Kwanzaa Culinarians

Recipes and Food Stories from the African Diaspora

Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Creative Giving for the Improving the Community

Celebrating Kwanzaa was not a ritual practiced by my family; in fact, I had no idea what Kwanzaa meant. While obtaining my degree in Africana Studies from NCSU, I learned … Continue reading →

December 31, 2011

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Learn more about Kwanzaa

The word "Kwanzaa" comes from the phrase, "matunda ya kwanza" which means "first-fruits." Kwanzaa's extra "a" evolved as a result of a particular history of the Organization Us. It was clone as an expression of African values in order to inspire the creativity of our children. In the early days of Us, there were seven children who each wanted to represent a letter of Kwanzaa. Since kwanza (first) has only six letters, we added an extra "a" to make it seven, thus creating "Kwanzaa." To learn more about Kwanzaa, visit the Official Kwanzaa Website.