The Case for Kwanzaa – The Atlantic
For a few years of my childhood, Kwanzaa was a big deal. I recall attending three Kwanzaa celebrations hosted by Mt. Lebanon Baptist Church in Baltimore. My cousin Olivia Moyd Hazell, at the time the church’s director of Christian education, organized them. About 50 church members and friends, many wearing kente cloth, would file into a softly lit basement the weekend after Christmas. We’d listen to good music: Black R&B standards, Soul Train dance lines, and traditional djembe performed live. We’d eat familiar food, like collard greens and red beans and rice. And we’d speak unfamiliar words such as umoja and ujima. The mood was festive, but with a focus on giving everyone, children especially, time to speak about how the principles of Kwanzaa applied to their lives. Then it all just kind of stopped. My family participated in this big Kwanzaa tradition, and then we didn’t. But, as fringe and out of style as Kwanzaa may be, I wish we’d take it up again. Kwanzaa, which begins on December 26, is a seven-day, nonreligious …