Kwanzaa unites family, community

WILKES-BARRE – Lydia Parham, 10, poured water into a dark chalice-like cup and carefully carried it to Gerald Coleman. With his cane balanced against his knees, Coleman held the cup high with his right hand and the 40 or so people gathered in the basement of Mount Zion Baptist Church raised their right hands in response.

Coleman sipped from the cup and then offered a few words, asking a blessing on the day and those gathered to learn about and celebrate Kwanzaa.

Parham carried the cup back to the stage, where Brother J.D. Dixon stood behind a table decorated in the red, black and green colors associated with Kwanzaa, the celebration of the first harvest. The cup was passed from child to elder and back again to instill the meaning of the celebration across the generations, he said.

“The cup is representing our understanding that we need water to yield a harvest, and that represents the unity of our family, of our community, and with that unity, we open up the celebration of Kwanzaa,” Dixon said.

The celebration, which was sponsored by the Wilkes-Barre chapter of the NAACP, began with hugs and handshakes all around and ended with sharing a hearty meal. But Dixon cautioned that Kwanzaa is not a seven-day party. He said Kwanzaa is a celebration but not a holiday, and it is not an African-American version of Christmas. For one thing, while faith is part of the celebration, Kwanzaa is not based in religion. And while gifts are sometimes given to children during the celebration, Dixon said it’s not usually the latest video game.

“If gifts are given, it’s something of African descent, something to help the child render Kwanzaa throughout the year,” he said.

While public celebrations are appropriate, Dixon said Kwanzaa is most often celebrated within family groups. Symbolism is important, with every element of the celebration full of meaning. For example, Dixon said the black, green and red colors used for Kwanzaa represent the people, the land and blood, respectively. Many Kwanzaa celebrations feature the lighting of candles, one for each of the seven days of Kwanzaa. Each day represents one principal associated with the celebration, he said, and participants are asked to speak out about how they understand each principle.

For Qiana Chance, a rap musician who splits her time between Wilkes-Barre and Newark, N.J., the main principle of Kwanzaa—unity—means, “We need God and we need others. We can’t do anything alone.”

She said just as students need teachers and church members need a preacher, “The only way we’re going to make anything of this world is together.”

Dixon said this sense of togetherness and unity goes back to the ancestral celebrations of the first harvest, when villages that had built houses together and raised children together would join to celebrate a successful harvest. But even though it has ancient roots, Dixon said the celebration has meaning for today and the future.

He called on Michael Yomi, a student of economics, to explain this principle for the fourth day, Ujamaa or cooperative economics, and how this has changed from the earliest harvest days.

“In the past, they would gather together to build homes, to bury the dead, to raise children,” Yomi said.

He said the harvest celebration in Africa would be a chance for people to let their needs be known and find someone to help them fill them.

“Now, we do things differently,” he said. “A modern Kwanzaa celebration would have everyone’s business cards on the table to let others know who in their circle they can call on for services to grow the prosperity of the group.”

These opportunities to network and to share a meal and celebration with friends and family are manifestations of unity, Dixon said, but far from the only way to celebrate Kwanzaa.

“Unity doesn’t have to be a big event,” Dixon said. “It can be an everyday, simple thing like giving someone a ride. It’s something that you incorporate into your life. It’s not something that you put back on the shelf when it’s over; it’s something that you live.