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Posted: Sunday, December 27, 2015 1:22 AM BY KAYLAN THOMPSON kthompson@paducahsun.com

KAYLAN THOMPSON | The Sun Jaziah Copeland, 6, helps to light the
candle representing the sixth day of
Kwanzaa, the day the holiday honors the principle of Kuumba,
meaning creativity. Children learned about
Kwanzaa at a youth activity day on Saturday at the W.C. Young
Community Center.

KAYLAN THOMPSON | The Sun

Jaziah Copeland, 6, helps to light the candle representing the
sixth day of Kwanzaa, the day the holiday honors
the principle of Kuumba, meaning creativity. Children learned
about Kwanzaa at a youth activity day on
Saturday at the W.C. Young Community Center.

A small table laden with red and green decorations was the
centerpiece of a youth activity day on Saturday
afternoon at the W.C. Young Community Center in Paducah, but it
wasn't Christmas they were celebrating. It
was the first day of Kwanzaa, and a dozen children gathered
around to light the seven candles of the kinara, a
candleholder, hearing what each flame represented.

"This candle in the middle is black, standing for the people,"
said Rose Lowery, chairwoman of this year's
Kwanzaa events, in a hushed, reverent tone as the children gazed
on.

"The red stands for the struggle of our people, and the green
candles stand for hope. There's an order in which
we light them, too. We always go from struggle to hope, red to
green, because we struggle and then hope to get
better."

Kwanzaa, a celebration of family, community and culture, begins
the day after Christmas and ends on New
Year's Day.

"This is not to take the place of Christmas, the celebration of
Christ; we'll always do that," Lowery said. "It's to
teach us that we don't have to have all of these things to have
a celebration. It's about learning to use your gifts
to celebrate, the gifts that you have, your gifts of creativity
and of supporting one another."

The holiday was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga in
response to the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles
that rendered many homes ravaged. It was Karenga's hope to bring
the African­American community together
through a celebration of their culture, beliefs and values
combined with several aspects of African traditions.

During each of Kwanzaa's seven days, a particular value, or
principle, is honored. The first is Umoja, an African
word meaning unity; the second is Kujichagulia, meaning
self­determination; the third, Ujima, meaning
working together; the fourth, Nia, meaning purpose; the sixth,
Kuumba, meaning creativity; and the seventh,
Imani, meaning faith.

Quante Askew, 10, from Paducah, said he had never heard of
Kwanzaa before, but is eager to celebrate it now
that he has.

His favorite thing he learned about, he said, was the meaning of
the word Kujichagulia, self­determination.

"I have self­determination because I taught myself to ride a
bike," he said. "I fell but then I got back up again
and kept practicing until I learned how to ride. I just found
out about Kwanzaa today, but now I feel really
excited about it and I'm going to try to celebrate it and gather
around and sing Kwanzaa songs."

The joy about the activity day, Lowery said, was watching the
children learn about the culture that connects
them.

"I love events like these because it brings kids from around the
community together and teaches them that these
are the things that we really need to do," she said. "We need to
be about helping each other, pulling somebody
up, praying together, and using whatever means of faith you need
to do to make you a better person. That's what
it's all about, is a community coming together and using their
gifts to celebrate their culture."

At 6 p.m. Monday, a Kwanzaa community feast will be held at the
W.C. Young Community Center at 505 S.
Eighth St., in Paducah. The community is welcome to attend the
potluck, and the group will eat, pray, play
games and learn more about Kwanzaa.


Deer Paducah morons,

Kwanzaa is a phony holiday and everyone with any brains is
laughing at you democrat voting hillbillies.

http://www.paducahsun.com/news/local/122715_PS_Kwanzaa
 

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