{"id":32598,"date":"2022-12-24T13:11:45","date_gmt":"2022-12-24T21:11:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/hi-lo\/?p=30000029189"},"modified":"2022-12-24T13:11:45","modified_gmt":"2022-12-24T21:11:45","slug":"habari-gani-celebrate-kwanzaa-at-the-african-american-cultural-center-of-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/hi-lo\/habari-gani-celebrate-kwanzaa-at-the-african-american-cultural-center-of-long-beach","title":{"rendered":"Habari Gani: Celebrate Kwanzaa at the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Swahili, \u201chabari gani\u201d means \u201cwhat\u2019s the news?\u201d The greeting will be heard a lot next week when the African American Cultural Center of Long Beach<\/a> hosts a two-day Kwanzaa celebration.<\/p>\n

Held at the Expo Arts Center at 4321 Atlantic Ave. in Bixby Knolls, the event will run from 5-9 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday. Each night will feature a children\u2019s activity corner, tours of the \u201cBlack Dolls\u201d exhibit, a candle lighting ceremony, Baba the Storyteller<\/a>, an African marketplace with vendors, live artists, jazz performances and West African drum and dance.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s event also will include a Karamu feast, which traditionally is held on Dec. 31\u2014the sixth day of Kwanzaa.<\/p>\n

\u201c[The center] strives to create, build and maintain unity within our community while creating a purposeful path for our children, our families, and our community to thrive,\u201d Board of Directors Chair and Program Manager Jaqueline Quarles said in an email Friday.<\/p>\n

The organization is asking for a $10 donation from all in attendance.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s celebration will highlight the second and third Kwanzaa principles, according to the announcement. Tuesday\u2019s focus will be \u201cKujichagulia,\u201d or self-determination, while Wednesday will highlight \u201cUjima,\u201d or collective work and responsibility.<\/p>\n

Kwanzaa was created in 1966 by Maulana Ndabezitha Karenga<\/a>, who modeled the holiday after the African \u201cfirst fruit\u201d traditions. Karenga is currently the chair of the Africana Studies Department and Cal State Long Beach.<\/p>\n

The rituals of the holiday promote the \u201cseven principles of African heritage,\u201d including Umoja (unity), Ujaama (cooperative economics), Nia (purpose), Kuumba (creativity) and Imani (faith).<\/p>\n

\u201c[The center] strives to practice these principles on a daily basis,\u201d Quarles said.<\/p>\n

There are COVID protocols in place and the organization is recommending those in attendance wear masks.<\/p>\n

For more information, contact Max Viltz at 562-787-0899 or maxieviltz@aol.com<\/a>. To RSVP, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The two-night event will feature a candle lighting ceremony, Baba the Storyteller, an African marketplace, live artists, jazz performances and West African drum and dance, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":72220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","inline_featured_image":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":"","_EventAllDay":false,"_EventTimezone":"","_EventStartDate":"","_EventEndDate":"","_EventStartDateUTC":"","_EventEndDateUTC":"","_EventShowMap":false,"_EventShowMapLink":false,"_EventURL":"","_EventCost":"","_EventCostDescription":"","_EventCurrencySymbol":"","_EventCurrencyCode":"","_EventCurrencyPosition":"","_EventDateTimeSeparator":"","_EventTimeRangeSeparator":"","_EventOrganizerID":[],"_EventVenueID":[],"_OrganizerEmail":"","_OrganizerPhone":"","_OrganizerWebsite":"","_VenueAddress":"","_VenueCity":"","_VenueCountry":"","_VenueProvince":"","_VenueState":"","_VenueZip":"","_VenuePhone":"","_VenueURL":"","_VenueStateProvince":"","_VenueLat":"","_VenueLng":"","_VenueShowMap":false,"_VenueShowMapLink":false,"_":"","_author_alias":"","cap-aim":"","cap-description":"","cap-display_name":"","cap-first_name":"","cap-jabber":"","cap-last_name":"","cap-linked_account":"","cap-newspack_employer":"","cap-newspack_job_title":"","cap-newspack_phone_number":"","cap-newspack_role":"","cap-user_email":"","cap-user_login":"","cap-website":"","cap-yahooim":"","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_email_html":"","newspack_email_type":"","newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_hide_page_title":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_show_share_buttons":"","newspack_sponsor_byline_prefix":"","newspack_sponsor_disclaimer_override":"","newspack_sponsor_flag_override":"","newspack_sponsor_only_direct":"","newspack_sponsor_url":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_show_updated_date":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[201],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"coauthors":[25820],"class_list":["post-32598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hi-lo","tag-kwanzaa","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32598"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=32598"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lbpost.com\/esd\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=32598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}