What to Write in a Kwanzaa Card

Kwanzaa is the easiest card in this entire series to write, and almost nobody realizes it, because the holiday hands you seven subjects and tells you which day each belongs to.

The greeting

Habari gani. The official Kwanzaa website explains that the answer is the principle of that day: Umoja on the first day, Kujichagulia on the second, through to Imani on the seventh.

That is a genuinely useful thing for a card, because it means a card that arrives on a particular day can name that day's principle and mean something specific.

In English, Joyous Kwanzaa is the common wording and it is fine. Happy Kwanzaa is used too.

Swahili is used for the greetings, as the official site explains, because it is a Pan-African language chosen to reflect a commitment to the whole of Africa rather than to one ethnic or national group. That is worth knowing before you write it, because it means the language choice is itself part of the point rather than decoration.

Write about one principle

This is the move that turns a generic card into a good one, and it takes no research beyond the list.

Pick the principle that actually describes the person and write about that.

For somebody who holds a family together, Umoja, unity. For somebody who built something on their own terms, Kujichagulia, self-determination. For somebody who shows up for other people, Ujima, collective work and responsibility. For a maker, Kuumba, creativity. For somebody who has kept going through a hard year, Imani, faith.

For example: Joyous Kwanzaa. I have been thinking about Ujima this year and about the fact that you are the person everybody in this family calls first. Wishing you a good seven days and a quieter phone.

That is specific, it is rooted in the occasion, and it could not have been sent to anybody else.

What not to send

The combined holiday card. This is the common error and it is made with total warmth.

The official Kwanzaa guidance asks that the holiday not be mixed with its symbols, values and practice with any other culture, on the basis that doing so would violate Kujichagulia, self-determination. A card that puts a kinara next to a Christmas tree and a menorah, wishing all three at once, is doing exactly the thing the guidance speaks against.

If somebody you know celebrates both Kwanzaa and Christmas, which many people do, the answer is two cards or one card that addresses them separately. Not one card that merges them into a single seasonal blur.

No religious language

Kwanzaa is a cultural holiday, not a religious one. The official FAQ describes it as a cultural holiday with an inherent spiritual quality as with all major African celebrations, and states it was not created to give people an alternative to their own religion or religious holiday.

So blessings-language in a Kwanzaa card is a category error, even though it is meant kindly and even though the person may be devoutly religious in another context. Write to the principles and the week, which is what the card is for.

Note also that Imani, faith, on the seventh day, is not a synonym for religious faith in this context and should not be treated as an invitation.

Timing the card

Because each of the seven days has its own principle, when the card arrives changes what it can say.

A card arriving on 26 December can name Umoja and mean it. One arriving on 31 December lands on Kuumba, creativity, and on the Karamu feast, which is the biggest night of the week and a good one to be remembered on. One arriving on 1 January closes the week on Imani.

If you have no control over the post, write the principle you meant and say which day you were aiming for. Nobody minds, and it shows you knew there were days rather than a single date.

For somebody who does not celebrate it

Occasionally people ask whether it is appropriate to send a Kwanzaa card to a Black friend or colleague who may not observe it, and the honest answer is that it is a guess about somebody else's practice.

The safer move is not to guess. If you know they celebrate, send it. If you do not know, either ask or send nothing, rather than sending a card that assumes.

Getting this wrong is not a catastrophe and it is avoidable, and the version where somebody receives a Kwanzaa card purely on the basis of how they look is the version worth not producing.

For a colleague

Short. Joyous Kwanzaa, and hope you get a proper week with your family.

If you manage somebody, the practical thing is more useful than the card: Kwanzaa runs 26 December to 1 January, straight through the period when offices assume everyone is off but some people are working. Check rather than assume.

For a child

Children are the center of Kwanzaa gifting, since the official guidance says gifts go mainly to children, so a card addressed to a child is well matched to the occasion.

Write about the principle and about them: this week is about creativity and you are the most creative person in this house, so I expect a full report.

If you are sending a gift with it, the two-item rule is stricter than most people expect and is covered in Kwanzaa gift ideas.

The detail that makes it stick

As with every card, what gets kept is what carries a fact. A principle named, a year named, a thing they did.

That is the same instinct behind a song written about somebody, which we make at Ditty City, so read that as interested rather than neutral. What to include in a personalized song covers which details carry weight.

The what to write hub has the other cards, and Kwanzaa celebration ideas covers the week the card is arriving into.