Kwanzaa, the annual post-Christmas celebration of Black culture, began Sunday, and will continue through Saturday.
A local celebration takes place at the WorldBeat Cultural Center in Balboa Park throughout the week. It includes a four-day camp for youngsters.
The 2021 theme of Kwanzaa is “Practicing Kwanzaa and the Seven Principles: Ensuring the Well-Being of the World.”
“As a pan-African holiday with ancient agricultural origins, Kwanzaa celebrates the good of the earth and carries within it a commitment to protect, preserve and share this good,” Maulana Karenga wrote in his annual founder’s message. “And Kwanzaa’s modern origins in the Black Freedom Movement commits it to the achievement of liberation and social justice.”
Kwanzaa’s focus is the “Nguzo Saba,” the Seven Principles – unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
The holiday is based on the theory of Kawaida, which espouses that social revolutionary change for Black America can be achieved by exposing Blacks to their cultural heritage.
“Thus, in Kawaida philosophy, out of which Kwanzaa and the Nguzo Saba were created, environmental justice and social justice are inseparably linked in the moral imperative to achieve and ensure African and human good and the well-being of the world,” Karenga continued.
The chair of Africana Studies at Cal State Long Beach created Kwanzaa in 1966 in what he called “an audacious act of self-determination.”
He describes the holiday as “a celebration of family, community and culture … celebrated by millions throughout the world African community. Kwanzaa brings a cultural message, which speaks to the best of what it means to be African and human in the fullest sense.”
During the week, a candelabrum called a Kinara is lit, and ears of corn representing each child in the family are placed on a traditional straw mat.
African foods such as millet, spiced pepper balls and rice are often served. Some people fast during the holiday, and a feast is often held on its final night.
A flag with three bars – red for the struggle for freedom, black for unity and green for the future – also is sometimes displayed during the holiday.
– City News Service
