It's December, and that's right, Christmas is just around the corner.
Crowded malls, exchanging gifts, and, of course, credit card debt. But, sometimes with all of the running around, there is little emphasis on what the true meaning of Christmas is. For some, it's a religious aspect; for others, it may simply mean spending quality time with loved ones.
There are also different forms of celebration for different cultures. For the Jewish community, their form of celebration is Hanukkah. The Italian community celebrates a form of Christmas called Nativity, which means the birth of Christ. Since 1966, the African American community has established its own form of celebration for Christmas, except it's not called Christmas. It's called Kwanzaa.
A man named Dr. Maulan Karenga developed Kwanzaa on Dec. 26, 1966 as the African American celebration of Christmas. During the time when Dr. Karenga established the practice of Kwanzaa, he had many main objectives he wanted to introduce, but the most important element that Dr. Karenga had in mind was the principle, which is called, "The Way of Life." This principle consists off reassessment, reclaiming, recommitment, remembrance, retrieval, resumption, resurrection and rejuvenation. According to Dr.

Karenga it was "The Way of Life" principle that helped African Americans survive the struggle of racism, oppression and slavery.
The Kwanzaa celebration involves different aspects of the African American culture. Like all other cultures, Kwanzaa consists of food, dancing, dress and story telling. This method is used to bring a closer bond between family and friends.
Since Kwanzaa is seven days long, Dr. Karenga also devised seven symbols and principles of Kwanzaa'.
The seven principles of Kwanzaa consist of: Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamma, Nia, Kuumba and Imani. The seven symbols of Kwanzaa consist off Mazao, Mkeka, Vibunzi, Zawadi, Kikombe cha umoja, Kinara and Mishumaa saba. All the words as you can see are not English or used from an English dictionary. The words Dr. Karenga used are in the language of Swahili.
Now in the year 2000, Kwanzaa has become more and more popular within the African American community, but it still isn't as popular as it could be. Speaking to African American students on the McKeesport campus, it was found that many families don't celebrate Kwanzaa, because they feel it's too much of a hassle. One student who agreed to speak on the condition of anonymity replied, "It's just too much of a hassle, trying to organize and buy all that stuff."

Well from that comment the question was raised, "How could an event that speaks to your background and your heritage be too much of a hassle?" Many students felt that Kwanzaa wasn't their form of celebration, because it's a choice and they feel more secure with just buying an X-Mas tree and following the traditional way of celebrating Christmas. Other students felt that Kwanzaa was an excellent way of unity in the African American community.
"Kwanzaa has nothing to do with Christmas at all. Actually, it was created as a time for African Americans to come together and congregate with unity, peace and getting a full understanding of our heritage," Jocelyn Brockington (freshman-liberal arts).
When Dr. Maulan Karenga established the principle of Kwanzaa, he wanted it to be an event that African Americans would love to celebrate. Hearing the comments received from other students, can it be said that even though Kwanzaa has come a long way, there is still much to be learned? Dr. Karenga was simply trying to give African Americans a holiday that they can call "their" own. Even though the option to celebrate is left undecided, before judging the Kwanzaa practice, try it and see if it's for you or not.