Monday (Jan. 1) marked the final day of Kwanzaa, which is not the end but rather the beginning of a new season in family, community and personal spaces for the millions who celebrate the holiday worldwide. The week-long, harvest-themed festival was designed and evolved into a beautiful ritual of honoring the past and preparing for the future. On the final day, participants reflected on the principle of Imani (Faith) in order to emerge into the new year with a brighter sense of hope and a commitment to positive change.
There’s no better example of hope than seeing children learning and pushing forward positive traditions, like Kwanzaa, which promotes unity among African descendants through shared cultural and political reflections. It is very easy to see examples of this in Brazil, where this holiday, which started in the 1960s United States, has taken root in the majority Black country.
This Kwanzaa season brought a beautiful surprise to me through my social media algorithm when I discovered a Brazilian family who are spreading the important principles of Kwanzaa all year round. Mariana, Rafael, and their two daughters are the @SANKOFAFAMILY on Instagram and YouTube. I contacted Rafael to better understand his family’s commitment to reclaiming ancestral values and his insights on this transformative experience.
It was in 2021 that this Brazilian family first embraced the tradition of Kwanzaa, a celebration that resonated deeply with their quest to revive and cherish their original cultural values.
In an interview, the father spoke passionately about the significance of this choice: “We were already on a long journey of reconnection to the practice of our original cultural values, and we really began researching Kwanzaa in 2021. That same year, we began to celebrate it.”
The heart of their celebration lies in the involvement of their lovely daughters, Arya, 9 and Amara, 3. The family doesn’t limit their engagement with the seven principles of Kwanzaa to the festive season alone; rather, they integrate these values into their daily lives.
Rafael emphasized, “The values evidenced in the 7 days of celebration are basic for our existence and education of our girls so they are involved with the celebration throughout the year, seeking to practice the 7 principles daily.”
Their commitment to these principles becomes a reaffirmation of their identity and purpose as individuals, as a community and as a people. In a country where the erasure of African roots has been particularly pronounced, this family took a bold step to bridge the cultural gap. They began creating online content, aiming to reconnect the Black community in the Brazilian diaspora with their original African culture.
“Celebrating Kwanzaa publicly is to show for brothers and sisters who do not yet know the celebration or find it very difficult to live a life connected with the cultures of our mother continent, that it is possible,” Rafael explained. Their public celebration serves as a beacon, illuminating a path for others to follow and demonstrating the viability of a life grounded in ancestral values.
The family’s outreach extends beyond the festive season; it is a year-round effort to empower individuals within the Black community. They strive to show how embracing their roots fills their children with a sense of power, enabling them to lead fuller and more self-determined lives despite the challenges faced in the diaspora.
He shared, “We also seek to show how much this fills our children with power to follow a fuller and more self-determined life even with all the contrary force we experience here in the diaspora.” The resilience instilled through their cultural celebration becomes a source of strength, enabling their children to navigate the complexities of life with a profound understanding of their heritage.
The impact of their cultural work goes beyond their immediate family, reaching a broader audience. Their goal is ambitious yet essential—to share liberating knowledge about the real history of Black people. Rafael expressed, “Our greatest goal is to reach brothers and sisters who have not yet accessed the liberating knowledge that carries our real history.”
For this family, miles away from the birthplace of the Kwanzaa holiday, the key to true freedom lies in a deep understanding of who they were, who they are and the path that led them to their current place. Through their cultural work to educate the public on Kwanzaa, they work to inspire engagement and connection among the diaspora, believing that only through this collective awareness can true freedom be attained.
@SANKOFAFAMILY is a beautiful reminder of the power of rediscovery and the transformative potential of celebrating our roots. Through Kwanzaa, they have not only rekindled their own connection to ancestral values but have ignited a flame that illuminates the path for others in the Black diaspora, fostering a renewed sense of identity, pride, purpose and faith.
