How to Pick a Heritage Symbol as a Kwanzaa Gift

The many meaningful words and symbols of Kwanzaa represent the heritage of African Americans. You should pick a heritage symbol to give as a gift and to use in the Kwanzaa celebration. Create a festive ambiance by gathering African art and baskets along with your heritage symbols.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Candleholder
• Mat
• Cards
• Corn
• Unity cup
• Candles
• Posters
• Books
• Educational music CDs

Pick a Heritage Symbol as a Kwanzaa Gift

1. Go to a Kwanzaa celebration with a traditional mat or mkeka. This is a woven mat made of authentic fabric. It's made of raffia or sturdy paper. During the Kwanzaa ceremony, the mat is used as a holder for ceremonial items.

2. Find a traditional African mat made of woven fibers. Pick a material called sisal that can be hand-dyed with colors from natural ingredients representing Africa. This is also a good way to represent the craftsmen of Africa and their creativity.

3. Give a kinara or candleholder as a heritage symbol gift. These are traditionally made of wood and come in shapes such as pyramids or layers of carved wood. They are made to hold the seven candles of Kwanzaa.

4. Bring seven candles to light during the event. The candles are a heritage symbol and each candle is an important, meaningful device in the Kwanzaa ritual. Find well-made, long-burning capacity candles to give as a gift set.

5. Bestow a heritage symbol gift or a zwadi to a child. Such a gift is to encourage the child to strive for success in life. It also reminds a child of his past and is used to enlighten his future. Such gifts include books, posters, cards and music for educational purposes.

6. Pick a unity cup to give as a heritage gift. The unity cup is used to pour the water, juice or wine for each family member during the Kwanzaa gathering. You can get a decorative cup made of wood or pottery.

Tips & Warnings

• Be sure and bring some corn to your Kwanzaa celebration. The heritage symbol of corn, or muhindi, is placed on the mat of the table for each child of a person's family. You should still place at least one ear of corn on the table even if no children are present. The corn can also be symbolic of the entire community.
• Bring heritage symbols of fruits to a home. You want to symbolize a fruitful harvest with a basket of bananas, mangoes, plantains, oranges, plums and peaches.