Nafasi in Hill District hosts pre-Kwanzaa celebration

Kwanzaa came a little early at Nafasi on Centre in the Hill District on Saturday.

“We are giving people an opportunity to learn about Kwanzaa and implement the practices of Kwanzaa,” said Tyi-Sanna Jones, educational consultant and program coordinator of the celebration.

Kwanzaa, a Pan-African celebration, begins Dec. 26 and runs until Jan. 1, promoting community, love and unity.

Maulana Karenga created the holiday in 1966 after the Watts riots in Los Angeles in 1965. The word Kwanzaa means “first fruits” in Swahili. Swahili is thought of as a unifying language, Jones said.

The celebration presented by The Hill Community Development Corporation was held in the gallery space of Nafasi, which also has an artist-in-residency program that provides artists with a space to create and live in the community.

“Kwanzaa is a fantastic way to celebrate African-American cultural legacy and reaffirm important principles,” said Marimba Milliones, president and CEO of The Hill CDC. “For the Hill District, which historically in Pittsburgh is the home of Black culture, it is so important to have events like this to signal that those values are still important.”

The event aimed for guests to feel like they were being embraced by family with the atmosphere of a gathering in a living room, Jones said.

“We are being intentional around what it means to uplift Black culture. We want people to feel loved, get their history, acknowledge the past, and recommit to principles that the community can benefit,” Jones said.

At Nafasi, the portrait exhibition “Still Standing” by Hannah Price showing residents of the Hill District in everyday settings greeted guests when they arrived.

The celebration began with a vendor market, which included vendors Ujamma Collective, Third Day Soaps & Garden, Laverne Kemp Studios, Fear Less, Lo Yvette, Cynthia Kenderson (Iamcynt) and Ernest Bey.

Lauren Brown, whose artist name is Lo Yvette, showcased a few of her prints and framed artworks at the vendor market. Her art plays off of her experiences as a Black woman navigating Pittsburgh, “Which has not always been easy, because it is not the most opportune,” Brown said.

The market was followed by a doll-making workshop by Bell Rushin, an artist in residence.

The celebration also had a financial literacy workshop with Simone Quinerly, an accountant who spoke about the importance of saving and investing.

Medoune Yacine Gueye — whose artist name is Papa Dame — had a live drum lesson showing guests how to play the sabar drums, a traditional Senegalese instrument.

Gueye, who is from Senegal in West Africa, called out instructions for his students of the moment to follow, smiles and laughter intermingling with the beats.

“I like to do what I can to help people and fill up their spirits,” Gueye said. “We need to figure out a way to keep creating these safe and healing spaces.”

After the jam session, the Kwanzaa program began with a libation ceremony using the Unity Cup. The oldest person in the room must give permission for the celebration to begin. The libation ceremony honors that past and the ancestors.

Paris Germany, 9, attends Miller Elementary School and is a Miller Scholar at Nafasi. She presented the word Umoja (unity).

“I love Kwanzaa, I love it. I love how it embraces Black culture,” Paris Germany said.

For her, unity means togetherness. “If you see someone digging a hole, don’t just look at them, help them if you have free time,” she said.

Kierra Washington, 19, and Naomi Zenmon, 19, sophomores at Tennessee State University, were on winter break. Both are alumnae of Pittsburgh CAPA (Creative and Performing Arts Magnet school) and said that the event was uplifting.

Like a traditional Kwanzaa celebration, there was music, dancing and a karamu feast that included food from across the African diaspora and highlighted local Black-owned eateries Carribean Vybz, Shadobeni and Tanya’s Catering.

Camerin Nesbit, known as “Camo,” is a mural artist in Pittsburgh who has painted more than 250 murals around the city.

“In the unity with our Black people in terms of where we are going in 2024 and beyond, things like this should be the standard. Anything that I can do to support our people, I’ll do it,” Nesbit, an artist in residence at Nafasi, said.

Sterling Stone of Rankin is hosting a Kwanzaa celebration on Dec. 28 at the Rankin Christina Center. “This is a great way to get me prepped,” Stone said.

Stone, who spent a great deal of time in Washington, D.C., said that is where his perspective of what it meant to be Black shifted.

“Growing up here in Pittsburgh, I thought being Black meant being abused,” Stone said, “In D.C., being Black felt like a celebration. Being Black meant being in positions of power and being embraced. We as Black folks need the positive representation and celebration of what it means to be Black, Kwanzaa provides an opportunity for that.”