Music told the story Sunday, as African-Americans met at Johnnie and Travel Fitness Center on South Queen Street to celebrate the final day of Kwanzaa.
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration, honoring African-American heritage and culture. It is observed from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1 each year and features activities such as lighting a candle holder with seven candles. Traditionally the event culminates in a feast and gift-giving.
Family, unity, devotion and self-determination, were just some of the areas that event organizers Johnny Noel and Brenda Stewart focused on.
?We didn?t have all the time we needed to put it together,? Johnny Noel said of the celebration. ?But the spirit said let it go on anyway.?
Noel said he hoped the event would help bring the participants closer together during the new year.
?We?re going to celebrate, we?re going to break bread together, we?re going to love each other, like God intended us to do.? he said.
Steward explained to the several dozen on hand, the significance of libation ? a ritual pouring of a liquid as an offering to a god or spirit or in memory of those who have died ? as names were called out.
?Tradition has it that when we come together for events we give thanks to God, our creator, but the other part of libation is to take some time to thank our ancestors, all those who have gone on before us,? she told the audience. ?We want to (set a foundation) to improve our lives and improve the lives in our community.?
The festivities also included live music, provided by the Rev. Edward Cobb and his grandsons, Zykeem and Tyrik Becton, the singing of spirituals and lots of food.
Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, as the first specifically African American holiday. The name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase ?matunda ya kwanza,? meaning first fruits of the harvest
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Justin Hill can be reached at 252-559-1078 or jhill@freedomenc.com. Follow him on Twitter @mjhill.
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Breakout: The Symbols of Kwanzaa
n Mazao (The Crops)
Ssymbolic of African harvest celebrations and of the rewards of productive and collective labor
n Mkeka (The Mat)
Symbolic of our tradition and history and therefore, the foundation on which we build
n Kinara (The Candle Holder)
Symbolic of continental Africans
n Muhindi (The Corn)
Symbolic of children and the future which they embody
n Mishumaa Saba (The Seven Candles)
Symbolic of the Nguzo Saba, the Seven Principles, the matrix and minimum set of values which African people are urged to live by in order to rescue and reconstruct their lives in their own image and according to their own needs
n Kikombe cha Umoja (The Unity Cup)
Symbolic of the foundational principle and practice of unity which makes all else possible
n Zawadi (The Gifts)
Symbolic of the labor and love of parents and the commitments made and kept by the children
n Bendera (The Flag)
The colors of the Kwanzaa flag are black, red and green; black for the people, red for their struggle and green for the future and hope that comes from their struggle
n Nguzo Saba Poster (Poster of The Seven Principles)
Source: Officialkwanzaawebsite.org
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Breakout
The following local institutions in the area will be closed next today for New Year?s:
Municipal offices
Lenoir, Greene and Jones County offices
County courts
Departments of Health
Departments of Social Services
County landfills and recycling sites
Banks
Credit unions
Post offices
The Free Press
Government meetings:
Kinston City Council: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Lenoir County commissioners: 9 a.m. Tuesday
Greene County commissioners: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Jones County commissioners: 8:30 a.m. Tuesday
Source: http://www.enctoday.com/news/kwanzaa-78960-kfpress-day-african.html
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