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Kwanzaa was established in aftermath of the Watts, California Watts Riots. This series of riots was due to police brutality viewed by citizens. Black Liberation , Black Freedom Movement the 1960s (see Black Power), and reflects that movement's concerns for African-American cultural groundedness in thought and practice (commonly referred to as ' black pride '), and the community and self-determination associated with this.
Kwanzaa is not a religious holiday, but a cultural one, a syncretic festival, based on various elements of the first harvest celebrations that are widely celebrated in Africa, as in the rest of the world.
Each of the days symbolizes one of the "Seven Principles (Nguzu Saba) of Blackness":
Its name derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning "first fruits". An additional "a" was added to Swahili "kwanza" so that the word would have seven letters, one for each of the seven principles.
Maulana Karenga, Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture, Commemorative Edition, Los Angeles, University of Sankore Press, 1998