Anthropologist and historian Dr. Runoko Rashidi will be the keynote speaker at the 29th Annual Capital City Kwanzaa Festival on Saturday, Dec. 28.

The festival, organized by the Elegba Folklore Society, will be held 1 to 8 p.m. at Martin Luther King Jr. Middle School, 1000 Mosby St. in the East End.

This year’s theme: “Ascension,” which is meant to “mark the crossing from the 400th year of the recorded arrival of African people into the clear vision and promise of 2020,” according to festival information.

Dr. Rashidi, who is internationally recognized for his research into the global African presence before and after enslavement, will speak at 4:30 p.m.

The festival will feature a variety of events exploring and elevating Pan-African history. The African Market will open at 1 p.m. with a variety of food, clothing, art and other items for purchase.

At 2 p.m. is the pouring of the ancestral libation and Kwanzaa candle lighting ceremony, followed by musical performances, including a tap-dancing tribute to local legend Bill “Bojangles” Robinson by the Happiness Dance Studio at 2:30 p.m.

At 3:15 p.m., Elegba Folklore Society dancers, musicians, singers and masquerade will present the musical traditions of West Africa’s Manding people during a “African Dance, Music and the Oral Tradition” concert.

Workshops known as the Nia Sessions and Watoto Kwanzaa will begin at 4 p.m., with topics ranging from health maintenance to international trade, numerology and art creation. Workshop leaders include Reiki Master Richard C. Yates and members of Birth in Color RVA and RVA Beautiful.

Closing out the festival will be performances by the Tunji Reggae Band at 5:30 p.m. and the hip-hop and soul stylings of OSHUN at 6:45 p.m.

Tickets are $6 for general admission in advance and $7 at the door; students ages 12 to 18 and seniors 65 and older, $5 in advance and $6 at the door; free for children under 12.

Details: www.efsinc.org or (804) 644-3900.