Kwanzaa 2022 Forever Stamps — African Heritage Celebration, First-Class Postage

Kwanzaa is a celebration of African culture, and one of the simplest ways to mark it is through what you wear — a kaftan, a dashiki, a gele headwrap, or something in kente.

What kente is

Kente is a West African textile many centuries old. The weaving tradition is said to have been inspired by watching spiders build their webs, and the finished cloth is never merely decorative: its patterns, and sometimes its symbols, tell a specific story.

Reading the colors

The palette runs to black, red, blue, gold or yellow, green, white, and purple or maroon, and each carries meaning. Black is spiritual strength and maturity. Blue is peace, love, unity and harmony. Red can stand for blood, for death, or for political passion. Gold and yellow indicate wealth and royalty. Green signals growth, harvest and renewal; white, purity and cleansing; purple and maroon, Mother Earth, healing and protection from evil.

Kente has since traveled into mainstream fashion worldwide. Its central purpose has not changed, though — telling stories and holding a tradition intact, which is what Kwanzaa itself is for.

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