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Yet Kwanzaa has its critics. Carlotta Murrow is a San Diego computer technician who runs a website, www.christocentric.com/Kwanzaa, which questions how Christians could observe Kwanzaa.

"One of the primary reasons people celebrate Kwanzaa is because the belief is somehow our self-worth is inherent or wrapped up in our culture," said Murrow, an evangelical Christian, in an interview.

"Our self-worth only comes from knowing Christ as Lord and Savior, so we can't really do both."

The observance didn't sit well with the late Rev. Jerry Falwell, either; last December he called it "wholly anti-American." The Rev. Eric C. Redmond, pastor of Hillcrest Baptist Church in Temple Hills, Md., also has been an outspoken opponent of Kwanzaa.

"The unity and the faith and the collective work in Kwanzaa is all centered around our culture, our ancestry, our community," said Redmond, who also is the second vice president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "But unity, faith, even our work ethic as believers, is centered around the message of the gospel."

Just as individual churches take different stances on Kwanzaa, so do various denominations.

"As a Christian denomination, we don't condemn it," said the Rev. Loran E. Mann, spokesman for Presiding Bishop Charles E. Blake of the Church of God in Christ. "However, we don't endorse it either."

The Rev. Daryl Ingram, executive director of Christian education for the African Methodist Episcopal Church, said his denomination doesn't have any official guidelines on the holiday.

"Congregations on the East Coast and on the West Cost would probably celebrate Kwanzaa more over against congregations in the South," he said. "Congregations in the South and Midwest tend to be more conservative and more traditional."

The United Methodist Church's General Board of Discipleship has published a "frequently asked questions" segment on the topic, which notes, "Because the focus of the celebration is on affirming African culture, values, and history, there is no conflict with Christian churches observing the holiday, as many currently do."

The Rev. Kelvin Sauls, a staffer for the Methodist agency, estimates that about 40 percent of predominantly black United Methodist churches mark the holiday.

"My response to people who think that it should not be celebrated is … that you certainly have a right not to celebrate," said Sauls, who has written a prayer for Kwanzaa for his agency's Africana Worship Book. "I don't think we ought to dictate … whether people should or should not celebrate it."

Just like Protestants, some predominantly black Catholic churches observe the holiday and some don't, said the Rev. J-Glenn Murray, a Jesuit priest at St. Aloysius Church in Washington, who is writing about ways to incorporate Catholicism into Kwanzaa's rituals for a forthcoming revision of a black Catholic hymnal.

"There are no guidelines," he said. "People sort of do what they want."

Copyright © 2007 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

The Dartmouth Review posted an article on the history of Kwanzaa.

Tike.com has instructions for celebrating the holiday.

More articles on Advent and Christmas are available in our special section.

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December (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51