- Aug 28, 2015
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Kwanzaa celebration in 2003 with founder, Maulana Karenga. Photo by Apavlo via Wikimedia Commons
A parade, festival and candle lighting ceremony are planned today to mark the start of the 50th seven-day African-American observance of Kwanzaa.
The 39th annual KwanZaa Gwaride parade will be begin at 11 a.m. at the corner of Crenshaw and Adams boulevards, then head south along Crenshaw to Leimert Park, where a festival will be held.
The 14th annual Kwanzaa Heritage Festival and Block Parade will be held from 10 a.m.-7 p.m. in the street on Degnan Boulevard, near 43rd Street. The festival will include live music, a fashion show, community dancing, crafts, a continuous drum circle, exotic foods and a special children’s village and health screening, according to organizers.
A series of Kwanzaa celebrations at the African American Cultural Center, 3018 W. 48th St., will begin at 6:30 p.m. with an Umoja (Unity) Celebration and Candle Lighting Ceremony, which will include music, cultural expressions, refreshments and Umoja (unity) statements from community leaders, organizers said.
People attending the celebration are asked to bring clean warm clothes and blankets for the needy.
Additional celebrations will be held at the center daily through Friday.
Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, now chair of Africana Studies at Cal State Long Beach, in what he called “an audacious act of self- determination.”
Kwanzaa’s focus is the “Nguzo Saba,” the Seven Principles — unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
Read more
http://mynewsla.com/life/2015/12/26/african-american-festival-of-kwanzaa-celebrated-with-2-parades/
