Guadeloupe: Why not celebrate Kwanzaa as well? · Global Voices
Fabienne Flessel

Besides the traditional celebration of Christmas, Guadeloupean people have recently taken up a new celebration: Kwanzaa, which starts on December 26 and lasts until January 1.
This new phenomenon is made all the more interesting since Guadeloupe, which is historically Roman Catholic, celebrates Christmas as a part of a strong cultural heritage – even non religious people mark the occasion.  So how come they have recently been including the celebration of Kwanzaa as part of the season?  To answer this question, Shaka Zulu in Gwafakwika tutors his readers [in Creole] about “what exactly is Kwanzaa?”
Ka sa yé ankò Kwanzaa? On mak fabrik? Awa sé sélébrasyon kiltirèl a tout nèg a si latè. E sé osi sélébrasyon a tout kominoté é tout fanmi nèg. Ki moun ki kréyé sa? Sé on dénonnmé doktè Maulana Karanga ki sé profésè a étid afrikenn an péyi mériken. I kréyé sa an 1966. Pou ki i kréyé-y? Sé padavwa tout nèg ka apwann tout kilti a dòt pèp é ras andéwò dè ta yo. Kwanzaa a pa on rèlijyon mé on sélébrasyon kiltirèl
Another explanation is given by Allain Jules in leflingueur [Fr]:
C’est un évènement majeur, le plus important même pour les negro-africains. Importé des Etats-Unis depuis peu, il a déjà commencé à faire jaser sérieusement en France.
Jules goes on to reassert the non-religious and comprehensive dimension of Kwanzaa:
Kwanza est donc un ensemble permettant à la fois de se retrouver pour mieux se connaître, de parler pour mieux s’apprécier, de manger des mets de l’océan indien, les saveurs africaines ou caribéennes, de partager des idées d’innovation, de vocation, de créativité, de découverte, de coopération, tant politique, sociale, qu’économique, et de mettre en place, des entraides.
…which begs the question of who brought this celebration of Kwanzaa, “created” in the USA, to Guadeloupe.  Part of the answer could be the massive influx of the Guadeloupean youth into the United States of America (about a decade ago, the younger generation of Guadeloupeans began to consider North America as an alternative to Continental France for their university studies.)  But Shaka Zulu answers the question most precisely through this reference to Ama Mazama [Fr]:
Ama Mazama est également connue sous le nom de Marie-Josée Cérol. Native de la Guadeloupe, elle est docteur en linguistique (Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1987), et enseigne au Department of African American Studies de la Temple University (États-Unis).
As we can hear from this video from the French Swiss media, le Matin.ch [Fr] Ama Mazama is well-known for her commitment to Pan-Africanism and her view on the history of the colonization in Africa and the Caribbean. That is partly why she took up a new name, shedding her previous Guadeloupean name for an African one.  No surprise then, to discover that she is the one who decided ten years ago, to make Guadeloupeans understand what the celebration of Kwanzaa is all about.
This year, as in previous ones, Ama Mazama is back in Guadeloupe to celebrate Kwanzaa with family, friends and a growing number of people who have discovered and taken up the tradition.  The big event in Guadeloupe is taking place on Saturday, December 27th 2008 following this schedule:
1/ Conférence-débat (vidéo-projection)
Thème : Les implications de l’Election d’OBAMA pour le monde noir.
2/ Présentation des 7 préceptes du Kwanzaa
3/ Festivités : Echanges culturels, poèmes, Gwo Ka…
…and of course the traditional Kwanzaa feast!