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Kwanzaa
A Magical and Meaningful Holiday
By Jennifer Newton Reents
Carmen McDonald of Phoenix, Ariz., mother of one, has celebrated Kwanzaa for about four years and uses Kwanzaa's guiding principles in her everyday life, not just once a year. "I'd done a lot of research and knew what it was about," she says of deciding to celebrate the holiday. "After reading the principles I found out [they paralleled] a lot of my views ... One is cooperative economics. I have been doing that all along – it's just beautiful to me. It's something I try to practice all year. I have the seven principles posted in my cubicle at work."
McDonald, originally from St. Louis, says she hasn't met many families or individuals in Phoenix who celebrate Kwanzaa, though there is a small Kwanzaa festival she attends every year. Her boyfriend, from Trinidad, celebrates the seven-day holiday with her.
McDonald says her favorite part of the holiday is the feast. Every year, she cooks a honey-baked ham, a variety of seafood, collard greens, black-eyed peas and a sweet potato pie. "To me, it's a great celebration. It means a lot to me," she says. "It's a beautiful thing."
One of the most impressive aspects of Kwanzaa, Karenga says, is its growth among Africans throughout the world. "It is now practiced by over 28 million people throughout the world African community," he says. "[It] is embraced and grows among African people because it speaks to our need and appreciation for its cultural vision and life-affirming values – values which celebrate and reinforce family, community and culture, and challenge us to constantly bring forth the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense."
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