By Iyanifa Ta’Shia Asanti

The man who created the Kwanzaa holiday will help Denver mark its 40th anniversary. Dr. Maulana Karenga comes to town Dec. 7 to give a presentation on this year’s holiday theme: “Every Generation Needs Regeneration.”
“Having Dr. Karenga come to Denver this year is an affirmation of our hard work and endurance,” said Opalanga Pugh, Denver Kwanzaa Project weaver. “We are extremely fortunate to have him usher in our 2006 Kwanzaa activities.” 
Pugh said the Kwanzaa Committee of Denver is an ad hoc organization of individuals, organizations, educators and artists who are elders, youth, members of recovery communities, faith-based programs and other communities who implement Kwanzaa to reaffirm and restore African heritage and culture. 
“This is the one event throughout the year that calls all organizations to come together,” said Pugh, a Kwanzaa project weaver for seven years. Others involved with the effort include cultural activists Jeff Fard, Iya Tashia Asanti, Leticia Williams, Ashara Ekundayo, Isetta Crawford Rawls, John Marsh, Thedora Jackson, Claudette Sweet and Wallace Tollette.
Pugh defined this year’s Kwanzaa theme in two stages: generation, the act or process of bringing into being; and re-generation, to be spiritually reborn, renewed or restored after a decline. 
“Forty years and two generations – what an opportunity to stop and take stock of where we have been and consciously create a new path to the future,” she said.
While the observance of Kwanzaa grows each year to include millions across America and in other countries, Pugh says building the holiday has not come without struggle.
Karenga launched Kwanzaa in California in 1966. However, Pugh’s early experience with it in Denver came when she met Oduno X and Amani Kuumba at the home of attorney Dan and (then Denver TV anchorwoman) Reynelda Muse in 1972. The early celebrations were held mostly in private homes and later in community venues like the High Street Parish (now Epworth Methodist Church), Community House and Ford Warren Library, she said. 
“There were the Watu Kuumba Collective Family, Sisters of the Sun, The Zion Lions, Joint Effort Youth Foundation, and the early Denver Kwanzaa Committee,” she said.
Pugh remembered the early days of resistance to the holiday – resistance based in what she called a lack of cultural understanding, colonialism and a fear induced by “the teachings of slave owners.” 
“As we stood in the glory of our new-found pride of our African past, it was often in the face of criticism from those threatened by their perceptions of Kwanzaa as being a pagan, anti-Christian alternative to the Black Christmas,” she said.
This year’s activities celebrate every aspect of life using the values of Kwanzaa as a foundation. Each day engages participants in a process meant to unite, heal and empower families, communities and individuals. 
Each day of Kwanzaa represents a specific principle and value. Observers are encouraged to plan daily activities which include the entire family, that center around that day’s principle. Using a non-religious altar as the center of activities and specific items as physical representatives of the principles of Kwanzaa in correlation with the appropriate day’s observances, families and communities can enjoy the benefits. Most importantly, families and communities incorporate the principles of Kwanzaa into their lives and live them all year long.
“I have celebrated and shared Kwanzaa with thousands of people during my lifetime,” Pugh said. “My most heartfelt and memorable experience was witnessing my Mother and Father light the candles of Umoja for the first time at our 1998 celebration at Cat Island on the Points! It came as a result of years of personal growth, increasing communication, forgiveness and appreciation of the importance of family and friends.”

Editor’s note: For more information about Kwanzaa, visit the web site of the creator and founder of Kwanzaa at http://www.officialkwanzaawebsite.org/. The Kwanzaa Committee of Denver, in collaboration with Metro State College, Community College of Denver and The University of Colorado-Denver, will host Kwanzaa founder and creator, Dr. Maulana Karenga, who will be the keynote speaker for the African American Graduation Ceremony for Auraria Campus, December 7, 2006 at the Tivoli at 1:00pm.  For more information, write to jaliopalanga@comcast.net.

More About Kwanzaa

Rebirthing A Nation: A Conversation With Kwanzaa Creator Maulana Karenga

The Ethical Teachings

Kwanzaa Principles

Kwanzaa Symbols