How to Decorate a Room for the Kwanzaa Feast (Karamu)

The highlight of Kwanzaa is the karamu, a ritual feast that always takes place on December 31, the sixth - and next-to-last - day of the festival. The karamu can take place at home or in a public gathering place, but the menu always consists of African and African-American food, and the decor of the room makes it clear that this is no ordinary dinner.

Instructions

Difficulty: Easy

Things You’ll Need:

• Art And Craft Supplies
• Nguzo Saba Posters
• Kwanzaa Candleholders (kinara)
• Kwanzaa Gifts (zawadi)
• Ears Of Corn (muhindi)
• Seven Candles (mishumaa Saba)
• Straw Mats Or African Print Cloths (mkekas)
• Unity Cup (kikombe Cha Umoja)
• Fruits And Vegetables (mazao)
• Flag Of The Black Nation (Bendera Ya Taifa)

1. Make the preparations, both decorative and culinary, for your karamu a cooperative effort, in keeping with the third principle of Kwanzaa, ujima (collective work and responsibility). Get family and guests into the act in whatever way their talents and inclinations lie.
2. Make as many of the decorations by hand as you can, in keeping with the sixth principle of Kwanzaa, kuumba (creativity).
3. Display African and African-inspired crafts and works of art - such as paintings, photographs, textiles, sculpture or ceramics - throughout the room.
4. Fly the Kwanzaa flag: the red, green and black bendera ya taifa.
5. Hang a poster illustrating the nguzo saba, the seven Kwanzaa principles.
6. Build the color scheme around the Kwanzaa colors of red, green and black.
7. Group the seven Kwanzaa symbols in a prominent location.

Tips & Warnings

• The seven principles of Kwanzaa are unoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith).
• The seven symbols are mkeka (a mat, upon which the other symbols rest), mazao (crops, the result of productive labor and the harvest), kinara (a candleholder, representing African ancestors), muhindi (corn, representing children and the future), zawadi (gifts - ideally handmade - given as an act of sharing and a labor of love), kikombe cha umoja (the unity cup, representing family and community) and mishumaa saba (seven candles - three red, three green and one black - representing the seven principles).
• You can buy the bendera ya taifa, nguzo saba posters, the Kwanzaa symbols and a multitude of books on Kwanzaa and its customs at your local African-American bookstore.