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 questionbecause all other holidays, such as Christmas and Hanukkah, have a story behind them. Whatwas the story of Kwanzaa? I didn’t have an answer, so I began researching the holiday. Inconducting that research, I ran across different stories of why Kwanzaa has that extra A. Oneexplanation said that an extra A was added to the end of the word Kwanzaa to distinguish theAmerican celebration of the holiday from the African word of Kwanza. Another author said theextra letter was added to the Swahili word to give the word seven letters to match the sevenprinciples 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 firstpicture book that tells the story of Kwanzaa