Celebration: Kwanzaa

Celebrate the fifth day of Kwanzaa (Nia, meaning purpose) with “Roots of Faith,” an offering of sacred song and movement showing the living links between African and African American spiritual traditions featuring Awon Ohun Omnira (Voices of Freedom), of Oakland’s Omnira Institute. 

Following the performance, learn about Kwanzaa and join community for a Kwanzaa meal in the Latinx Room.  

Led by Awon Ohun Omnira (AOO) musical/artistic director Tobaji Stewart, the 9-member crew will sing a portion of “Oro Egun,” ancient chants for the ancestors drawn from the Yoruba tradition of Africa/Cuba that is accompanied by sacred Bata drums.  Oro Egun will be followed by a demonstration of the Ring Shout, an African American cultural expression that was common throughout the South until the 1950s. AOO’s presentation of the Ring Shout is modeled after the McIntosh County Shouters, who currently reside near Savannah, Ga., and who have upheld the cultural/spiritual practice continually since the 1800s. 

This program is in partnership with The Village Project's  Annual Kwanzaa Celebration, with seven days of community events striving to unite and strengthen the family, community and nation, by highlighting each of the seven principles of Kwanzaa (the Nguzo Saba).

Omnira Institute, formerly known as NouvO’risha Institute, began in 2003 as a school for sacred knowledge for children of practitioners of spiritual traditions derived from West Africa by way of Cuba, Puerto Rico and Haiti.  The organization’s choir, Awon Ohun Omnira (Voices of Freedom) participates in annual Juneteenth and Black History Month celebrations.