Kwanzaa is celebrated over seven days from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 each and every year. Maulana Karenga, formely known as Ronald McKinley Everett, created the relatively new Holiday during the tumultuous Civil Rights era. Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966. As interesting fact, Kwanzaa became the first African-American holiday. The weeklong celebration observes seven principles. They are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith. Each principle has its own day.

The holiday is meant to unite the African people and bring the global African community closer together. Each day celebrants are to greet one another with the phrase Habari gani, Swahili for "What's the news?" The colors red, black and green are the official colors of Kwanzaa. Red represents the struggles of the black community, while black refers to the Earth and the African people themselves. Finally, green stands for hope and a better, brighter tomorrow.

Described as an African-American and Pan-African holiday on the official Kwanzaa website, the holiday is celebrated all over the world despite its young age. In addition to America and Western Africa, Canada and some European countries now take part in the growing tradition. The holiday is said to be celebrated by anywhere between a few million to 25 million people worldwide depending on the source. Only 1.7 percent of American residents recognize the weeklong celebration despite the fact that a little over 12 percent of the American population is black.

Kwanzaa is a cultural, rather than religious, based holiday. As such, a person can celebrate it along with Christmas or Hanukkah. Yet Karenga intended for the holiday to be celebrated in lieu of these two holidays. He believed that Christmas and Hanukkah didn't represent the African-American community. Over the years, though, the African-American community has become less concerned with keeping the three celebrations mutually exclusive. As per the Kwanzaa website "one can accept and revere the religious message and meaning [of Christmas] but reject its European cultural accretions of Santa Claus, reindeer, mistletoe, frantic shopping, alienated gift-giving, etc."

Despite Karenga's best efforts, Kwanzaa is now big business. The commercialization of the holiday has led to merchandise being created and expositions launching. The branding and marketing of Kwanzaa may not be a bad idea though. Kwanzaa still lacks the recognition other African-American holidays such as Martin Luther King Day get. Thankfully, efforts are being made to make the holiday more mainstream. Poet Maya Angelou, for instance, narrated a feature-length documentary about Kwanzaa called The Black Candle. Google has even updated its search result page to display the seven candles in the kinara, representing the seven principles of Kwanzaa, when you type in the word.

Do you celebrate Kwanzaa? If so, what is your favorite part of the holiday? Let us know in the comments section below.