Tanzanian Currency, 100 Shillings, John Hobgood, 1997

Kwanzaa, 15 February 1997, 20

82
Date: Thu, 13 Feb 1997 12:58:54 -1000
To: Ken Wilburn
From: Prema Qadir
Subject: Re: Kwanza & Kwanzaa

John, Here is the posting on Kwanzaa. Take good care. Dr. K.

----------------------------Original message----------------------------

Dear Ken,

Greetings! The way I understand it is that *Kwanza* is a Swahili word. Dr. Maulana Karenga added an "a" to the word Kwanza and claimed the newly created name for the annual Pan-African celebrations known as *Kwanzaa*.

Kwanza refers to *first fruit* celebrations (i.e. harvests) mainly in sub-Saharan Africa. When Karenga invented Kwanzaa, he wasn't concerned (I believe) with the fact that most African-Americans may have come from West Africa. The idea of Kwanzaa is to strengthen unity throughout ALL of Africa. Kwanzaa was "made up"! Karenga created it out of some factual information from Africa. Kwanzaa is a designer celebration. Now, with that said, we should use it to build unity.

I am getting to leave for Africa in a few days. I can't give you more than this for now. Please refer to my Africa bookmarks for more info about Kwanzaa: http://www.ilhawaii.net:80/~premaq/book-01Af.html. You will have to slowly scroll down to the section on Kwanzaa.

forward!
love, prema
Happy Valentines Day
http://www.ilhawaii.net:80/~premaq/Coates/97-lovers/crystal.html

Return to Letters from Africa

Return to the Academic Home Page

First Online Edition: 22 July 1997
Last Revised: 19 March 2001