TeenZone Blog

I'm often surprised by how many people who think Kwanzaa was directly imported from Africa. That being said, I have been to a Kwanzaa celebration before, and it was a good experience. From what I remember, it was a lot of fun, and I was fascinated by the Swahili names for each candle. Maybe its just me, but it seems like few people still celebrate it (despite the claims of millions of celebrants on the website). I wonder whether the decline (that I percieve) is because of the commercial competition generated by some of the more big-name, brand-name holidays (insert christmas here) or whether it is because the pan-african cultural movement has faded with the development of music styles and art-forms which now define African-American culture.

I always enjoy your comments. Of course you are usually the only person who comments so that may not be saying much. You may be right about the number of people celebrating Kwanzaa. Perhaps Christmas is more widely celebrated because it is a tradition of many countries around the world and has been around for over 2000 years. There are people, however, who celebrate Christmas in a non commercial way. Perhaps Kwanzaa is like this also.