YOUTH INVITED TO LEARN ABOUT KWANZAA

Juanita Spicer hopes young people will be so inspired by tonight's Kwanzaa demonstration at St. James AME Church that they'll want to celebrate the African-American festival when it starts Dec. 26.

The demonstration starts at 6 p.m. at the church, 516 North St. in Cape Girardeau.

"We've invited young people from four or five churches in the community to come over and learn about Kwanzaa," Spicer said.

Members of St. James' youth group and students in the E.M. Spicer Tutorial Program, which Spicer oversees, will present information about the festival.

"They'll give speeches and demonstrations and different little things," she said. Visitors will also have an opportunity to "sing or do a poem or whatever they would like to do."

Spicer said she hopes tonight's program will encourage the black community to celebrate Kwanzaa.

"I don't think that many people actually celebrate it, but Kwanzaa's been around since 1966," she said, adding she and her family celebrated the festival when it was originally developed. Spicer said it's been a while since she participated in the festival.

The seven-day festival is borrowed from African harvest traditions and uses Swahili language, colors and symbols to encourage unity and cooperation.

"It's kind of like our Thanksgiving," Spicer said. "They were thankful for their harvest and the fruits of their labor. It gave them a chance to talk about their achievements and good things that had happened in their families and in the community and what they would like to see happen in their families and communities."

The festival also celebrates African heritage, Spicer said.

"Sometimes we have a hard time getting African-Americans to identify with their African heritage," she said. "That's what Kwanzaa does."

During the festival, the family gathers around a seven-cup candelabrum called a kinara. Each night a candle is lit to symbolize the seven principles of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

"Kwanzaa brings out a lot of very good principles and a lot of good things the young people can follow, and that's what I like about it," Spicer said.

"We've got so much going on with our young people today. The young people are a real concern of mine. I thought maybe they need a Kwanzaa celebration to really take a look at what needs to happen in the community."

She said the seven principles are a guide to live by similar to the Ten Commandments. "A lot of our young people have not really listened to the Bible, and most of them were raised in Christian homes."

Spicer has been working with Dr. Bernice Coar-Cobb of Southeast Missouri State University to organize tonight's demonstration.

"This is really just a way to educate the community about Kwanzaa," Spicer said.