Last Kwanzaa Event to Be Held Friday

The last event of Kwanzaa, the African American holiday celebration that starts the day after Christmas and lasts through Jan. 1, will be held Friday night at the Perspective on Open Awareness, 2045 N. Fair Oaks Ave.

This year’s Kwanzaa events will end with Karamu, a traditional African feast, said Amina Thomas, chair of the nine-member Pasadena-Altadena Kwanzaa Organizing Committee. The Karamu meal will be from 7 to 9 p.m and is open to the public.

Created in 1966, the annual Kwanzaa celebration encourages Americans of African descent to focus on a different principle on each of the holiday’s seven days. The seven Kwanzaa principles are unity, self-determination, work done with the help of neighbors, family and society, purpose, creativity and faith.

The event is in its fourth year in Pasadena.

“This is the one time of the year that the whole community can come together as one, in spite of whatever differences they may have,” Thomas said.