BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — The Kwanzaa Harambee has returned to Bakersfield. It's a day to honor and celebrate African heritage, as well as a day to educate the community about the seven principles of Kwanzaa.
People gathered on Thursday afternoon at the Martin Luther King Community Center in Bakersfield for the event, which has been an annual tradition for 30 years. Music filled the grounds, with a presentation of drums playing African beats.
"Today is a lot of laughing, smiling, dancing, and drums. So much positive energy here on the southeast side," said Luther Gray of DAT Krew Academy. "Kwanzaa is a seven-day celebration for Blacks, something that shows so many different principles of love and appreciation coming together."
Kwanzaa is a weeklong celebration of Black and African history and heritage that begins the day after Christmas and lasts for seven days, one day for each of the seven principles, until January 1. The holiday was founded in the United States in 1966 by activist, author, and chair of the Department of African Studies at California State University at Long Beach, Dr. Maulana Karenga.
Gray, who lives in Bakersfield, says it is a celebration he looks forward to attending each year, saying is favorite part of the Harambee celebration is seeing all of the cultural artifacts from different countries in Africa, such as Egypt, Ghana, and Nigeria.
"I love the artifacts, all the artifacts. Especially the ones from Kemet, and the Egyptian ones. They're the ones that stand out the most to me," said Gray.
Patrick Jackson, President of the NAACP Bakersfield Branch, says one of the most significant things about celebrating Kwanzaa, which is Swahili for "the first fruits," is observing the seven principles: Umoja (unity), Imani (faith), Kuumba (creativity), Ujima (collective work and responsibility), Nia (purpose), Kujichagulia (self-determination), and Ujamaa (collective economics).
"It's so important, the seven principles, because families get to learn about cooperation, financial literacy, spiritual, and being able to learn how to love each other properly," said Jackson. "When you go through each principle each day, we as a culture love ourselves to be able to love on each other."
Jackson says events like the Kwanzaa Harambee (a word in Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya, meaning "all pull together") honor the importance of unity. Celebrating unity is something that Gerald Gridiron, another community member, also finds to be significant here in Kern.
"Just looking at how many people come together for these particular types of events, we could have so many different other events when it comes to the Black community," said Gridiron. "But it always puts a smile on my face when I see people from all different ages come together to celebrate one common goal."
Jackson adds that celebrating Black excellence in Kern County is important, in addition to passing on the history and knowledge of the African heritage to the younger generations.
"I think it's just such a beautiful thing to see the old with the young interacting with each other, dancing together, learning together, and families being able to come together and learn at the same time," said Jackson. "There's parents where it's their first time being introduced to Kwanzaa, and there's people that have been coming for over 30 years. It's such a great blend of people to come together to learn and love on each other."
