WESLEY CHAPEL, Fla. — Kwanzaa is a celebration of African culture.
It’s a week-long, 7-night celebration observed every year right after Christmas, from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
WATCH full report by Larissa Scott
Tampa Bay 28 went to visit Kiva and Nathan Williams, and their kids, to find out how they celebrate Kwanzaa.
“Basically we’re just paying homage to our African ancestry,” said Kiva Williams.
Kwanzaa was created as a way to celebrate African American culture and connect to African ancestry.
“This is a way to really reconnect to our ancestors for sure,” said Nathan Williams.
The term Kwanzaa is a Swahili phrase that means “first fruits.”
Each night of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of seven principles.
- Unity
- Self-Determination
- Collective Work and Responsibility
- Cooperative Economics
- Purpose
- Creativity
- Faith
“Most African Americans, we don’t know our direct link to our African ancestry so this is like a unique way of learning about culture, learning about the Swahili language, because the principles are all in Swahili,” said Kiva.
The principles are things Nathan and Kiva hold near to their hearts.
“I think it’s just a great foundation for the family,” said Nathan.
A foundation he hopes makes a lasting impact on their kids, who told Tampa Bay 28 what they enjoy about the holiday.
“Spending time with family, lighting the candles, and like watching documentaries of old African culture,” said their son Noah Williams.
“It’s fun to like learn what the holiday is about like what the principles are about,” said their son Nathan Williams.
As Kwanzaa grows in popularity, Tampa Bay 28 spoke with the Williams family about one of the biggest misconception about the holiday.
Many people think it’s religious, but it’s not.
“So that is a common misconception,” said Kiva.
“I grew up thinking that if you celebrated Kwanzaa, you couldn’t be a Christian or it maybe conflicted with your Christian beliefs or maybe one or the other. But yeah, it has nothing to do with any religion. It’s just principle driven and really the timing of it makes it great to go into a new year,” said Nathan.
Celebrating Kwanzaa is a priority for the Williams family.
“It’s kind of hard to celebrate because you have to like want to do it because it’s literally right after Christmas. We do celebrate Christmas, we have Christian values and celebrate the birth of Jesus and then the next 7 days we’re trying to bring our families together and do those 7 principles. But it’s worth it though because we want to make sure our children know about those 7 principles," said Kiva.
She hopes more people start to celebrate Kwanzaa.
“I wish people knew that they can celebrate it alongside Christmas. There’s so many Black people that we know that don’t know about Kwanzaa or maybe they’re like wait what is Kwanzaa so we just want people to value those 7 principles,” said Kiva.
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