Local Residents Participate in Kwanzaa Celebration

On Sunday, December 29, the African American Heritage Preservation Society of East Pasco County held a Kwanzaa celebration at Mount Pleasant Missionary Baptist Church in Twin Lakes, a small community off Spring Lake Highway. Kwanzaa is a seven-day festival in which Black people around the world observe their African roots. Kwanzaa was created in Los Angeles, California in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga. It is not a religious holiday, but it has elements of spirituality in it. Kwanzaa is also a harvest festival.

Each day they honor a particular principle. On the first day, it’s Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and culture. Day two is Kujichagulia (Self-determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves. Then there is Ujima (Collective work and responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together. The fourth day is Ujamaa (Cooperative economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together. Day five is Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness. The sixth day is Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it. And the last day is Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.

Anthony Perry, a Junior in high school gave the introduction welcoming everyone to the ceremony. Then Mount Pleasant’s pastor, Reverend Nyika Taylor, chose several children to bring the Kwanzaa symbols to the front. The Makika (Mat) represents the foundation of the principles. An ear of corn represents fertility and the possibility of a new generation. Each family has as many ears of corn as they have children. Imani Asukile, one of the organizers of the event, explained that each kernel can produce many ears of corn. The other foods represent the harvest of the crops.

The Kamara (Candelabra) is the most important symbol. There are three red candles, three green ones and a black one. The black candle represents pride in the Black race. The red represents the blood shed by Black people in their quest for freedom and equal rights. The green stands for the harvest. It is traditional to light a candle on each of the seven days.
Other symbols are the Unity Cup, for commemorating and giving thanks to the ancestors. During this part of the ceremony, Asukile showed a PowerPoint presentation highlighting notable Black people who passed away during the past year. These included, sports celebrities, figures in the entertainment industry, political leaders and educators. Afterwards, people in the audience called out the names of friends, relatives and ancestors who had passed away during the years.

Next, Nya Taylor did a dramatic recitation of “Ain’t I a Woman” a speech given in 1851 by Sojourner Truth, a former enslaved woman who escaped her master and became an early advocate for women’s rights. Much of what she said in her speech is as relevant today as it was more than 170 years ago. For a complete text of her speech log onto Wikipedia or go to YouTube and watch a performance of the speech.

Camron Ballinger, a Senior at Newsome High School in Lithia, a suburb of Tampa, performed a solo on his violin. The song was “La Folia” by the Italian composer Arcangelo Corelli.
Imani Asukile then recited two original poems. One called “Summer Sundays” is a reminiscence of peaceful, relaxing summer afternoons when he was a boy growing up in Brooksville. The other poem relates his days working as a fruit picker when he was younger.

The celebration concluded with the lighting of the candles in the Kamara by some of the children in the audience. Each child, in turn, lit a candle.