Every culture has celebrations that are distinct and symbolize their histories. One such holiday is Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa is an African-American celebration of family
community and culture. ... It was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga as a result of research on harvest celebrations throughout Africa. He brought these harvest celebrations together and called it Kwanzaa said Chike Akua, who came to speak about Kwanzaa last week.
Kwanzaa is a cultural celebration held from Dec. 26 through Jan. 1. Each family celebrates the holiday with its own traditions.
You bring the family together set the table up with the candle and kinara. The kinara represents the seven principles. You have the gifts
the corn
the cup
the crop - each symbolizes something different
and you read what they symbolize as a reinforcement of what these things mean and why they are symbolic
said Winsome Chunnu, assistant director of the Multicultural Center.
Sometimes Kwanzaa is called the African American version of Christmas, which is a general misconception, Chunnu said.
As Chike Akua noted
many times people ask if that's the African celebration of Christmas. Kwanzaa came out because that's when people harvested crops in Africa. The idea is to bring community together to celebrate harvest of crops and to give thanks
Chunnu said.
Although it isn't celebrated until December, the Multicultural Center and organizations such as the Black Student Cultural Programming Board plan Kwanzaa events not only to celebrate but also to educate the public about Kwanzaa.
I think our Kwanzaa program is very effective. I think with every year we'll have educated more students about Kwanzaa and its traditions
said Leah Ward, president of BSCPB and a senior studying education.
Chunnu said that this was the Multicultural Center's 21st year celebrating Kwanzaa at Ohio University with events such as the pre-Kwanzaa celebration, which is a demonstration of a normal Kwanzaa ceremony.
It is great for students who don't celebrate Kwanzaa to come learn about the holiday. For those in the African American community who haven't celebrated it
