Can anyone explain what Kwanzaa is about?

I think "i hate hippies but love my Jesus" is right on point.Am from Africa and to be sincere i learnt bout this Kwanzaa from answers.It is unknown in Africa.So dont be lied to.Its not an African celebration.We celebrate christmas

Its a made up holiday originally by a black separatist movement in Philadelphia in the early 70's before a black mayor bombed them into submission. The idea was to celebrate the African harvest but then someone realized that there are no 'harvest ' in Africa as we know them because-well check out the agriculture of Africa-they dig up roots , They dint have acres of corn/wheat etc like here because the climate isn't conducive to that type of agriculture so we do the little individual garden plots SOOOOOOOOO some one said ='well maybe we'll alter it because it is good to have a traditional time of year [how do start a tradition-add hundreds of years and modify] So you make up some names and add a little x-mas to get gifts and a little Hanuka to spread out the gifts so you get more and throw in some made up other stuff [like Africans' a language-how many thousands of tribal dialects are there-sorry no 'It's African for lion roars' So it makes some feal good so whose it hurt as long as its history is honest In short-Its a celebration over several days commemorating differ ant family/social events/morals that are admirable and looked forward to by many people-It's all good

Kwanzaa is fictional. A celebration created to further perpetuate racism in america.

Kwanzaa is a made-up secular "holiday" (though that word is not quite right because it derives from Holy, and there is nothing holy or religious about Kwanzaa). It was created by California black separatist Ron Karenga, leader of the radical United Slaves Organization, in 1966. Karenga is a felon with a long criminal record. He claims that the purpose of Kwanzaa is to give African-Americans a chance to reconnect with their African heritage. To that end, Karenga incorporated a patchwork of elements from East African culture, although most American blacks are West African descendants. (It is up to you to decide whether modern American blacks actually need to "connect with their African heritage" or not. Most blacks I know, being born and raised in America and with all of their living descendants having done the same through numerous generations, are almost wholly ignorant of African nations and African culture, and really couldn't care less about it. They connect with being American, not with being African, and see no need to "reconnect" with a culture that they had no tangible connection to in the first place.) Karenga claims that he created Kwanzaa in order for blacks to have an alternative to Christmas. (Again, it is up to you to decide whether the notion that a certain skin color or race would necessarily dictate a need for an alternative to Christmas.) Karenga believes and has said that "Jesus was a psychotic," and that Christmas should be rejected in favor of his concocted holiday. This, along with Karenga's radical record and criminal past, has served to cast negative speculation as to Karenga's real motives for creating Kwanzaa. There are seven main principles to Kwanzaa. These are: Unity, Self-Determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith. On the surface, these sound reasonable and noble enough. However, the underlying concept that drives all of these principles is Karenga's admonition that to be black, you must follow the sevenfold path of, "Think black, talk black, act black, create black, buy black, vote black, and live black." In other words, in order to be truly black, you do not have true freedom of thought and action. Your thoughts and actions must follow that which has been pre-determined to fit into the mold that conforms to Karenga's idea of what defines "blackness." So, Unity ends up being unity with blacks. Unity with black family, black race, black community and black nation. Self-Determination means to "define ourselves and think for ourselves" -- as long as that definition conforrms to Karenga's deinition, and as long as that thinking conforms to "black thinking." Collective Work and Responsibility is to "build and maintain our community together." Emphasis on "OUR." Meaning, the blacks' community, not a community as a whole. It is to "make our brothers' and sisters' problems our problems together, and to help solve them." Brothers and sisters, in this context, means blacks only. Cooperative Economics means to look out for the interests of BLACK businesses. It also has elements of socialist thought. Purpose means "to restore our people to their traditional greatness." Again, emphasis on OUR, meaning black people only. Creativity means, "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." In this context, "our community" means the black community only. Faith does not mean religious faith. It means, "To believe with all our heart in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders and the righteousness and victory of our struggle." Again, the word OUR is emphasized -- meaning black people only. It also mentions their "struggle" and the need for "victory" in it -- with the implication that American blacks are still in some sort of struggle -- for equality? for superiority (as was espoused by Karenga's separatist group in the '60s)? This is the meaning of Kwanzaa.

Its christmas for colored people.

technicaly its not a "holiday" since its not holy, so its a bunch of "days" it just makes black people feel special and think of spiritual things and sing gospel instead of the violence ans sex spreading rap, so we should welcome it.

it is about eating certain fruits and jumping over brooms for conducting american afro traditions started about 400 years after they arrive in america as slaves in the colonies. itis like june eleventeenth.

It's a celebration for the many Drive-bys in the 'hood.

African-American holiday created in the 1960's with a Pan-African theme. see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kwanzaa Good Luck!!!