Editing Kwanzaa (section)

==History and etymology==
American [[Black separatism|black separatist]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wilde |first1=Anna Day |title=7 Mainstreaming Kwanzaa |journal=We Are What We Celebrate |date=December 31, 2020 |pages=120–130 |doi=10.18574/nyu/9780814722916.003.0009|isbn=9780814722916 }}</ref> [[Maulana Karenga]] created Kwanzaa in 1966 during the aftermath of the [[Watts riots]]<ref>Wilde, Anna Day. "Mainstreaming Kwanzaa." Public Interest 119 (1995): 68–80.</ref> as a non-[[Christianity|Christian]],<ref>{{Citation |last1=Blumenfeld |first1=Warren J. |title=Christian Teachers and Christian Privilege |date=January 1, 2009 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/9789087906788/BP000009.xml |work=Investigating Christian Privilege and Religious Oppression in the United States |pages=133–149 |access-date=December 7, 2023 |publisher=Brill |language=en |doi=10.1163/9789087906788_009 |isbn=978-90-8790-678-8 |last2=Joshi |first2=Khyati Y. |last3=Fairchild |first3=Ellen E.}}</ref> specifically African-American [[holiday]].<ref name="Kwanzaa Date">{{cite news |url=https://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F00B1EFD395C0C738FDDAB0994DB484D81 |work=[[The New York Times]] |title=The Evening Hours |date=December 30, 1983 |access-date=December 15, 2006 |first=Ron |last=Alexander}}</ref> Karenga said his goal was to "give [[black people]] an alternative to the existing holiday of [[Christmas]] and give black people an opportunity to celebrate themselves and their history, rather than simply imitate the practice of the dominant society."<ref>[http://media.www.brookhavencourier.com/media/storage/paper807/news/2008/11/24/News/Kwanzaa.Celebrates.Culture.Principles-3560412.shtml Kwanzaa celebrates culture, principles] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110708095122/http://media.www.brookhavencourier.com/media/storage/paper807/news/2008/11/24/News/Kwanzaa.Celebrates.Culture.Principles-3560412.shtml |date=July 8, 2011 }}</ref> For Karenga, a figure in the [[Black Power]] movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored the essential premise that "you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose, and direction."<ref name="Mayes2009">{{Cite book |last=Mayes |first=Keith A. |author-link=Keith Mayes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vhgk72OGBRYC&pg=PA52 |title=Kwanzaa: Black Power and the Making of the African-American Holiday Tradition |publisher=[[Routledge]] |year=2009 |isbn=978-0415998550 |location=New York |access-date=December 27, 2015}}</ref>{{rp|63–65}}

According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the [[Swahili language|Swahili]] phrase ''matunda ya kwanza'', meaning "first fruits".<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.infoplease.com/spot/kwanzaa1.html |title=Kwanzaa – Honoring the values of ancient African cultures |author=Holly Hartman |publisher=Infoplease.com |access-date=October 25, 2017}}</ref> [[First Fruits (Southern Africa)|First fruits]] festivals exist in Southern Africa and are celebrated in December/January with the [[December solstice|southern solstice]]. Karenga was partly inspired by an account he read of the [[Zulu people|Zulu]] festival [[Umkhosi Wokweshwama]].<ref name="Mayes2009" />{{rp|84}} It was decided to spell the holiday's name with an additional "a" so that it would have a symbolic seven letters.<ref name="Mayes2009" />{{rp|228}}

During the early years of Kwanzaa, Karenga said it was meant to be an alternative to [[Christmas]]. He believed [[Mental health of Jesus#Opinions challenging the sanity of Jesus|Jesus was psychotic]] and [[Criticism of Christianity|Christianity was a "White" religion]] that Black people should shun.<ref>Karenga, Maulana (1967). "Religion". In Clyde Halisi, James Mtume. ''The Quotable Karenga''. Los Angeles: University of Sankore Press. pp. 25. 23769.8.</ref> As Kwanzaa gained mainstream adherents, Karenga altered his position so practicing [[Christians]] would not be alienated, stating in the 1997 book ''Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community, and Culture'' that "Kwanzaa was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday."<ref>{{cite book | first=Maulana | last=Karenga | title=Kwanzaa: A Celebration of Family, Community and Culture | page=[https://archive.org/details/kwanzaacelebrati00kare_0/page/121 121] | publisher=University of Sankore Press | year=1997 | isbn=978-0943412214 | url=https://archive.org/details/kwanzaacelebrati00kare_0/page/121 }}</ref> Many African Americans who celebrate Kwanzaa do so in addition to observing Christmas.<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/12/20/garden/in-blacks-homes-the-christmas-and-kwanzaa-spirits-meet.html?pagewanted=all | work=The New York Times | title=In Blacks' Homes, the Christmas and Kwanzaa Spirits Meet | first=Lena | last=Williams | date=December 20, 1990 | access-date=May 7, 2010}}</ref>

After its creation in [[California]], Kwanzaa spread outside the United States.<ref name="Britannica">{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Kwanzaa |title=Kwanzaa – African-American Holiday |encyclopedia= Encyclopædia Britannica |publisher=Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. |access-date=January 6, 2020 |quote=Although Kwanzaa is primarily an African American holiday, it has also come to be celebrated outside the United States, particularly in the Caribbean and other countries where there are large numbers of descendants of Africans. }}</ref>