Macon Magazine

D ecember's Kwanzaa celebration in Macon will mark 30 consecutive years of local nonprofits Kwanzaa Cultural Access Center Inc. and Torchlight Academy Inc. presenting this extraordinary harvest festival. Local builder and Homeland Village Bookstore owner Kirklyn Abijah Hodges hosted Macon's first public Kwanzaa event in 1989 at the Tubman Museum. Three years later, a small nucleus of locals including Hodges attended a Kwanzaa workshop led by Atlanta storyteller/puppeteer Akbar Imhotep at Ruth Hartley Mosley Women's Center. They became so inspired that one month later, they presented a Kwanzaa celebration with hundreds in attendance, then went on to form a new organization that has shaped an annual series of legendary Kwanzaa events. In late spring 1993, they initiated the Juneteenth Freedom Festival, and these two Macon festivals continue to this day. HISTORY One of the most phenomenal cultural traditions of black America to emerge in the last century is the African-American holiday of Kwanzaa. Known as Matunda Ya Kwanzaa (Festival of First Fruits) and created by Los Angeles scholar/activist Dr. Maulana Karenga in 1965, it encompasses seven days (Dec. 26-Jan. 1), seven principles, seven symbols and an "a" added to the Swahili word Kwanza, which means "first," to give it seven letters. "Kwanzaa stresses recognition and appreciation of the dual historical character of our identity. In a word, the origins of the holiday, like that of people from whom it evolved, are dual in character and consciousness. Both are African-American, products of two soils and societies, participants in and heirs of two historical processes and realities," Karenga wrote in his book, "The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa." Kwanzaa revolves foremost around the principle of unity. As a point of design, it employs the East African language Swahili, which is used by Africans to transcend their over 800 continental languages or dialects, as one common language of trade. "I enjoy many things about Kwanzaa, but if I had to break it down, it shows that we can come together," said doula and Kwanzaa Cultural Access Center Treasurer Nasiryn Fitz. For millions of black Americans, as the euphoria of the Christmas season climaxes Dec.25, the exciting and amazing celebration of Kwanzaa begins a week- long Afrocentric feast of culture. Kwanzaa is not a replacement for Christmas, nor a competitor, and many people celebrate them both, while some do not. "I love the fact that we are coming together for a purpose, reaffirming that we UNITY, PRINCIPLES & PURPOSE CELEBRATING 30 YEARS OF KWANZAA IN MACON BY GEORGE FADIL MUHAMMAD PHOTOGRAPHY BY DSTO MOORE DECEMBER/JANUARY 2022 | maconmagazine.com 85

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