Kwanzaa celebrations encouraged at home amid spreading coronavirus
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ) – Sunday marks the beginning of Kwanzaa, a seven-day cultural celebration that takes place the last week of December. The Lyric Ttheatre in Lexington usually hosts community celebrations, but due to COVID, those plans had to be cancelled.
“Kwanzaa starts in [the heart],” says Whit Whitaker, executive director for the Lyric Theatre. “Kwanzaa starts in your home.”
Whitaker says this is the first year the Lyric Theatre hasn’t done something to celebrate Kwanzaa. It had planned on showing the film ‘The Black Candle’, followed by discussions with the film’s producer, MK Asante. After a last minute cancellation due to concerns over the omicron variant, Whitaker is encouraging families to have celebrations at home.
“The beauty of Kwanzaa and this cultural celebration is it begins with self, it begins with the family,” says Whitaker.
The seven days of Kwanzaa each represent a different principle to uplift and connect the black community, says Whitaker. Kwanzaa starts on December 26th with Umoja, or unity. Each day after has a different principle like Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujima (collective work), Ujamaa (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).
“The purpose of the Kwanzaa celebrations is not only to connect African Americans back to the African heritage, African diaspora, but also to put a focus on the community here and the situations that we deal with here,” says Whitaker.
Though only one week on the calendar, Whitaker says when community gatherings are once again safe, the Kwanzaa principles should be applied to everyday life.
“Taking some of those principles and practices outward, outside the home, to actually go and uplift the community, to support the community, to build community, to remind the community of this wonderful, cultural African heritage and to unify the community,” says Whitaker.
