Happy Kwanzaa

I am interested in African American culture, so last year I did a little research on the origins and celebration of Kwanzaa. What I found was a beautiful holiday focusing on community, which i love.
It was created by African American scholar and social activist Ron Karenga in 1966. He states the goal was to "...give Blacks an alternative to the existing holiday and give Blacks an opportunity to celebrate themselves and history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society." The name Kwanzaa comes from the name "matunda ya kwanzaa" which means "first fruits" in Swahili. First fruit celebrations have went on in Africa as far back as ancient Egypt. In those traditional celebrations they had five activities: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Deriving from that, Kwanzaa has seven principles, or Nguza Saba. They are each celebrated on their own day, beginning December 26 and ending on January 1.

The Nguzo Saba - The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa

Umoja (Unity)
To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)
To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.

Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)
To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)
To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

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

Kuumba (Creativity)
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.

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