UMW Students Gather to Celebrate Kwanzaa

More than 100 people were treated to displays of food, song, dance and poetry during a Kwanzaa celebration at the University of Mary Washington last night. The event was organized by the Black Student Association and the James Farmer Multicultural Association. 

Much of the credit for organizing the event goes to Charles Reed, Jr., president of the SBA. He says that the celebration of Kwanzaa remains relevant in an increasingly multicultural society.

"It's important for people to know about the holiday," says Reed. "It exposes people to different types of cultures and also gives an opportunity to gain new experiences in life"

This is the last Kwanzaa event which Reed will be organizing. Reed, a senior business administration major with a concentration in accounting, will be graduating in the spring. He has served as president of the SBA for the past two years and has participated in SBA events since he was a freshman.

"It's been a great experience," says Reed. "Once you get to the end of your college career you get to appreciate the value that these programs bring to university as a whole. It's definitely bittersweet."

The program was structured like a Kwanzaa celebration. At the front of the hall was a stage with a table arranged with the symbols of Kwanzaa. Students first asked for permission from the "elders", in this case a collection of staff and faculty, to proceed with the observance. Then, libations were poured for the dead.

One by one, members of the multicultural student association came forward and named a person or a group. 

"For our motherland, Africa," said one student. 

"For all muslims of the world who suffer for the mistakes of the few," said another. 

"For all those who died crossing the border", said another. 

"For gays, lesbians and transgernder people who are victims of hate crimes," said another. 

Libations were also poured for Martin Luther King, Jr., Harriet Tuban, Macolm X W.E.B. DuBois, James Farmer, victims of the holocaust, asians living under tyrannical regimes and victims of African genocides.

Later, Reed lit an electric kinara, the candleholder at the center of the Kwanzaa celebration, as the symbolism behind the candles was explaned by UMW Christina Elder. Each candle symbolizes one of seven principles central to the observance of Kwanzaa: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.

Providing entertainment during the program were performances by Voices of Praise, a campus liturgical choir, the campus Percussion Club, and the Praise Dance Team, a campus liturgical dance ensemble. 

Near the end of the program, Abir Ibrahim, a junior psychology and biology student delivered a moving poem dedicated to her mother. 

Delivered with a fluid, rapid and impassioned pace, Ibrahim gave thanks with a hypnotically rhythmic message of gratitude for her mother.  

 A muslim, Ibrahim was born in Sudan where she spent the first seven years of her life. Her father had left the country to find work in Saudi Arabia, leaving her mother as the primary caregiver during her formative childhood years. 

 "I didn't even see my father for the the first seven years of my life until we moved to Saudi Arabia" says Ibrahim. "My mom made a lot of sacrifices to raise us." 

 Her poem, which told a tale of immigration and family and longing for home, fit well with the familial themes which underscore the observance of Kwanzaa. 

Kwanzaa was first celebrated in 1966 by political activist Maulana Karenga as a cultural holiday to foster awareness among African-Americans of their heritage. The holiday is normally observed over seven days between Dec. 26 and Jan. 1. 

Bianca Brown, an African-American sophomore biology major at UMW, says she did not know anything much about the holiday prior to last night. The celebration of cultural heritage was appealing to Brown, who says that, because of slavery, many African-Americans, including herself cannot definitively say what their specific ethnic background is. 

"I would say that I would consider celebrating Kwanzaa more seriously in the future," says Brown. "I don't even know what my origins are, I wish I knew more."

Her friend, fellow sophomore biology major Karen Hayes, underscored Brown's sentiment. 

"It ties black people together to know that you do have a history," says Hayes. "To know where you came from is important."