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Animation: The Nguzo Saba - Seven Principles of Kwanzaa

Kwanzaa
yenu iwe
na heri!
[ kwahn-ZAH
YEH-noo EE-weh
nah heh-REE ]

Happy Kwanzaa!


Prema's Kwanzaa Web
| Kwanzaa | Nguzo Saba | Links |
Practice Kwanzaa, every day!
 | Umoja | Kujichagulia | Ujima | Ujamaa | Nia | Kuumba | Imani |
 | Siku ya Taamuli | Tamishi La Tutaonana |

....... Practice the Principles of Kwanzaa, every day!

KWANZAA
Day #6: December 31
Nguzo Saba Kwanzaa Principle #6

Kuumba (koo-OOM-bah) 
Creativity

"To do always as much as we can in the way that we can in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than when we inherited it."

The Sixth Principle is Kuumba and logically follows from and is required by the Principle of Nia. It is a commitment to being creative within the context of the national community vocation of restoring our people to their traditional greatness and thus leaving our community more beneficial and beautiful than we, i.e., each generation, inherited it. The Principle has both a social and spiritual dimension and is deeply rooted both in social and sacred teachings of African societies.

Nowhere is this principle more clearly expressed than in the literature and culture of ancient Egypt. Creativity here is both an original act or imitation of the Creator and a restorative act also reflective of the Creator constantly pushing back the currents of chaos and decay and revitalizing and restoring the natural, spiritual and cosmic energy of the world. In ancient Egypt, there was a spiritual and ethical commitment and obligation to constantly renew and restore the great works, the legacy of the ancestors and the creative energy of the leader and nation. This was considered doing Maat, i.e., reaffirming and restoring truth, justice and righteousness, harmony, balance, order, rightness, etc. Each pharaoh saw his or her reign, then, as one of restoration of Maat, i.e., the reaffirmation, reestablishment and renewal of the Good, the Beautiful and the Right.

Practice Kuumba every day!

Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga

SOURCE: "The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family Community & Culture"
by
Maulana Karenga, University of Sankore Press, Los Angeles, California, 1988, ISBN 0-943412-09-9

 | Umoja | Kujichagulia | Ujima | Ujamaa | Nia | Kuumba | Imani |

Dr. Maulana Ron Karenga

 | Siku ya Taamuli | Tamishi La Tutaonana |


   

Prema's Kwanzaa Web

Practice the Principles of Kwanzaa, every day!  

Kwanzaa yenu iwe na heri!
(kwahn-ZAH YEH-noo EE-weh nah heh-REE)
Happy Kwanzaa!
 | Kwanzaa | Nguzo Saba | Links |

.... Official Kwanzaa Website
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