Theo nguồn tin tiếng Anh trên trang mạng của thành phố Las Vegas
“Affirming African Values, Culture and Community with Purpose” and the “Boys and Girls Rites of Passage Graduation Ceremony”
Friday, Dec. 30, 6 to 8 p.m.
West Las Vegas Library Theatre
951 W. Lake Mead Blvd.
702-507-3989
Free and open to the public.
Join the community celebration to share the meaning of Kwanzaa and embrace the best in African culture, community, and humanity. This celebration combines elements of African culture and the African-American experience to provide a framework for instilling strong values and acknowledge and honor the accomplishments of the Rites of Passage graduates. Cosponsored by the Las Vegas-Clark County Library District. For more information, call 702-229-4800 or 702-507-3989.
Kwanzaa is a week-long celebration held in the United States and in other nations of the Western African diaspora in the Americas. The celebration honors African heritage in African-American culture, and is observed from December 26 to January 1, culminating in a feast and gift-giving. Kwanzaa has seven core principles (Nguzo Saba). It was created by Maulana Karenga and was first celebrated in 1966–67.
History
Maulana Karenga created Kwanzaa in 1966, as the first specifically African-American holiday. According to Karenga, the name Kwanzaa derives from the Swahili phrase matunda ya kwanza, meaning “first fruits of the harvest”, although a more conventional translation would simply be “first fruits”. The choice of Swahili, an East African language, reflects its status as a symbol of Pan-Africanism, especially in the 1960s, although most of the Atlantic slave trade that brought African people to America originated in West Africa.
Kwanzaa is a celebration that has its roots in the black nationalist movement of the 1960s and was established as a means to help African Americans reconnect with their African cultural and historical heritage by uniting in meditation and study of African traditions and Nguzo Saba, the “seven principles of African Heritage” which Karenga said “is a communitarian African philosophy”. For Karenga, a major figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s and 1970s, the creation of such holidays also underscored an essential premise that “you must have a cultural revolution before the violent revolution. The cultural revolution gives identity, purpose and direction.”
Kwanzaa celebrates what its founder called the seven principles of Kwanzaa, or Nguzo Saba (originally Nguzu Saba—the seven principles of African Heritage), which Karenga said “is a communitarian African philosophy,” consisting of what Karenga called “the best of African thought and practice in constant exchange with the world.” These seven principles comprise *Kawaida, a Swahili word meaning “common”. Each of the seven days of Kwanzaa is dedicated to one of the following principles, as follows:
•Umoja (Unity): To strive for and to maintain unity in the family, community, nation, and race.
•Kujichagulia (Self-Determination): To define and name ourselves, as well as to create and speak for ourselves.
•Ujima (Collective Work and Responsibility): To build and maintain our community together and make our brothers’ and sisters’ problems our problems and to solve them together.
•Ujamaa (Cooperative Economics): To build and maintain our own stores, shops, and other businesses and to profit from them together.
•Nia (Purpose): To make our collective vocation the building and developing of our community in order to restore our people to their traditional greatness.
•Kuumba (Creativity): To do always as much as we can, in the way we can, in order to leave our community more beautiful and beneficial than we inherited it.
•Imani (Faith): To believe with all our hearts in our people, our parents, our teachers, our leaders, and the righteousness and victory of our struggle.
Kwanzaa celebratory symbols include a mat (Mkeka) on which other symbols are placed: a Kinara (candle holder), Mishumaa Saba (seven candles) mazao (crops), Muhindi (corn), a Kikombe cha Umoja (unity cup) for commemorating and giving shukrani (thanks) to African Ancestors, and Zawadi (gifts). Supplemental representations include a Nguzo Saba poster, the black, red, and green bendera (flag), and African books and artworks – all to represent values and concepts reflective of African culture and contribution to community building and reinforcement. With corn being the primary symbol for both decoration and celebratory dinning.
Observance
Families celebrating Kwanzaa decorate their households with objects of art, colorful African cloth such as kente, especially the wearing of kaftans by women, and fresh fruits that represent African idealism. It is customary to include children in Kwanzaa ceremonies and to give respect and gratitude to ancestors. Libations are shared, generally with a common chalice, Kikombe cha Umoja, passed around to all celebrants. Non-African Americans also celebrate Kwanzaa. The holiday greeting is “Joyous Kwanzaa.”
A Kwanzaa ceremony may include drumming and musical selections, libations, a reading of the African Pledge and the Principles of Blackness, reflection on the Pan-African colors, a discussion of the African principle of the day or a chapter in African history, a candle-lighting ritual, artistic performance, and, finally, a feast (karamu). The greeting for each day of Kwanzaa is Habari Gani? Which is Swahili for “How are you?”
At first, observers of Kwanzaa avoided the mixing of the holiday or its symbols, values, and practice with other holidays, as doing so would violate the principle of kujichagulia (self-determination) and thus violate the integrity of the holiday, which is partially intended as a reclamation of important African values. Today, many African American families celebrate Kwanzaa along with Christmas and New Year’s. Frequently, both Christmas trees and kinaras, the traditional candle holder symbolic of African American roots, share space in Kwanzaa-celebrating households. For people who celebrate both holidays, Kwanzaa is an opportunity to incorporate elements of their particular ethnic heritage into holiday observances and celebrations of Christmas.
Cultural exhibitions include the Spirit of Kwanzaa, an annual celebration held at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts featuring interpretive dance, African dance, song and poetry.
The holiday has also spread to Canada, and is celebrated by Black Canadians in a similar fashion as in the United States.
http://www.lasvegasnevada.gov/portal/faces/home/things-to-do/ttd-events/Kwanzaa?_afrLoop=22712504742366272&_afrWindowMode=0&_afrWindowId=11ygydt9bv_134#%40%3F_afrWindowId%3D11ygydt9bv_134%26_afrLoop%3D22712504742366272%26_afrWindowMode%3D0%26_adf.ctrl-state%3D11ygydt9bv_210
Note: We are not responsible for typo error, price change, substitute item, or available of item from online ads.
Lưu ý: Chúng tôi không chịu trách nhiệm về lỗi ấn, thay đổi giá, hàng thay thế, hoặc có sẵn mặt hàng quảng cáo.
