‘Tis the season to learn more about Kwanzaa

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Kwanzaa Charlotte and Charlotte Mecklenburg Public Library will sponsor Kwanzaa Family Workshop Dec. 2 at Allegra Westbrook Regional Library.

A workshop on Kwanzaa’s history and its celebrations will be held on Dec. 2.

Kwanzaa Charlotte and Charlotte-Mecklenburg Public Library are collaborating on the annual Kwanzaa Family Workshop at Allegra Westbrook Regional Library from 12-2 p.m. The library is located at 2412 Beatties Ford Road. The free workshop, themed “Celebrating Kwanzaa at Home” is open to the public, handicapped accessible and will have sign language interpretation.  

The forum, which will be facilitated by Kwanzaa Charlotte’s Terry Tiamd, Elisha Minter and Ozare Jzar, is for families who want to learn Kwanzaa’s origins, activities, essential values and seven basic symbols of the celebration of family, community, and culture. The interactive program also includes pronunciation of the Swahili terms and creation of Kwanzaa crafts.   

Kwanzaa, an African American celebration established in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, is a seven-day, non-heroic, and non-religious celebration of family, community and culture.

The celebration is based on African “first fruit” harvest observances and uses the Kiswahili language to express the Nguzo Saba, or seven principles, which convey universal value in a call for thoughtful and practical applications every day. Kwanzaa, which Karenga said “brings a cultural message which is both particularly African and definitively human” that’s celebrated around the world.

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