Orange Coast College celebrates Kwanzaa

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Darriella Lewis of the Dembrebrah Drum and Dance Ensemble performs during a Kwanzaa celebration Wednesday evening at Orange Coast College’s Multicultural Center in Costa Mesa. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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Faty Diassy, center, performs with the Dembrebrah Drum and Dance Ensemble during Wednesday’s Kwanzaa celebration at Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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Kokayi Kwa Jitahidi lights a kinara for the Mishumaa Saba ritual during a Kwanzaa ceremony at the Orange Coast College Multicultural Center on Wednesday. The kinara includes seven candles — three red, three green and one black one in the center. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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Orange Coast College faculty member Ward Smith, left, Vice President of Student Services Madjid Niroumand, center, and President Angelica Suarez dance with members of the Dembrebrah Drum and Dance Ensemble during a Kwanzaa celebration at the college’s Multicultural Center on Wednesday. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

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Orange Coast College students Justin Burrola, left, and Elena Protsenko dance with members of the Dembrebrah Drum and Dance Ensemble during a Kwanzaa celebration Wednesday at the college’s Multicultural Center in Costa Mesa. (Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)

By Lilly NguyenStaff Writer

Dec. 5, 2019 2:40 PM PT

Kwanzaa doesn’t begin until Dec. 26, but Orange Coast College in Costa Mesa commemorated the pan-African holiday ahead of schedule Wednesday with an evening celebration at the campus Multicultural Center.

The free festivities, which included cultural foods and performances, followed an afternoon discussion by Kwanzaa’s creator, Maulana Karenga, a professor and chairman of the department of Africana Studies at Cal State Long Beach. The annual secular holiday, which honors African heritage and identity, runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1.

Karenga is the writer of the Nguzo Saba, or seven principles of African heritage — umoja (unity), kujichagulia (self-determination), ujima (collective work and responsibility), ujamaa (cooperative economics), nia (purpose), kuumba (creativity) and imani (faith). He established Kwanzaa in 1966 and it was first celebrated that year.

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Orange Coast College celebrates Kwanzaa

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