Kwanzaa

To mark the first day of Kwanzaa, an African American holiday, a candle-lighting ceremony was held at the Department of Water and Power building in the Crenshaw district of Southwest Los Angeles. Leading the festivities was Maulana Karenga, chairman and associate professor of Black Studies at Cal State Long Beach, who created the idea of the holiday 30 years ago to promote African culture. Seven Los Angeles girls were chosen to be the Kwanzaa Queens, each of whom represented a Kwanzaa principle.

" Habarigani ," came the call from Leon Mobley, the globe-trotting djembe drummer. " Umoja ," was the reply from the collection of local percussionists who had joined him in a spontaneous session of West African drum rhythms. Mobley, who was recently on tour, returned to his old Leimert Park stomping ground Sunday to launch Kwanzaa, the seven-day African American celebration of family, community and culture. His message was unity through drums. "What does ' Umoja ' mean?"

Monday marked the start of Kwanzaa, an African American holiday that celebrates culture, family and community. For seven days, through Jan. 1, African Americans will gather in their homes and at community events to reflect on the past year and to focus on the ideals that will enable them to lead prosperous and meaningful lives in the upcoming year.

Holiday time means a whole lotta "Nutcracker" around L.A., but it's not all exactly what you'd expect. Besides the tried-and-true versions, there's a hot chocolate "Nutcracker," a swing "Nutcracker," a marionette version and more ? plus great shows from the Radio City Rockettes, the county's 51st annual holiday celebration, film screenings and more. The following list should help you get out with the kids to see some live entertainment. Debbie Allen's Hot Chocolate Nutcracker Debbie Allen's "Hot Chocolate Nutcracker" offers plenty to satisfy that sweet tooth ?

Cal Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks will get an early jump on this year's Kwanzaa observance, with daylong festivities scheduled Dec. 6. Kwanzaa, an African American cultural celebration created in 1966 by Maulana Karenga, chairman of the black studies department at Cal State Long Beach, takes its name from the Swahili phrase meaning "first fruits." The holiday is celebrated from Dec. 26 through Jan.

The U.S. Postal Service's new stamp commemorating Kwanzaa, a seven-day African American cultural celebration, was unveiled Tuesday at Cal State Fullerton. The local event marked the stamp's debut in Orange County as it is introduced nationwide. Post offices started selling the stamp a few days ago.

A candlelighting ceremony to kick off a week of Kwanzaa celebrations will take place today at noon on the second level of the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. The ceremony is being sponsored by the African International Village Assn., a community group that is working to get city officials to declare the Crenshaw area an African cultural and business district.

Enjoying dance performances, free food and book giveaways, several hundred children and adults gathered Sunday for an all-day, pre-Kwanzaa celebration at the Lake View Terrace Recreation Center. Kwanzaa, a cultural celebration whose Swahili name means "first fruits of the harvest," was established 33 years ago by Maulana Karenga, chairman of the black studies department of Cal State Long Beach, in the wake of the Watts riots.

A special tribute to the community's elders will be part of a Kwanzaa celebration tonight hosted by the San Fernando Valley Section of the National Council of Negro Women. The celebration will be held in the recreation center at Hubert H. Humphrey Memorial Park, which serves as a children's center during the week, said Valerie Moody, historian for the NCNW. "The reason we're having it in the children's center is because the children need to know about our culture," she said.

The dancer started out slowly, moving gently to the drumbeat with her 3-year-old son clinging to her side. So the audience was totally unprepared when Tamara Mobley exploded into a colorful blur of movement. With her arms whizzing, hips swinging, head bouncing, Mobley's interpretation of an ancient African social dance breathed life into a disparate group of 100 or so strangers gathered at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.

SUNDAY Overload! Katy Perry, Justin Bieber, Ke$ha, Rihanna, Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift, Christina Aguilera, Pink, Kid Rock and just about any other pop act you can think of are among the performers slated for the "2010 American Music Awards. " (ABC, 8 p.m.) In the gospel according to "Futurama," Christmas is simply "Xmas," Hanukkah has become "Robanakah," and Kwanzaa is, well, still Kwanzaa. The animated sci-fi comedy celebrates all three with a special holiday episode. (Comedy Central, 10 and 11 p.m.)

'No God? No problem!" That's one sign of the season. The American Humanist Assn. is pasting it all over Southern California buses to make the point that you don't have to be godly to be good. Atheists United, headed by Bobbie Kirkhart, had a different holiday sign for last Christmas. It read, "Reason's Greetings," and it was accompanied by one of those stylized Darwin fish, this one wearing a jaunty Santa Claus cap. It went on display, legally, in a Westside park, outnumbered by creches -- and someone stole it. Kirkhart's not surprised.

At Dawn Sutherland's contemporary ranch-style house high up in Baldwin Hills, a large teak kinara, the special candleholder for Kwanzaa, dominates the dining room table not far from a Christmas tree that fills a corner of the outdoor atrium. "For years, I have celebrated Christmas," she explains, "and I have also celebrated Kwanzaa because it's a good time to reflect on the [seven] principles. It makes a good transition to the new year." There is no conflict.

Jah-Anen Mobley and his two sons are pounding their drums, his wife a whirling blur in a rainbow garment. When the Orange County members of an African music ensemble are staging a performance, one Anaheim family is all the audience gets. To celebrate the African American holiday of Kwanzaa in Orange County, where only 2% of the population is black, organizers have to work a little harder to get the point across.

On his sixth day without food, the Rev. M. Andrew Robinson-Gaither, already a slim man, is noticeably leaner. Leaner, but not at all hungry, he said. Since Kwanzaa began the day after Christmas, he had led his South-Central Los Angeles church on a seven-day fast to focus attention on the dwindling resources of the church's food pantry for people with HIV and AIDS. In black church circles it is a touchy project, this linking of Christianity with Kwanzaa and Kwanzaa with AIDS.

The dancer started out slowly, moving gently to the drumbeat with her 3-year-old son clinging to her side. So the audience was totally unprepared when Tamara Mobley exploded into a colorful blur of movement. Arms whizzing, hips swinging, head bouncing, Mobley interpreted an ancient African social dance, breathing life into a disparate group of a hundred or so people gathered at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.

In his 62 years, Robert Guy has seen it all. There was the lynching of a black soldier that he witnessed as a boy in Waynesboro, Miss., in 1943. The fledgling civil rights movement of the 1950s, followed by the Watts riots of 1965. And then the Los Angeles riots of 1992. Saturday, the disabled truck driver was standing at Martin Luther King Jr. and Crenshaw boulevards. In his pocket he was carrying a faded, 31-year-old snapshot of him shaking the Rev. King's hand.

The first day of Kwanzaa, a weeklong African American holiday, was celebrated Tuesday at a candle-lighting ceremony at the Baldwin Hills Crenshaw Plaza. Dozens of African Americans, including local Christian and Nation of Islam leaders, crowded a conference room at the mall for the celebration sponsored by Kwanzaa Fest Inc. Organization. The ceremony featured seven young women who were nominated by the organization as the 1995 Kwanzaa Queens.

The dancer started out slowly, moving gently to the drumbeat with her 3-year-old son clinging to her side. So the audience was totally unprepared when Tamara Mobley exploded into a colorful blur of movement. With her arms whizzing, hips swinging, head bouncing, Mobley's interpretation of an ancient African social dance breathed life into a disparate group of 100 or so strangers gathered at the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana.

For some, the day after Christmas means great shopping and returning to work. But for others, it's the start of a seven-day celebration of family, community and culture for more than 28 million people worldwide. A black candle, one of seven sitting atop a kinara or candelabrum, was lighted Wednesday at a downtown Inglewood celebration, kicking off the start of Kwanzaa, an African American holiday, on its 35th year.