The Bradley Academy Museum and Cultural Center is bridging the gap between Christmas and the New Year winter celebrations with its first Kwanzaa-themed Bingo event.
The free admission event in Murfreesboro last week helped to celebrate the African holiday, which begins the day after Christmas and ends one week later on New Year’s Day.
Similar to the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, Kwanzaa festivities involve the use of candles to represent cultural values. Seven red, black and green Kwanzaa candles are placed inside a candelabra known as a kinara.
The seven values of the annual celebration are: unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, cooperative economics, purpose, creativity and faith.
The museum was unable to get a kinara of its own in time for the end of the year, but Mallory Crook, the assistant program coordinator at the museum, said she is optimistic that it will make an appearance next winter.
Crook said this is a time to focus on the “African American experience” as the holiday was introduced by Maulana Karenga, an African American professor at California State University during the time of the Civil Rights Movement.
“It was just focused on connecting people back to their roots in Africa, so it has a lot of African symbolism,” said Crook of the cultural celebration that has remained intact for 55 years.
While Kwanzaa shares the gift-giving aspect of both Hanukkah and Christmas, she said there is a greater emphasis on exchanging handmade presents.
For those who are less-inclined to get crafty, she recommends supporting Black-owned businesses when shopping.
Crook said she has a few people in her social circle who actively celebrate and are looking forward to seeing the holiday be recognized within the city.
“I know they’re excited to shed some light on a holiday that some people may not know about or may not be as popularized,” she said
The Bradley Museum had planned to host a Kwanzaa event last year, but the pandemic cancelled it. Crook said the idea to try for a Kwanzaa-themed event again came from conversations with Bradley Museum Director Vonchelle Stembridge.
Bingo became the educational activity of choice to be inclusive to all ages.
“We’re really trying to cater to our elderly community, our senior community, so they can come out and enjoy, get those Kwanzaa-themed prizes and just really immerse themselves within the community,” said Crook, who served as Bingo caller for the event.
She read the Bingo card words out to a small group of players, who walked away with prizes, including themed T-shirts, cookbooks and stationery items.
The players had the opportunity not only to take in some knowledge, but also tuck into a serving of red beans and rice and cornbread.
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