Ethnic Skincare
December 26 The first day of Kwanzaa
People are united in their feelings. They are together in their ideas. Members of a family feel they belong together.
On the first day of Kwanzaa, a family gets together. Most of the time, this gathering is before the evening meal. But some families have their Kwanzaa ceremony in the morning or the afternoon. A ceremony is a celebration that is always done the same way.
The family stands by the table with the mat and the candle holder with seven candles. Once everyone is ready, the black candle is lit. Anyone my light it. In my home we have someone different do it every year.
The person lighting the candle tells its meaning. He might say, "Today is the first day of Kwanzaa. I light the black candle. It stands for unity. It means being together. Unity is the most important principle. We must join together in our neighborhood. We need unity in our families. Then we will feel close to each other."
After this, everyone in the family takes a turn talking. Each one tells why he or she thinks unity is important.
The next part of the Kwanzaa ceremony remembers family members who have died. Someone picks up a cup. The cup is filled with water or fruit juice. First some of the water or juice is poured into a bowl. This pouring is to honor family members who have died. Then the person drinks from the cup. He or she raises the cup high and says, "Harambee" (ha-RAH-mbee).
Harambee means, "Let's all pull together." That is another way of saying, "Let's all work together." The entire family says, "Harambee!" This is repeated seven times. One time for each of the seven principles. Then the cup is passed around. Each person drinks from it, but if there is a large group, only the leader drinks from the cup.
Now the names of African American leaders and heroes are called out. Everyone thinks about the great things these people have done.
The ceremony is finished for the night. It is time to eat. After eating, the family sings songs or listens to African music.