Anyone curious about the diversity of Laguna Woods need only have attended the recent lively Kwanzaa celebration hosted by the African American Heritage Club.
The small room at Clubhouse 5 was packed with more than 80 residents of various ages, ethnicities, religions and club affiliations, gathered for the annual holiday celebrating African American culture and heritage.
“Kwanzaa is a harvest festival, not a religious one,” said AAHC President Annie McCary. “It is all about relationships within family and community and about personal behavior.”
“Different races spanning several generations celebrate Kwanzaa with us, and some attend because they’re curious,” said Sharon Phillips, who, with husband Willie, prepared the traditional African American food served at the party – turkey, ham, greens, mac and cheese, and sweet potato pie.
Kwanzaa is an annual holiday that is celebrated from Dec. 26 to Jan. 1. It was created in 1966 in the aftermath of the Watts riots in Los Angeles to celebrate African American history, culture and rituals and to bring Black people together as a community.
Kwanzaa, which means “first harvest” in Swahili, is celebrated over seven days to honor seven principles: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, economic cooperation, purpose, creativity and faith.
These principles are represented by seven candles – a black one at the center flanked by three red and three green ones – in a candle holder called a kinara, said AAHC member Frankie Maryland-Alston, who goes by “Dr. Sparkle.”
“Each candle represents a guiding principle of Kwanzaa,” she said. “We express our unity through them.”
The display forms the focal point on a table festooned with traditional objects like a woven straw mat under ears of corn symbolizing commitment to children and the future, a cup representing water as the element that sustains all, and produce like apples, lemons, bananas and sweet peas. Dolls in…
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