Kwanzaa Gets an A

My daughter, Kennedy I.Thedford, inspired me to write about why the African American holiday of Kwanzaa has two A s when the Swahili word has only one. She asked the question because all other holidays, such as Christmas and Hanukkah, have a story behind them. What was the story of Kwanzaa? I didn’t have an answer, so I began researching the holiday. In conducting that research, I ran across different stories of why Kwanzaa has that extra A. One explanation said that an extra A was added to the end of the word Kwanzaa to distinguish the American celebration of the holiday from the African word of Kwanza. Another author said the extra letter was added to the Swahili word to give the word seven letters to match the seven principles and symbols of the holiday. Yet, after reading a couple of Dr. Karenga’s books, I learned that Kwanzaa has two A s because he added an extra ‘a’ to the word kwanza at the first celebration so that all seven children present could participate, an African tradition. Also, this research inspired me to write the picture book titled, Kwanzaa Gets an A and this is the first picture book that tells the story of Kwanzaa.