African American culture celebrated at Kwanzaa gathering in Phoenix

Phoenix’s historic Eastlake Park community was host to a Kwanzaa gathering on Saturday, offering Black Arizonans an alternative to more mainstream winter holidays.

The celebration was held outside the Afri-Soul Marketplace at 12th and Washington streets. About 10 Black-owned businesses, including artists, bakeries and food trucks, anchored the event.

Patience Titcombe, better known as Chef Patty and proprietor of Nigerian food truck Lasgidi Cafe, was one of the event organizers.

“Kwanzaa is rooted in African tradition, and to be able to bring a taste of home through my food … it just makes my heart warm,” said Titcombe, a Nigerian immigrant.

Kwanzaa offers Black people in the U.S. the chance to directly celebrate their African heritage, she said.

Kwanzaa was created in 1966, a year after the Watts riots in Los Angeles, by Maulana Ron Karenga, a Black Power movement activist, to “reaffirm and restore African heritage and culture,” according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

“Kwanzaa is the one holiday that really represents our culture,” Titcombe said. “We celebrate Christmas … but there’s really nothing cut out for Black and African American people.”

A celebration rooted in the amplification of Black culture

Dozens of people sat enjoying music throughout the celebration, including the band Kapsol, a local duo that provided drumming complemented by a saxophone.

Near the start of the celebration, Zoe Sarabo talked to people in attendance about the meaning of Kwanzaa, referencing a table set with symbolic items associated with the holiday.

An array of seven candles honored each day of Kwanzaa. Sarabo lit them through the candle representing Ujima, the concept of collective responsibility recognized on the third day of Kwanzaa, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Other items on the table included Muhindi — corn, symbolic of children and the future — and Mkeka, a woven mat upon which the candles and other items are placed.

Titcombe said the event was the first of its kind in the Phoenix area.

“Prior to this, I think smaller organizations that identify as Black, as African American, set up similar events, but there’s nothing set up for the community that’s free for them to just come out and celebrate our culture, our values and celebrate the holiday of Kwanzaa,” Titcombe said.

“For me personally, it’s showcasing that Black people are great. We have food, we have culture, we have art. We have everything. This is us,” she said.

Incense maker enjoys community, music of Kwanzaa gathering

When Knoye Jackson, who goes by Unity Unique, wasn’t selling her handmade incense at the celebration, she danced along with the numerous musical acts.

Born and raised in Arizona, her chosen first name echoed the symbolic meaning dedicated to the first day of Kwanzaa — Umoja, or Unity.

“I learned about Kwanzaa last year,” she said. “We’re so much closer to what our ancestors strived for,” she said of the gathering.

She said her incense was born out of a crafty nature she had always harbored. First, she made instruments out of recycled materials. Then, she decided to expand her enjoyment of incense making into a small business venture.

“I’ve learned I’m a businessperson, and I can do anything I set my eyes and mind to,” she said.

She started the business as a way to cope after the death of her son, Dewight Westbrook, in 2012.

Event offers platform for baker to sell products

Mercy Adeshina started Baked Beems in October after she received requests from friends for her baked goods, including her plantain bread.

Adeshina said she wanted to see Kwanzaa become as popular as Christmas.

“In the last few years, I’ve become more interested in Kwanzaa. At the end of the year, it’s nice to have everyone together and celebrate the same holiday,” Adeshina said.

Artist combines Black hairstyles with desert landscape

Kelvonnah Stidhum, an elementary art teacher born and raised in Phoenix, displayed her digital art printouts in the afternoon sun, which she described as combining the Sonoran Desert landscape and African American hairstyles.

“I use barrel cacti as like Afro puffs, Bantu knots or even locs and different things like that,” she said, the pale green shades of Arizona cactuses blending with the many faces in her drawings.

“A Kwanzaa celebration is always nice. It’s nice to be around people that have a similar upbringing and background, and it causes my artwork to resonate with other people who look similar to me,” Stidhum added.

More about it: When is Kwanzaa 2024? Here’s what Arizonans should know about the winter celebration

Reach the reporter at reynaldo.covarrubias@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: African American culture celebrated at Kwanzaa gathering in Phoenix

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