NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Kuumba (Creativity)

http://www.niamedia.com/kwanzaa.htm

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.

How to Practice Kuumba

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Kuumba, described as "creativity," is observed on the sixth day during the Kwanzaa holiday season which runs from December 26 through January 1 every year. According to the tenets of Kwanzaa, being creative in all avenues of life can foster unexpected opportunities to improve its general quality. Unleashing your creativity in a variety of ways will not only open your mind to a plethora of unforeseen possibilities, but can also allow you to see deep within yourself and decide which areas of your life should take priority.

1. Join an organization in the community that encourages Kuumba. There are varieties of city-sponsored creative arts programs as well as diverse types of recreation areas that can be used to encourage creativity in youths and adults. Your local community center provides an ideal starting point.
2. Evaluate areas of your life that are in need of Kuumba. Typically, routines are a prime area for creative integration.
3. Create your own Kuumba group or organization in the community. Figure out what you are passionate about, then let the creative juices flow. For example, you could create a performance arts show that sends a message to the audience about how to creatively live out all seven principles during Kwanzaa.
4. Write a story or book and publish it either in print or on the Internet. One of the best ways to practice Kuumba during Kwanzaa is through reading or creating the written word. Many children first experience an opening of their Kuumba sides through the reading of stories.
5. Practice Kuumba this Kwanzaa season by creating music, whether singing or playing an instrument. Take an unconventional approach to your music by letting your thoughts out of the box and exploring areas in your musical mind that are unfamiliar and underutilized.

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Nia (Purpose)

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

How to Practice Nia

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Nia, which is observed during the fifth day of Kwanzaa, is defined as purpose. You can obtain purpose in life by serving others in a variety of ways. This was essential to the teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, who stated that "service is the substance of greatness." To achieve greatness, we must practice serving others and understand sacrifice, so that we may be lifted up to higher levels of thought and obtain higher positions in life.

1. Serve your spouse and your immediate family in all that you do.
2. Act in a service capacity at work or on the job. You should diligently serve your employer by giving 100 percent in all of your job functions and duties on a daily basis.

Serve as a Volunteer

1. Volunteer at a retirement or convalescent home. Kwanzaa teaches that we must respect and learn from our elders, as they often have an advanced understanding of life.
2. Work in the educational school system in your area. This provides a wonderful opportunity to be a part of children's lives in a positive way and to have an impact on the future of your community.
3. Give your time in a local soup kitchen that provides those who are less fortunate with basic items such as food and temporary shelter.
4. Offer your services at a local library. They are frequently in need of helpers to restock books, read stories to children or participate in administrative tasks.
5. Serve as a volunteer at your local church. Here is where you can impact the lives of others on a spiritual and eternal plane. True Nia ultimately begins with the inner spiritual area of one's life.
   

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics)

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To build and maintain our own stores, shops and other businesses and to profit from them together.

How to Practice Ujamaa

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Ujamaa, practiced on the fourth day of Kwanzaa, is defined during Kwanzaa as "cooperative economics." Cooperative economics offers everyone a fair and equal chance to work and enjoy life through relationships and the goods of this world. It is recommended to stop governmental and private corruption, unnecessary plunder, community pollution and resource depletion.

Choosing to practice Ujamaa can lead individual communities and large nations alike to become economically cooperative with other places around the world.

1. Try to influence leaders in your local community to support and enforce an equal and fair world trading system. By working together, all members of a society can benefit from trading items and technology with each other. Ideally, the end result would be a fair and economic world trade system allowing members of all societies the opportunity to prosper and enjoy life.
2. Petition for fair wages in your community. The Ujamaa day celebrated during Kwanzaa can be an important time to voice your concerns about the average societal wage. Gather others in your community and voice your opinions together.
3. Strive for fair opportunities for all members of society, no matter their background, race, religion or educational status.
4. Collaborate with other members of your community to protect the economic and commercial spheres from greed and evil. Individuals cannot accomplish this without the communal help of local business owners, corporate officers and governmental officials.
5. Display honest behavior in all your business and personal dealings. Utilizing a checks and balance system for economic commerce can help guide individuals and corporations in preserving an honest and ethical behavior pattern.

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility)

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To build and maintain our community together and make our brother's and sister's problems our problems and to solve them together.

How to Practice Ujima

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Ujima is defined as the idea of a culture of collective work and responsibility. Realizing that members of a community must all be working for the common good to achieve happiness and satisfaction is a key component of Ujima. You must also realize that a commitment must be made to work and raise your family with a responsible and collective work ethic that should be passed on from generation to generation.

1. Live your life as an example to your children and your friends. You must go to work every day that you are able. Once you are there, you must work diligently, to the best of your ability.
2. Teach your children the value of working to earn money or items. They should also be taught the value of earning respect from not only employers, but neighbors and local community members as well. Your reputation is something that you must work hard at and earn over time.
3. Make it a point to appreciate those around you for what they do and for what they represent to you. You should always show appreciation for your spouse and your children. They are your gifts and your responsibility, so you should treasure them with all your heart.
4. Make responsible decisions for yourself and for your family. The right choices should be made that benefit all people involved, not just you. You should take time alone for a careful evaluation of the negative implications of any decision that involves others. Then make the best informed decision to benefit the majority.
5. Sacrifice for the common good. In order to be a good example, teacher or mentor, you must learn to occasionally sacrifice your own desires for the maximum benefit of others. This self-sacrificing characteristic will teach you many lessons in life that otherwise could never have been taught.
   

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Kujichagulia (Self-Determination)

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To define ourselves, name ourselves, create for ourselves and speak for ourselves.


How to Practice Kujichagulia
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Kujichagulia is defined as self-determination by African-Americans and others of African descent during the Kwanzaa holiday. Self-determination allows people to act and speak independently on a personal and public level. It requires confidence and self-evaluation as well as motivation. It is one of the seven principles or "Nguzo Saba" of Kwanzaa and is celebrated and practiced on a single special day during Kwanzaa and ideally continued throughout the year.

1. Plan and prioritize a list of goals that you hope to accomplish throughout your life. These can be short, medium or long term in nature. Begin the practice of Kujichagulia in relation to achieving your list of goals.
2. Picture yourself achieving each listed goal in your life. Studies have shown that positive imaging in the mind actually allows goal seekers to obtain more confidence in the possibility of achieving their goals as well as physically relaxing their bodies and minds in preparation for that action.
3. Learn from your mistakes by the results and outcomes of your previous decisions. The adage says that you can never learn from failure unless you have failed and you can never fail unless you have tried. Making decisions and learning from them is a part of growing and living and is also a key factor in learning self-determination.
4. Grow in knowledge in a variety of areas and subject matters. You should continue to seek knowledge wherever and whenever you can. Knowledge is the root of all power and power within oneself is the root of self-determination.
5. Keep your physical body healthy and active. A healthy body creates an healthy balance between emotions and intellect. To keep your mind sharp, you must consistently eat a healthy diet and stay physically active throughout your entire life.

NGUZO SABA (The Seven Principles) - Umoja (Unity)

http://www.niamedia.com/kwanzaa.htm

To strive for and maintain unity in the family, community, nation and race.

How to Practice Umoja

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1. Join an organization that has pledged to live out the practice of Umoja. This organization should be sponsoring events and informing the public about the importance of taking a unified stand on a particular issue important to your culture. The organization should also allow all of its members to live out other core principles during Kwanzaa.
2. Volunteer in the community to practice a form of Umoja. In order to unify a community, the members should be out and about helping one another and getting to know each other. Communities function best when their members are acquainted with one another in a personal and positive way.
3. Start a group or club in the community in an area that you are interested in and that you think would help unify the community in some way. It can be a book club, a childcare co-op or even a Bible study group. You can hold weekly or bi-weekly meetings or conferences at libraries, public recreational areas or private homes.
4. Walk down the street with a smile on your face. Stay positive throughout the day and let some of that zest for life spill over to and inspire others who see you. You can donate a good attitude to the community whenever you are in public places.
5. Do something to help the educational system. Most, if not all, of your future community members will have had a place in the educational system of your area. By donating time and resources, you can help to unify a strong group of future leaders.

Celebrating Kwanzaa

Preparation

There is a traditionally established way of celebrating Kwanzaa. We should therefore observe these guidelines to make our Kwanzaa the most beautiful and engaging one and to keep the tradition. Without definite guidelines and core values and practices there is no holiday.

First, you should come to the celebration with a profound respect for its values, symbols and practices and do nothing to violate its integrity, beauty and expansive meaning. Secondly, you should not mix the Kwanzaa holiday or its symbols, values and practice with any other culture. This would violate the principles of Kujichagulia (Self-Determination) and thus violate the integrity of the holiday.

Thirdly, choose the best and most beautiful items to celebrate Kwanzaa. This means taking time to plan and select the most beautiful objects of art, colorful African cloth, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc. so that every object used represents African culture and your commitment to the holiday in the best of ways.

Presentation

First, a central place in the home for the Kwanzaa Set, the symbols of Kwanzaa is chosen. A table is then spread with a beautiful piece of African cloth. Then, the mkeka (mat) is placed down and all of the other symbols are placed on it or immediately next to it to symbolize our rootedness in our tradition. Next the Kinara (candle holder) is placed on the mat and the Mishumaa Saba (seven candles) are placed in the kinara (candle holder).

The colors of Kwanzaa are black, red and green; black for the people, red for their struggle, and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle. Therefore there is one black candle, three red and three green candles. These are the mishumaa saba (the seven candles) and they represent the seven principles. The black candle represents the first principle Umoja (unity) and is placed in the center of the kinara. The red candles represent the principles of Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujamaa (cooperative economics) and Kuumba (creativity) and are placed to the left of the black candle. The green candles represent the principles of Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Nia (purpose) and Imani (faith) and are placed to the right of the black candle. The black candle is lit first on the first day of the celebration. And the remaining candles are lit afterwards from left to right on the following days. This procedure is to indicate that the people come first, then the struggle and then the hope that comes from the struggle.

And then the mazao (crops), and ears of corn are also placed on the mkeka. At least two ears of corn are placed down on the mat regardless of whether there are children in the immediate family or not for the children of the community belong to all of us and every adult in African tradition is considered an immediate or social parent. Next the kikombe cha umoja (the Unity cup) is then placed on the mkeka (mat). It is used to pour tambiko (libation) to the ancestors in remembrance and honor of those who paved the path down which we walk and who taught us the good, the Tamshi and the beautiful in life. Then African art objects and books on the life and culture of African people are also placed on or next to the mat to symbolize our commitment to heritage and learning.

The Symbols of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa has seven basic symbols and two supplemental ones. Each represents values and concepts reflective of African culture and contributive to community building and reinforcement.




The basic symbols in Swahili and then in English are:

• Mazao (The Crops) - These are symbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor.


• Mkeka (The Mat) - This is symbolic of our tradition and history and therefore, the foundation on which we build.


• Kinara (The Candle Holder) - This is symbolic of our roots, our parent people -- continental Africans.


• Muhindi (The Corn) - This is symbolic of our children and our future which they embody.


• Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles) - These are symbolic of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the matrix and minimum set of values which African people are urged to live by in order to rescue and reconstruct their lives in their own image and according to their own needs.


• Kikombe cha Umoja (The Unity Cup) - This is symbolic of the foundational principle and practice of unity which makes all else possible.


• Zawadi (The Gifts) - These are symbolic of the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by the children.

http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/symbols.shtml

Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture

Kwanzaa: Roots and Branches

The Continental African Roots

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community and culture. Celebrated from 26 December thru 1 January, its origins are in the first harvest celebrations of Africa from which it takes its name. The name Kwanzaa is derived from the phrase "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first fruits" in Swahili, a Pan-African language which is the most widely spoken African language.

The first-fruits celebrations are recorded in African history as far back as ancient Egypt and Nubia and appear in ancient and modern times in other classical African civilizations such as Ashantiland and Yorubaland. These celebrations are also found in ancient and modern times among societies as large as empires (the Zulu or kingdoms (Swaziland) or smaller societies and groups like the Matabele, Thonga and Lovedu, all of southeastern Africa. Kwanzaa builds on the five fundamental activities of Continental African "first fruit" celebrations: ingathering; reverence; commemoration; recommitment; and celebration. Kwanzaa, then, is:

• a time of ingathering of the people to reaffirm the bonds between them;


• a time of special reverence for the creator and creation in thanks and respect for the blessings, bountifulness and beauty of creation;


• a time for commemoration of the past in pursuit of its lessons and in honor of its models of human excellence, our ancestors;


• a time of recommitment to our highest cultural ideals in our ongoing effort to always bring forth the best of African cultural thought and practice; and


• a time for celebration of the Good, the good of life and of existence itself, the good of family, community and culture, the good of the awesome and the ordinary, in a word the good of the divine, natural and social.

Read the complete article HERE

DR. LLAILA AFRIKA - HOW TO BE A MEAT EATER PART 4

Dr. Llaila Afrika is one of the most trusted healers we have entered the 21st century with. As one of the most sought after lecturers of the Afrikan race. Irreverent, funny and often NOT politically correct, it is not Dr. Afrika's intention to hurt feelings, but he puts most of the myths swirling around the Black community to rest. His wholistic remedies are a part of what is needed to make Afrikans whole and well again.

DR. LLAILA AFRIKA - HOW TO BE A MEAT EATER PART 3

Dr. Llaila Afrika is one of the most trusted healers we have entered the 21st century with. As one of the most sought after lecturers of the Afrikan race. Irreverent, funny and often NOT politically correct, it is not Dr. Afrika's intention to hurt feelings, but he puts most of the myths swirling around the Black community to rest. His wholistic remedies are a part of what is needed to make Afrikans whole and well again.

DR. LLAILA AFRIKA - HOW TO BE A MEAT EATER PART 2

Dr. Llaila Afrika is one of the most trusted healers we have entered the 21st century with. As one of the most sought after lecturers of the Afrikan race. Irreverent, funny and often NOT politically correct, it is not Dr. Afrika's intention to hurt feelings, but he puts most of the myths swirling around the Black community to rest. His wholistic remedies are a part of what is needed to make Afrikans whole and well again.

Queen Afua - Food, Fasting & Detox Part 4

From January 2008.

Queen Afua discussing food and detoxification and her yearly "shut in" to begin the New Year. During this " shut in" participants fast, do yoga, and are exposed to information and guidance to help them start the new year on the good foot. Queen Afua is the Queen of self care and shares some of her secrets as well as her vision for the City of Wellness.

DR. LLAILA AFRIKA - HOW TO BE A MEAT EATER PART 1

Dr. Llaila Afrika is one of the most trusted healers we have entered the 21st century with. As one of the most sought after lecturers of the Afrikan race. Irreverent, funny and often NOT politically correct, it is not Dr. Afrika's intention to hurt feelings, but he puts most of the myths swirling around the Black community to rest. His wholistic remedies are a part of what is needed to make Afrikans whole and well again.