Thursday, January 16, 2025
In the Village of Hempstead, where about 44% of the residents proudly claim African descent, Kwanzaa is much more than a 58-year-old cultural observance.
Occurring yearly Dec. 26 through Jan. 1, Kwanzaa is a seven-day affirmation of pan-African and African-American heritage. It includes commemorations of triumph over oppression.
Hempstead Village marked the first day of Kwanzaa 2024 with a program in the Kennedy Park auditorium. From very young children to near-centenarians, attendees participated in songs, poetry, dance, and the lighting of the Kwanzaa kinara.
Many attendees wore the flowing, brilliantly patterned clothing associated with African ceremonial garb. Banners displaying the Kwanzaa colors of red, black and green decorated the auditorium walls, representing the blood shed in the struggle for freedom, the dark skin of Africans, and hope for the years to come.
A table in front of the auditorium stage was set with Kwanzaa symbolic objects, such as the Unity Cup (Kikombe cha Umoja) and the Mishumaa Saba, or seven candles, which are placed in the stand called the kinara.
At this communal gathering to kick off the Kwanzaa week, all seven candles were lit. Throughout the week since, in home ceremonies, one candle has been lit per day. Each day focuses on one of the “Nguzo Saba,” the Seven Principles of Kwanzaa: Umoja, unity; Kujichagulia, self-determination; Ujima, collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa, cooperative economics; Nia, purpose; Kuumba, creativity; and Imani, faith.
Respected village personages led the evening. Tina Hodge-Bowles, who has run Operation Get Ahead for Hempstead Village senior citizens for many years, organized the program with Human Relations Council Director Juanita Hargwood. Businesswoman and public servant Shelley Brazley acted as moderator. The invocation was delivered by Rev. Dr. Sedgwick Easley, pastor of Union Baptist Church. Mayor Waylyn Hobbs, Jr., led the lighting of the candles.
Rev. Dr. Cynthia Diaz, Hempstead’s first Black female associate justice, provided the central reflection of the evening.
“On this day we come, probably more than in a long, long time, with the need to bring light to dark faces,” Diaz said. She called 2024 “a national roller coaster,” referring to the fraught presidential race between Vice President Kamala Harris, the first Black woman to occupy so high a political office, and former president Donald Trump, who won this year’s election.
“I firmly and prayerfully believe that despite some of our fears, in 2025, we will thrive,” Diaz said, evoking applause.
After poems and dances, accompanied by stirring rhythms on an African djembe drum, Mayor Hobbs lit the first kinara candle, representing Umoja (unity). “We pay tribute to the unity that is the foundation of the family and the community,” he said.
One by one, younger and older members of Hempstead’s African American community lit the candles, speaking the solemn words to articulate each of the Seven Principles.
Bishop William Whitaker from Bethlehem of Judea Church delivered the final blessing.
“May the spirit of Kwanzaa illuminate our hearts,” Whitaker prayed. “May we walk together in peace, celebrate our shared heritage, and nurture the seeds of hope and progress.”
