2020 provides food for thought this Kwanzaa in the Poconos Kwanzaa, the celebration that began on Saturday and ends on Jan. 1, is a Swahili word meaning “first fruit,” a reference to the annual harvest in Africa. It surfaced in the U.S. after the 1965 Watts riots in Los Angeles and sent a positive message touching on race, African-American culture, unity, family and community. This year's celebrations will be unlike any other. In homes across the Poconos, Kwanzaa will be celebrated in Zoom meetings and small gatherings. There weren't 100-plus people jammed into the Hughes Library on Saturday. Instead, people logged on to Zoom for an hour of Kwanzaa, said Ceo Jarvis, better known as “Kwanzaa Mama.”