LAKE CARMEL- Kwanzaa reminds people to become lifelong learners through a tradition of gifting books while encouraging others to continue to learn through the daily principles such as determination, collective work and responsibility.
On Saturday, more than 150 residents gathered at Arts on the Lake in Lake Carmel for Putnam’s first Kwanzaa celebration
Initially celebrated in 1966 some one to two million Americans celebrated the holiday annually.
Putnam’s festival was organized by Linda Paris who described the celebration as “not a Black holiday but a community holiday. In Putnam, the celebration is extremely important due to the county’s low minority presence. It’s essential for us to be seen as members of one’s community and not just as people who moved in and are interlopers. We are integral parts of our community, and we relocated to Putnam in order not to become isolated.”
Paris called on Putnam lawmakers to endorse such cultural events as Kwanzaa, International Women’s Day, Black History Month and Dr. Martin Luther King Day as a “way of coming together as a community.”
Paris said the seven principles of Kwanzaa “demand us to look within and without in order to make our community a better place.”
Those principles include Unity; Self-determination; Collective Work and Responsibility; Cooperative Economics; Purpose; Creativity and Faith.
Paris said Kwanzaa also reminds mankind to “nurture our gifts and talents so that they can be beneficial for our own good and for the good of the community.
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