Celebrating Culture : Kwanzaa Holiday Begins Today With Emphasis on Unity

The Jones family of Garden Grove won’t be among those suffering from post-Christmas blues today, even though they will have the same piles of wrapping paper, ribbon and other holiday debris as everybody else.

Instead, they will celebrate the first day of another tradition, equally rich with cultural meaning and nuance.

For the Joneses and other families in Orange County, it is the beginning of Kwanzaa, a seven-day nonreligious holiday steeped in African culture that explores nguzo saba, the seven principles of life.

Bea Jones will address her 16-year-old daughter, Agisha, by her adopted African name, Jamala Ahera, and greet her with “Harbi gani?” when she wakes up. The Swahili phrase means literally, “What is the word today?” or “What is the principle today?”

The first day of Kwanzaa celebrates the first principle--umoja, or unity. During the following six days, the family will contemplate the principles of kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujama (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (crea tivity) and imani (faith).

“Kwanzaa is not just a celebration, it’s actually a pattern for living,” said Jones, who has observed the holiday ever since her daughter was born. “It directs our life. It talks primarily of community. It talks of unity and uniting the family together, which is the hardest thing to do in America.”

Kwanzaa, celebrated nationally, is still evolving in the African American community, which is nearly 2% of the population in Orange County. Some families have fully embraced its ceremonies, while others are curious and support its basic tenets, but limit their participation to the annual Kwanzaa celebration at Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana, which takes place from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday.

The concept of Kwanzaa rose from the ashes of the 1965 Watts riots. The next year, Maulana Karenga, chairman of the Black Studies Department at Cal State Long Beach, created Kwanzaa to unify the black community and to set aside a time to honor ancestors and focus on the year ahead.

The word “Kwanzaa” means “first fruits” in Kiswalli, a general African dialect close to the Swahili language, said Robert Manuel, co-organizer of the celebration at the Bowers Museum.

Manuel has only been observing Kwanzaa for about three years, although he now enjoys collecting the skits and readings of African lore for the museum’s celebration.

At first, he was put off by some widespread misunderstandings of the holiday. “I was brought up in a Pentecostal home, so I had misconceptions that it was a religious ceremony, that it was something happening in lieu of Christmas,” he said. “Then some of my friends asked me why I would not want to honor my ancestors.”

Kwanzaa can accommodate any religion as participants reflect on the year past and the year to come, observers said.

“You can be Buddhist, Muslim, Shintu, Jewish or whatever and still celebrate Kwanzaa,” Manuel said. “It’s a reflection on the past and looking ahead to the future.”

About 300 people came to last year’s ceremonies at Bowers and Manuel said that more are expected this year.

“It’s definitely important in Orange County for the simple fact that black folk in Orange County are so fragmented,” he said. “This brings us together as a people and a community. We do better together than as separate people.”

The teachings of the holiday are important for African-American children and celebrants use music, stories and ceremonies to teach them about their foundations. “If you don’t know where you came from, you don’t know where you’re going,” Manuel said.

*

Children play a central part in the celebration of Kwanzaa by the Jones family. They light each of the seven candles of the kinara, a candleholder similar to menorahs used to celebrate the Jewish holiday Hanukkah.

While family members try to apply the message of Kwanzaa each day of the year, they immerse themselves in the observance on the first day, Jones said.

“You start when you wake up in the morning,” she said. “The key thing is to identify totally with your African history and culture. During that time we no longer use our American names, we use African names.”

The three-hour celebration begins with the beating of traditional drums. The Joneses’ daughter carries in the Pan-African flag, which was designed by Marcus Garvey with black for unity, red for the freedom struggle and green for the future. Jones sets African-American music, such as jazz, blues and West African songs on the stereo. The family then recites the Pan-African pledge of allegiance and proceeds to discuss umoja, kuumba or whatever principle is being observed that day.

Candles, called mishuma, are lit in the kinara each night, starting with black and alternating from three red to three green ones.

The Joneses then have a reading from African history and discuss how the day’s principle relates to their own lives.

“The important thing is that you practice that principle that day,” Jones said. For umoja the first day, they visit every person in their extended family and telephone those who live far away.

*

After discussing the principle of the day, and deciding how to emulate the next day’s purpose, the family passes the kombe, or the unity cup, which is filled with clear water.

To conclude, the family forms a circle and shouts “harambee” three times to symbolize their coming together.

“We usually sing a peace song, embrace and say, ‘I love you,’ ” Jones said. “At this time the little one can go and extinguish the flame of umoja.”

Many of those who are less familiar with the holiday learn about it at the Bowers Museum each year.

J.J. King, former president of the Neighbors, a black cultural group in Orange County, said he is drawn to the idea of the tradition, but simply does not know very much about it.

“From my vantage point, a lot of people are trying to understand it and to practice it,” he said. “It’s a positive holiday. I’d like to attend the event and understand it better. . . . Everyone seems to have something a little different that’s peculiar to their race and ethnicity. I think it’s just catching on in Orange County.”