PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Thursday marked the first day of Kwanzaa, which celebrates the culture and heritage of people with African roots. City leaders joined the Kwanzaa Cooperative to light up Boathouse Row and commemorate the holiday with music and tradition.
Dozens gathered on the first day of the weeklong festival to light the first of seven candles on the kinara, one for each of seven days, each representing one of seven principles.
Maisha Sullivan-Ongoza, founding member and chair of the Cooperative, lit the first candle, in the center, representing umoja, or unity. She said it’s important to keep teaching about the holiday.
“The Kwanzaa Cooperative is to make sure that we always educate about the origins of it, where it came from, the importance of it,” she said. “It's a commitment we made years ago.”
The Cooperative’s Martine Augustin led the crowd in libations, which involves pouring out water, juice, wine or liquor to honor ancestors and those who cannot be present.
“I want to pour libations to the ancestors we may not know, the ancestors who might have jumped over the boat while coming over here to the Americas, or just the ancestors who fought a battle and didn't get their names recognized, and to those ancestors … we say, ase.”
A crowd of participants enjoyed the sounds of The Tyehimba Drummers, and Little Big Sister Band sang “Lift Every Voice and Sing,” the Black National Anthem, before local leaders took to the podium.
“When I think about the seven principles of Kwanzaa—if we internalized it to ourselves, shared it with our family and with our greater community—think of how our community and city would be,” said City Councilmember Curtis Jones. “All of those principles have a reaffirming way of improving us as individuals, us as families, and us as communities, so we should be celebrating these principles 365 days a year.”
The Seven Principles of Kwanzaa
⚫ Umoja, unity
🔴 Kujichagulia, self-determination
🟢 Ujima, collective work and responsibility
🔴 Ujamaa, cooperative economics
🟢 Nia, purpose
🔴 Kuumba, creativity
🟢 Imani, faith
Vincent Thompson, communications director for City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, spoke about the advocacy, over eight years ago, that led to lighting up Boathouse Row for Kwanzaa.
“l noticed in a press release that Boathouse Row was lit for every other holiday during the season except Kwanzaa. So I got on the radio and I talked about what I thought was a mistake that needed to be corrected,” Thompson said.
He said it took almost a year, but under then-Mayor Jim Kenney, Boathouse Row was lit for Kwanzaa for the first time in 2017.
The Cooperative’s Milele Sullivan says they do outreach to keep people educated about Kwanzaa.
“We communicate directly with Dr. Maulana Karenga, who is the creator of Kwanzaa, and we will do the outreach,” Sullivan said. “We will ‘do the legwork,’ as they say—which is to help people to know the embodiment of it, to know that it can be accessed, to know that it's an opportunity for people to celebrate family, community and culture.”
Kwanzaa, an African American and pan-African celebration focusing on the cultural, ethical and spiritual visions and values of African culture, is observed worldwide. The candles are the colors of the pan-African flag: three red (the struggle), one black (the people), and three green (the future).