The Nine Principles

Traditional Kwanzaa celebrates Nguzo Saba (Swahili for Seven Principles), however, the founders of KuchuQwanzaa felt as though there were issues specifically unique to Black LGBTQIA+ communities that were not addressed in the original Kwanzaa. 

More so, there are issues that increasingly relevant to a 21st century Black family (regardless of sexual or gender identity) that were decided to be renamed and made more applicable to our lives.

The Nguzo Tisa are a fusion of communitarian African and LGBTQIA+ philosophy consisting of the best of African-American LGBTQIA+ thought and practice in constant exchange with the world. 

The nine principles of KuchuQwanzaa:

Umoja / Unity
To respect, hold reverence for, and recognize our natural and innate harmony and accord with Mother Earth, our environment, and each other.

Imani / Faith
To believe with all our heart in divine and energetic realms beyond our physical world.

Afya / Health
To promote and protect our individual and collective wellbeing, and to prevent and treat infection, disease, and illness in our communities.

Nyumba / House
To invest time, energy, and resources in building, maintaining, and nourishing relationships with family, friends, and loved-ones.

Elimu / Education
To strive for the highest level of formal and informal educational attainment and vast acquisition of authentic experience, and the realization of and pursuit to fulfill our life’s purpose.

Nia / Purpose
To pursue the fulfillment of our life’s purpose through career development, progression of our personal work, and contribution to communal productivity.

Kuumba / Creativity
To foster, facilitate, and support the arts and innovation in order to leave our communities more beautiful than we inherited them, to share and pass-on our cultural attitudes and beliefs, and to provide social commentary.

Dhihi-Chuki / Against Hate
To acknowledge parallels in oppression, repression, and subjugation, and to exert a social justice orientation in the struggle against oppression of any kind.

Kisiasa Utambulisho / Politicized Identities
To live out loud with public displays or signifiers of our identities in honor of those who have come before us and paid the price for our ability to do so, and as our responsibility to provide a more just society for those coming after us.