Events around LA County mark start of Kwanzaa

By STEVEN HERBERT | City News Service

The 48th edition of what organizers say is the world’s oldest Kwanzaa parade was scheduled to out in South Los Angeles on Thursday morning to mark the start of the seven-day African-American festival.

The Kwanzaa Gwaride is set to begin at 11 a.m. at Adams and Crenshaw boulevards, then head south on Crenshaw Boulevard for two miles to Leimert Park, where a festival will be from 1 to 5 p.m.

In his annual founder’s message titled “Celebrating Kwanzaa in Difficult and Demanding Times: Lifting Up the Light That Lasts,” Maulana Karenga wrote, “There is a pervasive sense of anxiety, apprehension and uncertainty about the future, about how we continue to go forward, meet the coming storm and overcome and disperse the darkness that threatens to envelop us. But our very history and humanity tell us we must defy the darkness that seeks to dispirit and diminish us with our radical refusal to be defeated in any way.

“Following in the footsteps of our ancestors, we must, in the midst of the deepest darkness hanging over us, lift up the light that lasts.”

Karenga, chair of the Africana Studies Department at Cal State Long Beach, created Kwanzaa in 1966 in what he called “an audacious act of self-determination.”

“Kwanzaa was conceived and born in the womb, work and transformative struggles of the Black Freedom Movement,” Karenga wrote in the 2023 founder’s message. “And thus, its essential message and meaning was shaped and shared not only in sankofa initiatives of cultural retrieval, of the best of our views, values and practices as African peoples.

“It was also shaped by that defining decade of fierce strivings and struggles for freedom, justice and associated goods waged by Africans and other peoples of color all over the world in the 1960s. Kwanzaa thus came into being, grounded itself and grew as an act of freedom, an instrument of freedom, a celebration of freedom and a practice of freedom.”

Kwanzaa’s focus is the “Nguzo Saba,” the Seven Principles, all of which derive from Swahili words. Each night is dedicated to one of the principles, beginning with Umoja — unity, expressing the goal of striving for and maintaining unity in the family and community.

The principle for the second night is Kujichagulia, self-determination, “to define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.”

The principle for the third night is Ujima, collective work and responsibility.

“It speaks to our building community together, sharing burdens and benefits and constantly striving and struggling to achieve the good world we all want and deserve to live in and leave as a legacy worthy of the name and history African,” Karenga wrote in the 2024 founder’s message.

The other principles are Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).

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 — are sometimes displayed during the holiday.

Kwanzaa 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.

Pasadena’s 36th annual Kwanzaa celebration will begin at 11 a.m. Friday at the Jefferson Branch Library and include music, storytelling and youth presentations.

A Kwanzaa celebration celebrating “sacred sounds of the season” will be from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday at the KRST Unity Center of AfRaKan Spiritual Science in South Los Angeles. The celebration will include food, drumming, cultural expressions, speakers, a kids’ corner and candle lighting ceremony.

A Kwanzaa celebration will be at the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach from 5:30 to 8 p.m. Monday with a candle-lighting ceremony, libation, children’s corner and a Karamu feast.

The Karamu feast traditionally occurs on the sixth day of Kwanzaa and features home-cooked dishes and family recipes. Some common foods include black-eyed peas, collard greens, cornbread, salt fish, guava, red beans, okra, crab, shrimp and oysters

Admission is free. Attendees making a $15 donation will be able to dine at the Karamu feast. Tickets are available on Eventbrite.