For St. Jude supporter, Kwanzaa is a tranquil way to end the year

At the close of each year, Kathryn Smith and her daughter, Quinn, pause to peacefully celebrate just being Black.

These days, the holiday season begins at Halloween and ends on New Year’s Day, with hustle and bustle from end to end. 

But for Kathryn, Kwanzaa moves them away from that rush and into a place of peace.

“It’s not about gifts. It’s not about big festivities,” Kathryn said. “It’s really just a way to connect with people. To celebrate something as a collective community.” 

Kwanzaa is an African American and Pan-African celebration of family, community and culture that begins on Dec. 26. The seven-day observance recognizes different principles each day — unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Kathryn, an attorney in Arizona, has been a St. Jude donor her entire adult life. She knows families whose kids have had cancer and she has family members who have sickle cell disease.  

“If you have a limited amount of money to donate, you try to donate to places that reach your heart and reach you personally,” she said. “St. Jude does that for me.”

Kathryn has been celebrating Kwanzaa at home for about 15 years. But her first celebration was years before when she was invited to a Kwanzaa dinner by white friends who had adopted Black children. 

At home, Kathryn and her daughter set up a candleholder, called a kinara, and light a candle each evening.

That’s her favorite part. 

“It’s after dinner at sundown, in the stillness of the day,” Kathryn said. “You take a minute to turn off the lights and to light the candles. It’s a way to slow down and reflect on the things you have and the things we’re grateful for.”

For Quinn, 23, the best part is the intimacy of it all. 

“My favorite part is just having another tradition that my mom and I share,” she said. “We celebrate all the other holidays with family and friends, but this is just one my mom and I do together.”