KWANZAA: HERITAGE & UNITY

Jessica Spicer, 11, remembers celebrating Kwanzaa once, "about two years ago."

Saturday night, Jessica and several other youngsters were explaining the principles of the African-American festival in a demonstration at St. James AME Church in Cape Girardeau.

The seven-day festival, based on African harvest traditions, was created in 1966 by Dr. Maulana Karenga, a leader in the civil rights movement, to foster unity in the African-American community and to encourage African-Americans to celebrate their African heritage. Kwanzaa starts Dec. 26.

Jessica said it is hard to explain how the festival makes her feel.

"In a way it does make me feel different," she said. "It's kind of scary in a way that all our ancestors came here as slaves and stuff."

Kyley Egson, 14, also was a presenter Saturday night. "I learned about the flag" designed by Marcus Garvey to commemorate African unity, Kyley said. The colors of the red, green and black-striped flag represent blacks' struggle for equality, the land of Africa and black unity, respectively, she said.

Juanita Spicer and Dr. Bernice Coar-Cobb helped organize the demonstration to encourage families in Cape Girardeau to begin celebrating Kwanzaa in their own homes. About 20 people attended.

Coar-Cobb said Saturday night's event was set up "in the hopes that this will be something that we continue to celebrate" in Cape Girardeau.

Kwanzaa is one way to encourage young people to take pride in their heritage and themselves, Spicer said.

"We have such a rich heritage, and our children have so much to be proud of," she said.

Kwanzaa has been criticized as a "fabricated" festival, but that's not the case, Coar-Cobb said.

"It's not a made-up holiday," she said. Karenga organized the first festival after he "decided it was time he should really and truly focus on things that were going on in our community. Kwanzaa reaches back to prehistoric times. It goes back to Africa and African traditions of gathering and harvesting and the family."

Coar-Cobb said it's important that children learn the lessons, or principles, of Kwanzaa. "Our children are the fruits of our labors and also the seeds of our future," she said.

Those principles are unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Teaching African-American youth to follow the principles of Kwanzaa could help address many of the sociological problems in the community, Spicer said.

"Our children need so much, and I wonder if part of it is that they need to identify with their heritage," she said. Spicer, who grew up in a segregated society, said she was raised to be proud of her heritage and cultural history, "and I'm wondering why our children are not feeling that now."

Kwanzaa is no different than the Oktoberfest celebrations she attended growing up in Wisconsin, Spicer said, or other cultural celebrations recognized by Americans of European heritage.

Coar-Cobb agreed.

"It goes right back to our ancestry long, long ago. It establishes our roots," she said. "It's really interesting when the European-American men can say they know they are Irish or they know they are German and they celebrate their heritage and we applaud them and their celebrations and we want them to applaud us."

In many cases, though, African-Americans descended from slaves cannot trace their ancestry to a particular nation or region in Africa, she said.

Kwanzaa is not a "religious" holiday, like Christmas or Hanukkah, Coar-Cobb said. "It is a spiritual celebration for us," she said. "Let's say it's not a church holiday. But it's a celebration that gets to your spirit."

During Kwanzaa, a candle is lighted each night to recognize each of the seven principles on which the festival is based. Simple gifts of food, fruit, books and hand-made items are exchanged by family and friends to celebrate the year's labors and successes.