NEW HAVEN, Conn. (WTNH) — Kwanzaa, the week-long Pan-African holiday which celebrates family, community, and Culture has begun.
A celebration took place earlier today at New Haven’s City Hall hosted by the Board of Alders Black & Hispanic Caucus.
New Haven Mayor Toni Harp made a welcome address during the ceremony.
The holiday that was created in 1966 joins communitarian values and practices of continental African and African-American Culture.
Each day is dedicated to the ‘Seven Principles’: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity, and faith.
A candle is lit every night on a Kinara – a seven-branched candelabra.
On December 31st, there is a feast before the holiday wraps up on January 1, 2020.