Print Email Share

Kwanzaa: A Diabetes Friendly Holiday

Kwanzaa: A Diabetes Friendly Holiday

Nestled between Christmas and New Years is Kwanzaa, an African-American celebration and reaffirmation of community, culture, and family. Kwanzaa is a Swahili word for first fruits. Because it is not a religious holiday, it is often celebrated along with Christmas in many African-American homes. For the diabetes community, the celebration of Kwanzaa falls in line with the celebration of a healthy lifestyle. This is because Kwanzaa encompasses the whole life mind, body, and spirit as it pertains not only to the individual, but to the entire community.

The weeklong holiday begins December 26th and ends New Years Day, with each day focusing on a specific principle of Kwanzaa.

The Kwanzaa Principles

The seven principles of Kwanzaa are called the Nguzo Saba. In order, they are:

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 brothers' and sisters' 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.