When the holidays roll around, one thing is for certain—Black folks know how to celebrate. Whether it’s Christmas, Kwanzaa, or New Year’s, the holiday season is a time for family, food, culture and joy.
The beauty of Black holiday celebrations lies in the diversity of traditions, the blending of history and heritage and the undeniable sense of community that makes these times special.
While the world may have its general holiday customs, Black people across the globe bring their unique flair, from soulful feasts to cultural rituals
For many Black families, the heart of the holiday season is family—whether blood-related or chosen.
“When I think in terms of society today, the family (unit) has been fractured… the COVID pandemic caused even more fractures,” said Warren Winston, managing partner of Winston Worldwide. “So to be able to celebrate the holidays and come together… it’s necessary. Statistically speaking, there are a lot of people who go through depression… because they are alone.”
His fondest memories of the holiday season were when his wife at the time, young sons and best friend’s family would go to each other’s homes to celebrate Christmas and Kwanzaa, enjoying the Christmas dinner, laughing, sharing gifts and fellowship.
While Christmas is widely celebrated, Kwanzaa—a holiday created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga to celebrate African culture and heritage—is also an essential part of Black holiday traditions. Spanning from December 26 to January 1, Kwanzaa honors seven principles, known as the Nguzo Saba, each reflecting values such as unity, self-determination, and collective work and responsibility.
For Destiny Polk, founder of the art activist platform Radical Black Girl, Kwanzaa is about both cultural pride and community connection. Her mother introduced her to the holiday as a child, and the best part about the experience was “gifting with creativity” through poems or painting, instead of using consumerism as a way to show care for others. Her grandmother is a creative who would design handmade gifts during the holidays, a gesture Polk hopes to pass down to her own family one day.
“Everyday [during Kwanzaa] is a different concept all around building community,” she said. “A holiday that really allows the person to take a holistic approach to celebrating their culture and history.”
Another central theme during the holiday season is the importance of honoring ancestors. For many Black families, the holidays are a time to reflect on the struggles and triumphs of their forebears and to pass on the wisdom of the past.
Celebrating the ancestors
According to the Documenting the American South project at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill., Christmas held a special place in the lives of Black families, especially during slavery. While the holiday season for enslaved Black people was not a time of simple joy for everyone, it was still a significant part of their resilience and cultural survival. During Christmas, slaveholders sometimes allowed their enslaved workers brief periods of rest and relaxation. Slaves often used this time to reconnect with family members, even those on different plantations. It was also a time when slaves could express their unity and celebrate their shared heritage through food, music and storytelling.
Christmas also became a time for small acts of resistance. Some enslaved people used the holiday to escape, taking advantage of travel passes or the loosening of restrictions to flee to freedom. For example, Harriet Tubman helped her brothers escape during Christmas, using the holiday travel allowances to give them a head start. For many, Christmas became a symbol of hope—hope for spiritual and, eventually, physical freedom. Even amid hardship, the tradition of celebrating in unity laid the groundwork for the family-centered, cultural celebrations we cherish today.
“It’s important to celebrate and pass down our shared traditions during the holiday season because it’s all we’ve got. If we aren’t passing it down to our kids, then we’ll lose it,” said Fort Bend County Commissioner Dexter McCoy. “Community is important, and we focus on that during the holiday season because… our community has been fractured and separated through the entirety of our history here in America.”
In the Black diaspora, December is a month filled with various festivities that highlight Black people’s cultural legacy and solidarity everywhere.
Chukwudi Nnali, a Houston-area project engineer, said that his Nigerian-born parents incorporated “typical Nigerian traditions” such as wearing colorful traditional garments, visiting families from one house to another and preparing cultural meals and sharing them with others.
“[This goes along] with American traditions like Christmas trees,” he said. “Till this day, my parents don’t know why they put up a Christmas tree. Things like that are very Western, but we have the best of both worlds.”
In Africa, the family is the fundamental social unit, rooted in kinship, marriage and other relational aspects. Family members are expected to support each other financially, emotionally and socially, contributing to the well-being of the group.
“It blows my mind how individualized the U.S. is. Our culture is very family-oriented. That’s something I’ll have to pass down,” Nnali said. “Even celebrating Christmas aboard (Nigeria), it’s always family-centric.”
Creative director and filmmaker Bosun Alabi also share experiences similar to Nnali’s. His favorite holiday memory is when his mother gave him “Banga,” or fireworks, in his hometown in Nigeria.
“This isn’t something we do in America, but it is something I wish we did more,” he said. “We are in the diaspora, and there are many people here… so why not represent our culture?”
