The Colors of Kwanzaa
Today is the second day of Kwanzaa. It’s celebrated for seven days from December 26th to January 1st. A candle is lit for each day and each one has a special meaning. Three colors are represented in the seven candles and each color has a strong meaning for the holiday. While the colors red, black and green constitute the colors of Kwanzaa and the candles lit for each day, the colors are also used in decorations, clothing or jewelry and for other occasions such as Black History Month and Juneteeth.
My mom has a bracelet that I have long admired. It’s a Pandora bangle with red, black and green glass beads. We have so many things alike that sometimes I say, I’ll let that be her thing and I’ll just admire it. The last time I visited home, she wasn’t wearing the bracelet. She had one of the red beads on another charm bracelet. I asked her where the other two were and she said, “Well I lost the green one.” When she went to try and replace it, they no longer sold the same color green; the one she had was now a retired color.
So I went back home and checked ebay with the intentions of finding her a replacement and sending it to her for her birthday. What I found was someone selling TWO green beads and then I knew I had to have the same bracelet. So I completed my ebay purchase with 2 green beads, one red one and one black one all from different sellers and had it sent to my house. It made it just in time, as it was shipped from Dallas to North Carolina, and I had to send it back to Dallas where she was visiting my brother for the two weeks that included her birthday and Christmas.
Now mom and I have the same bracelet.
I wanted to know more about what these colors represent as they adorn my wrist; the history and meaning behind the colors was not something that was taught to us in school.
Red, Black and Green are the colors of the Pan-African Flag. The Pan-African Flag was created in 1920 by Marcus Garvey, to represent people of the African Diaspora and to symbolize black liberation in the United States.
Dr. Maulana Karenga, professor and chairman of Black Studies at California State University, created Kwanzaa in 1966 and chose Red, Black and Green to represent the colors for the occassion.
Simply put, and easy to remember as I look at my wrist, my bracelet stands for Black Liberation, Unity and Hope. The Red represents the color of the blood that has been shed by our ancestors. Black represents our melanin and history. The color Green symbolizes the land and our hopes for the future.
My mom completed this beautiful throw for daddy when they were visiting here for Thanksgiving. She was proud to make it and he was proud to receive it. I’m proud to have witnessed it and to now know more about the history of what these colors represent.