HOUSTON (CW39) – Kwanzaa, the weeklong celebration honoring African heritage, culture, and community, is observed each year from December 26 to January 1. In Houston, local families and organizations mark the holiday with a variety of events, including cultural performances, educational workshops, and community gatherings.
Here is a list of celebrations in Houston:
- Shape Community Center
- Third Ward Multi-Service Center
- Children’s Museum Houston
- The Shrine Cultural and Event Center
New to Kwanzaa? Here is a breakdown of principles and symbols the tradition follows:
Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)
Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles:
- Umoja (Unity): Striving for and maintaining unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
- Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): Defining, naming, creating, and speaking for oneself.
- Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): Building and maintaining the community together and solving problems as a group.
- Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): Building and maintaining retail stores and other businesses and profiting from them together.
- Nia (Purpose): Making a collective vocation of building and developing the community to restore its people to their traditional greatness.
- Kuumba (Creativity): Always doing as much as possible to leave the community more beautiful and beneficial than it was inherited.
- Imani (Faith): Believing in the people, the leaders, the teachers, and the righteousness and victory of the struggle.
Seven Symbols of Kwanzaa
There are seven symbols that represent concepts and themes of the holiday:…