Children and adults kicked off the first of a seven day celebration called Kwanzaa with a traditional candle lighting ceremony at the Garden State Discovery Museum today.
This African American holiday, created in 1966, features seven life guiding principles.
"Kwanzaa is about the community and it's restoring the community and remembering your ancestors," Queen Nor said.
Drums and the history behind them that dates back to slavery are also a big part of Kwanzaa.
"They took our power away so we couldn't talk, so we had to use the drums to talk and move our way," Tyron Price, 12, said.
Queen Nor keeps the art of storytelling alive and so does the audience.
For those who celebrate Kwanzaa, that means celebrating the harvest of the year and that means a lot of different things to a lot of different people.
"That means coming together with your family and having a good time celebrating," Elijah Vinson, 10, said.
"It means a lot of joy and faith," Adrianna Alston, 8, said.
"For this year it means harvesting Barack Obama as president, we saw the community come together in force and I think that every single principle of Kwanzaa was enveloped during that election,"
In short, it all means pull together.
More coverage for the holidays from 6abc.com
- SLIDES: Action News Holiday Memories
- INTERACTIVE: Recipes for the 12 days of cookies!
- INTERACTIVE: Guide to green gifts
- SLIDES: Relive the 6abc/Ikea Thanksgiving Day Parade
- VIDEO: Performances from the 6abc/Ikea Thanksgiving Day Parade
- GOOD NEWS CHANNEL: Stories that make you feel warm and fuzzy... in that Action News kind of way
- VIDEOS: 2008 Troop Greetings
