Overview
- Detroit will launch its fourth annual Motor City Kwanzaa Kinara program Friday at Cadillac Square, with drummers and dancers at 4 p.m. and the Unity candle lit at sunset.
- The Detroit installation, linked to City Councilman Scott Benson’s initiative, is reported to be the world’s tallest kinara at more than 30 feet.
- Kwanzaa runs Dec. 26–Jan. 1 as a non-religious celebration open to all, created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga to reaffirm cultural connection and community values.
- The seven principles—Umoja, Kujichagulia, Ujima, Ujamaa, Nia, Kuumba, Imani—are marked by lighting a kinara with one black, three red and three green candles whose colors carry symbolic meanings.
- Community traditions continue nationwide, including Wilmington’s decades-long city observance now led by Culture Restoration Project Inc., and cultural programming from artists such as Denver’s Dwayne Glapion.