New York City kicks off Kwanzaa celebrations
NEW YORK -- The Kwanzaa holiday kicked off Tuesday, starting a seven-day celebration of African-American culture and community.
Many people from the African diaspora do not know where their ancestors came from, but Kwanzaa gives them an opportunity to learn about their history, honor those roots and connect with the community. At the African Burial Grounds National Monument downtown, visitors reflected on the pain of the past while looking forward to the future.
The first day of Kwanzaa, Umoja, brings the community together in unity.
"Kwanzaa is not a replacement of any other holiday," said Danielle Fairbairn-Bland, co-founder of Brooklyn's Children's Kwanzaa Village. "Kwanzaa is really a personal experience so everyone should just think about it like what can I do to embrace the seven principles every day?"
READ MORE: "Umoja" -- or unity -- the word of the day as celebration of Kwanzaa begins in Hempstead
The Children's Kwanzaa Village is sold out for Thursday, the first time the celebration will be held in person since the start of the pandemic. Fairbairn-Bland and her co-founder Keanna Hinds encourage everyone to explore the holiday's principles, each day lighting a new candle on the kinara in observance.
At the Children's Museum of Manhattan, kids were busy building their own Kuumba drums to express their creativity.
"That's one of the nice things about coming here," said Dan Gerstein, who brought his three-year-old daughter Ella Mae. "They always do something special, and it's a little bit like a surprise."
This week, Hinds has a plan to teach her daughter the importance of Ujaama, or cooperative economics.
"It's basically money management, one of the principles of Kwanzaa," Hinds said. "We will be taking her allowance and the money she received from Christmas time and we're going to the bank. We're going to open up a savings account and she's going to deposit it."
Hinds' daughter, nine-year-old Kendall Price, said the first day is her favorite, representing unity.
"I think about the community and think about how I and everyone else can make the world a better place to live in," Price said.
The final day of Kwanzaa will be Jan. 1 with the theme of Imani, or faith.
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