances and Kwanzaa candle lighting ceremony.

(Scholars and wasaidizi interested in participating on stage in the program can sign up on our leadership opportunities form. SLIs, past and present staff, and alumni are also encouraged to sign up.

Youth and adults interested in serving the community at the Kwanzaa event (greeting, setting up, and helping as needed), please sign up on our volunteer form.)

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Habari Gani? What’s the News?

Imani (ee-mah-nee)!

On the seventh day of Kwanzaa, January 1, we celebrate Faith.imani

To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

The ancient Egyptian double symbol of the ankh (life) and djed pillar (stability, endurance) serves here as a symbol of steadfastness in commitment to the Good, the Right, and the Beautiful in life

Today we light a green candle symbolizing Imani, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

 

“CELEBRATING KWANZAA, CELEBRATING COMMUNITY” (excerpt)

— by Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President Emerita of CDF

“The New Year is marked with many kinds of celebrations, but for Black families and communities who celebrate Kwanzaa from December 26-January 1, every New Year’s Day marks a renewed dedication to community. Kwanzaa is a unique celebration because it is not a religious or a national holiday but a cultural one, and it doesn’t celebrate a person or an event but a set of ideas….

…During that final Day of Meditation in Kwanzaa, people are supposed to ask themselves three questions: “Who am I? Am I really who I say I am? And am I all I ought to be?” Everyone answers these questions as an individual, but their answers should reflect how well they are playing their part in making their community function as a whole. A person’s success is deeply connected to how much value they are giving to others. At a time when our children desperately need adults to reweave the fabric of community for them, many of us need to ask ourselves the same questions. Think about how you might answer these questions—and how your own community might answer them, or how our nation would.

Are we all that we ought to be?”

Read the full essay here: “CELEBRATING KWANZAA, CELEBRATING COMMUNITY” — Children’s Defense Fund (childrensdefense.org)

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Habari Gani? What’s the News?

Kuumba (koo-oom-bah)!

On the sixth day of Kwanzaa, December 31, we celebrate Creativity.

kuumba

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

The seven vibrations of divine creation – the Dogon symbol of creativity

Today we light a red candle symbolizing Kuumba, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Habari Gani? What’s the News?

Nia (nee-ah)!

On the fifth day of Kwanzaa, December 30, we celebrate Purpose.nia

To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.

The heiroglyph Nefer – Ancient Egyptian symbol of beauty and good.

Today we light a green candle symbolizing Nia, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Habari Gani? What’s the News?

Ujamaa (oo-ja-mah)!

On the fourth day of Kwanzaa, December 29, we celebrate Cooperative Economics.ujamaa

To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

Two interlocking half circles – the Nsibidi symbol of togetherness and family.

Today we light a red candle symbolizing Ujamaa, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Habari Gani? What’s the News?

Ujima (oo-gee-mah)!

On the third day of Kwanzaa, December 28, we celebrate Collective Work & Responsibility.ujima

To build and maintain our community together and make our sibling’s problems our problems and to solve them together.

Akoma ntoaso – the Adinkra symbol of shared effort and obligation

Today we light a green candle symbolizing Ujima, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Habari Gani? What’s the news?

Kujichagulia (koo-gee-cha-goo-lee-ah)!

On the second day of Kwanzaa, December 27, we celebrate self-determination.Kujichagulia

To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ahenwa, the Akan throne, is symbol of national identity, cultural groundedness and rightful governance.

Today we light a red candle symbolizing Kujichagulia, one of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Habari Gani? What’s the news?

Umoja (oo-moe-jah)!

On the first day of Kwanzaa, December 26, we celebrate unity.

Umoja Unity dagi knot

To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.

The dagi knot, pictured above, is a Pan African symbol of unity found in several African cultures (Yoruba, Hausa, Bushongo, and more).

Today we light a black candle symbolizing Umoja, the first principle of the Nguzo Saba (seven principles) that represent a guide for daily living to be practiced throughout the year.

Harambee! Let’s all pull together!

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Joyous Kwanzaa!

Kwanzaa kinara and symbolsKwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from December 26 thru January 1, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase “matunda ya kwanza” which means “first fruits” in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

Like Freedom Schools, St James’ Episcopal Church Austin, and Welcome Table, Inc., Kwanzaa is a story of self-determination. Kwanzaa started during a time when people in the US weren’t allowed to celebrate the traditions or languages or faith of the African diaspora, nor encouraged to learn about our rich and diverse heritage.

Today we uplift the Nguzo Saba, seven principles that represent a guide for daily living studied during Kwanzaa to be practiced throughout the year.

The Greeting

Habari gani? (Swahili for what’s the news) is the official greeting spoken during the 7 days of Kwanzaa. The response is the principle of the day.

Learn More

Click here to learn more about Kwanzaa.

And be sure to visit this blog daily from December 26 to Jan 1, to learn about the Kwanzaa principle of the day.

And please join CDF Freedom Schools Austin at the Carver Museum on Wednesday, December 29, 4 pm – 8:30 pm for the annual Ujamaa Marketplace and Kwanzaa Celebration.

And Sunday, December 26, 11:30 am – 12 pm, join St James’ Episcopal Church and the Union of Black Episcopalians – Myra McDaniel Chapter for the annual Kwanzaa Celebration. Participate in-person (masks required) or online (Zoom).

 

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Freedom Schools Kwanzaa at the Carver Museum

Kwanzaa Kinara DisplayJoin CDF Freedom Schools® Austin as we celebrate family, community, and culture with the Carver Museum and Cultural Center for the annual community Kwanzaa Celebration & Ujamaa Marketplace held on

Wednesday, December 29, 4 pm to 8:30 PM
at the
George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center‎
1165 Angelina St.
Austin, TX 78702

Admission is free and open to the public. Bring the whole family to this intergenerational event!

George Washington Carver Museum and Cultural Center

 

Stop by the Freedom Schools booth outside from 4 pm to 6pm to make a free Kwanzaa craft. Shop and explore the Buy Black Vendors’ Outdoor Marketplace. Enter a drawing to win a copy of the book One Hen, a gift from CDF Freedom Schools Austin.

One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference
One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference

Trina RobertsonThen join us for the evening, from 7pm to 8:30 pm program inside Boyd Vance Theatre for the evening Kwanzaa program, featuring  performances and Kwanzaa candle lighting, along with Freedom Schools cheers and chants along with a read aloud, featuring some of our Freedom Schools scholars and our guest reader Trina Robertson (Welcome Table, Inc. board member) reading One Hen: How One Small Loan Made a Big Difference by Katie Smith Milway.

 

(This Freedom Schools event is supported in part by the Union of Black Episcopalians – Myra McDaniel chapter.)

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