Overview
- Detroit hosts the fourth annual lighting of the more-than-30-foot Motor City Kwanzaa Kinara at Cadillac Square, with a 4 p.m. program of drummers and dancers and the Unity candle lit at sunset.
- Philadelphia opens with a kinara lighting at City Hall, followed by free, family-friendly programs at the African American Museum in Philadelphia including a culinary event by Chef Kurt Evans on Saturday, an open mic on Sunday, and a Kwanzaa bazaar on Monday.
- Cleveland’s Djapo Cultural Arts Institute partners with the Cleveland Public Library for a noon–2 p.m. kickoff at the Martin Luther King Jr. Branch featuring drumming, dance, children’s activities, teen “I Am” cards, elder programming, and a vendor marketplace.
- Flint convenes daily gatherings Dec. 26–Jan. 1 at the Flint Odyssey House Adolescent Center from 3–5 p.m., with in-person and streamed discussions led by local leaders and the final day’s Imani observance guided by NAACP ACT-SO’s Ella Greene-Moton.
- Kwanzaa runs Dec. 26–Jan. 1 as a cultural holiday founded in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, centered on the seven Nguzo Saba principles and marked by lighting candles on a kinara and communal gatherings.