Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday that celebrates the unity of African-American people and their cultures.

 Kwanzaa has seven days of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Santa Fe’s own counselor, Mrs. Hardy celebrates this holiday with Christmas.

“We talk about those [Kwanzaa] days now because we’re traveling but before that, we actually lit the candles and we set the table.” Hardy said.” And on that table, you would have the stuff to represent each of those days. So, like there would be corn or something to represent fruit, because of the harvest, and that’s how people make money economically. And then the fabric should be traditional African fabrics that represent where we came from and the soil of where we came from.”

Kwanzaa is something that Mrs. Hardy is very proud of and proud to celebrate with her family because it means to bring people together, no matter what race and means to celebrate African-American culture. Kwanzaa gifts are also something very meaningful to the tradition and the people who celebrate it.

“Kwanzaa gifts are handmade, they’re meaningful. There’s something that comes from your heart to the other person,” Hardy said.

Mrs. Hardy loves to share anything about Kwanzaa and sees it as a tradition that is making a comeback.

“Kwanzaa is a nonreligious holiday. It is for connection and stopping every day because we hustle and bustle and we move around so much sometimes we don’t stop to take the time to just think about how far we’ve come.” Hardy said.” And then to think about our families and how important it is for us to stay connected. And that’s the purpose of Kwanzaa. It is for us to remember our connections, for us to remember our faith, for us to remember that we are connected to everyone and everything and that we are part of a community.”

Kwanzaa begins Dec, 26, 2022 to Jan, 1, 2023. This last day of Kwanzaa culminates in a community feast called Karamu. As unity is a value of Kwanzaa, society needs to remember that we are all part of something bigger than ourselves and we are all in this together.