Monday, January 20, 2025
The Junior Friends of the Uniondale Public Library held their annual Kwanzaa celebration on the first night of the holiday, Dec. 26.
Linda Humes, a doctoral lecturer at John Jay College and founder of Yaffa Cultural Arts, and Anthony Francis, who is known as drummer and performer Sanga of the Valley, brought a lineup of traditional instruments and stories to teach the Uniondale community about Kwanzaa. This year’s holiday was celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.
Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration of African-American culture, values and community. It was created in 1966 by Maulana Ron Karenga, a professor of Black Studies at California State University-Long Beach. The name “Kwanzaa” is derived from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits,” reflecting its roots in traditional African harvest festivals, according to the History Channel website.
“When Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, he wanted a holiday to support people of African descent that lived outside of the continental Africa,” Humes explained to the audience.
Celebrated annually at the end of December, Kwanzaa emphasizes seven principles, known as the Nguzo Saba, which are central to the holiday’s observance. The principles are rooted in traditional African values and reflect the strength of collective action and cultural pride.
The kinara, a special candleholder, has seven candles that symbolize each of the seven principles, which Humes and Francis displayed at the library event. The mishumaa saba, or seven candles, represent the colors of the Pan-African flag: black for the people, red for the struggle and green for hope and the earth, according to the History Channel. Each day, families gather to light a candle, discuss the day’s principle and engage in activities such as storytelling, drumming, dancing and the exchange of gifts.
At the library celebration, Humes and Francis used the art of storytelling to teach attendees about the principles of Kwanzaa. Storytelling is an important part of African culture because it brings people together and is used to teach lessons. “Storytelling is tradition — it’s a conversation,” Humes said.
For example, in connection with Kwanzaa’s first principle of unity, umoja, Humes told the story of Anansi, a trickster spider in African folklore, and how his six children created the moon.
In Humes’s version of the story, Anansi got lost and stumbled on a bright white ball, which he vowed to give as a gift to whoever found and saved him. Meanwhile, his six children, each of whom had their own special ability, worked together to find him. Because they did so, Anansi couldn’t decide who should receive the ball as a reward, so it wound up in the sky and became the moon.
While Humes told the story, Francis played a soft beat on a drum in the background to carry the cadence of the story and emphasize each part with music. The drum, he explained, is a crucial part of African culture, used to “speak” to people.
“The drum has a language that has never been told,” Francis told the audience. “The drum speaks to everyone within reach of that drum, who can hear that drum, and it draws them to wherever the celebration or announcement is.”
A kikombe cha umoja, or Unity Cup, is used in rituals during Kwanzaa, emphasizing unity with ancestors, according to the History Channel. Humes and Francis taught the library attendees about the cup, and Francis poured water into it for a traditional ritual to honor ancestors and others, including elders and those sick in hospitals.
“The African people were brought here, taken away from their culture, so things became strange to us,” he said. “But time and time again, we learned and we honor.”
Attendees at the library event ate together from a buffet that came from Junior Friends donations and Bobby Q’s Jus Like Mama’s, a soul food restaurant in Freeport. Fried chicken, collard greens and mac and cheese were among the numerous dishes on offer, and guests enjoyed cookies, cupcakes and fruit for dessert.
Kwanzaa serves as a reminder of African heritage, a celebration of community and a call to strengthen bonds in the African-American community, and the Junior Friends of the Uniondale library honored the holiday by sharing knowledge and tradition with the community.
