Umoja (Unity): Kwanzaa Opening Program

Storyteller and griot Mama Ayo will open the week-long celebration with a traditional candle-lighting ceremony, pouring of the libation paying homage to our ancestors, and sharing on the history of Kwanzaa. She will talk about the first principle of Kwanzaa, Umoja (unity), and the importance of unity in our families and communities.

Enjoy performances by the Taratibu Youth Association, which provides a transformative experience, through the performing arts, for youth of the African diaspora. Taratibu’s vision is to cultivate socially responsible change agents healing and transforming people of the Pan-African community, seven generations forward and backward.

Host or Publisher Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum