The colorful African cloth commonly used to decorate homes for Kwanzaa is kente.
Kente is a highly recognizable textile associated especially with Ghana’s Akan and Ewe peoples. Kwanzaa observances may use colorful kente cloth in household decoration, clothing, and ceremonial displays, linking the holiday’s African-American cultural celebration with West African artistic traditions.
Traditional kente is woven from narrow strips that are joined to form larger pieces. Colors and geometric patterns can carry symbolic meanings, and cloth designs may be connected to proverbs, historical events, leadership, or social values. Its ceremonial importance historically included strong associations with prestige and royalty in Asante society.
Kente is not the same as batik, which is made using a wax-resist dyeing technique, nor is it simply any African print fabric. Modern printed fabrics may imitate kente patterns, while authentic kente refers to traditionally woven Ghanaian textile. In Kwanzaa, however, the term commonly identifies the colorful cloth used to evoke African heritage.