Celebrations of Kwanzaa begin

Jeffrey Libby

Friday, Dec. 27, 2002 | 11:31 a.m.

What: Kwanzaa celebration

Where: West Las Vegas Library Theatre

When: 3 p.m., Saturday

Cost: Free

Details: "Say it Loud ... A Musical Celebration" features performances by actors, musicians, dancers, singers and poets.

A reception follows at the West Las Vegas Arts Center, catered by Gwen Walker of the Walker Research Museum on H Street.

Catching her breath in the lobby of the West Las Vegas Arts Center, 13-year-old dance student Jordan Hankins said Thursday that "home to her parents" is where she wants to take the spirit of Kwanzaa.

"It's about African traditions and I would like my family to learn about the traditions," said Hankins, who had just finished another frantic five minutes of dancing to Africa Bote, two West African drummers who are the center's current artists-in-residence.

A dance performance will be one of several events held Saturday at the West Las Vegas Library as part of the city's Kwanzaa celebrations. The event is free and open to the public.

"I know about how each day the family gets together and lights the candles and recites one of the principles," said Hankins, a Brinley Middle School student. "Like 'imani.' It means faith."

Kwanzaa -- an annual harvest festival of seven days celebrating what it means to be black in America -- began Thursday.

"Pride. It gives us a sense of pride," said Marcia Robinson, cultural arts coordinator for the West Las Vegas center. "It gives us a sense of togetherness, of urgency and of identity. It gives us a sense of mission. When we reflect on these things, we really see where we want to go as a community."

For students such as Hankins, the holiday is especially important, Robinson said, emphasizing the cultural safety net that other programs at the center provide -- such as the dance and visual art programs led by sisters Jani and Jewel Jeppe.

"These are our babies," Robinson said. "It's important for them at their age to know that we're here to help them to grow as leaders and as peacekeepers, at this time when people are talking not only about one war, but two wars."

In 1966, Maulena Karenga, a professor of African-American history at California State University, Los Angeles, created Kwanzaa by borrowing from a variety of traditions, building a universalist, non-religious celebration for black people. Kwanzaa is Swahili for "first fruits of harvest."

The holiday centers on seven days of reflection on seven guiding principles: unity, "umoja"; self-determination, "kujichagulia"; collective work and responsibility, "ujima"; cooperative economics, "ujamaa"; purpose, "nia"; creativity, "kuumba"; and faith, "imani".

A day of gift-giving on the seventh day emphasizes making, rather than buying, gifts. A poetic phrase, for instance, is considered a suitable gift. Each night, usually before dinner, observant families light a candle at a table set with harvest foods indigenous to Africa, a unity cup symbolizing a toast to ancestors, and history books. The first candle to be lit is black.

"It's out of that universe, that blackness -- we all come from that," said Jani Jeppe, performing arts coordinator for the West Las Vegas Library.

For Jeppe, the second candle, which to her symbolizes "perseverance, that stick-to-it-ness," may be most important.

"Because it takes vision," she said.

Her sister, Jewel Jeppe, began celebrating Kwanzaa as a high school student in Brooklyn, N.Y., after her older brother learned of it.

"It always starts with family," Jewel said. "It's what you bring to the table and that's basically it. Everyone has something to bring."

In Hankins' case, the daughter will be bringing the tradition home to her parents. "They don't celebrate it, but I'm going to get try to get them to," she said. "I'm sure they'll say, 'Yes.' "