Festival to Celebrate Hindu New Year

Thousands of people of Indian heritage will celebrate the Hindu New Year today in Cerritos Regional Park.

The Hindu festival, which drew an estimated 17,000 people last year for a daylong celebration at the park, is a combined observance of the recent 10-day Hindu holiday of Dashera, Thursday’s “festival of lights,” called Divali, and today’s start of the new year for Hinduism.

The event will feature the torching of a 60-foot-high effigy of King Ravana, a 10-headed evil figure defeated by Lord Rama in the Hindu epic of Ramayana. The story is integral to daily Dashera observances in India.

“Each of Ravana’s heads denotes an evil like greed, drugs, corruption, rape and war, and their destruction means that virtue can be the eventual winner,” said Prithvi Raj Singh, president of the Federation of Hindu Assns., based in Diamond Bar. The celebrations run from noon to 10 p.m.

Dignitaries attending will include Pranav Pandya, a spiritual and nationalist leader from India named by the federation as Hindu of the Year, and former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, whose Hindu nationalist government lasted only 13 days in 1996.

The holiday of Divali is a time for buying new apparel, utensils and other housewares. “Houses are cleaned and freshly painted,” Singh said. “Businessmen close their old account books and begin with new ones.”

Many Hindu temples in Southern California will observe the new year as well, including the Shri Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Hindu Temple, 12401 Pellissier Road, Whittier. Their program begins at 11 a.m. with a lavish offering of vegetarian food starting at noon. (310) 692-2730.

FILM FESTIVAL

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The fourth annual City of Angels Film Festival, which has joint evangelical and Catholic sponsorship, will begin Friday evening with two showings of Charles Chaplin’s “City Lights.” The 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. showings of the 1931 classic and six other films showing over next weekend will be at the Directors Guild of America, 7920 Sunset Blvd., Hollywood. Panel discussions follow the showing of films such as “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape,” “Taxi Driver” and “Zoot Suit.” Actor-director Edward James Olmos and “Zoot Suit” writer-director Luis Valdez will discuss that film after its showing at 2 p.m. Nov. 9. Ticket prices vary. (818) 304-3775.

MUSIC

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During a Mass for All Souls’ Day, St. Cyril’s Choir and orchestra will present Faure’s “Requiem” at noon Sunday at St. Cyril of Jerusalem Catholic Church, 15520 Ventura Blvd., Encino. (818) 986-8234.

* Shirley LaCour, a soloist who studied with Mahalia Jackson and Clara Ward, will perform today in a 4 p.m. concert at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 7900 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, with the “Holy Hookup Choir” from Emmanuel AME Church. $10. (213) 232-6300.

* A four-part-harmony Welsh hymn-singing festival will begin at 1:30 p.m. Sunday at the Welsh Presbyterian Church of Los Angeles, 1153 Valencia St. Bass baritone Trebor Evans of Wales will be the guest soloist. (310) 398-3924.

* Marking the 100th anniversary of the birth of composer George Gershwin, pianist Dorothy Lewis-Griffith will appear in concert at 4 p.m. Sunday at Adat Ari El, 12020 Burbank Blvd., North Hollywood. She will perform solo arrangements of “Rhapsody in Blue” and “Concerto in F,” among other works at the synagogue’s chapel. $10 at the door. (818) 766-9426.

DATES

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The Westwood-based Academy for Judaic, Christian and Islamic Studies, observing its 20th anniversary, has organized a discussion at 4 p.m. Monday at UCLA featuring German scholar Karl-Josef Kuschel. A professor at the University of Tubingen, Kuschel is author of “Abraham: Sign of Hope for Jews, Christians and Muslims.” He will discuss those themes with Elliot Dorff, rector at the University of Judaism, and Muzammil Siddiqi, president of the Islamic Society of North America, at Bunche Hall, Room 6275. He also will speak Monday evening at the academy’s $125-a-plate fund-raising dinner at the UCLA Faculty Center. (310) 208-0863.

* A Japanese scholar on Monday will discuss the anti-cult movement in Japan in the aftermath of the sarin gas attacks in Tokyo attributed to the Japanese religious group Aum Shiri-kyo. Professor Manubu Watanabe of the Nanzan Institute for Religion and Culture in Nagoya will give the talk at 12:15 p.m. at Loyola Marymount University’s Sullivan Hall. (310) 338-2857.

* Cardinal Roger M. Mahony will celebrate Mass at 11 a.m. Sunday in Monterey Park at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church, 320 W. Garvey Ave., to culminate the parish’s 75th anniversary observances. (626) 573-0427.

* Eight Tibetan Buddhist monks from India will be performing ritual ceremonies today and Nov. 8 at two Southland temples. They will lead a health blessing ceremony at 2 p.m. today at Vien Thong Temple, 1037 South St., Long Beach, and a spiritual cleansing ritual 2 p.m. Nov. 8 at Hoa Nghiem Temple, 4524 W. 1st St., Santa Ana. Free. (562) 621-9865.

* Three Religious Science clergy will speak next Saturday about affluence at Founder’s Church of Religious Science in Los Angeles, 3281 W. 6th St. The Revs. Mary M. Morrisey of Portland, Ore., Barbara King of Atlanta and Tom Costa of Palm Springs will join the host pastor, the Rev. Arthur Chang, starting at 10 a.m. $35. (213) 388-9733.

* The Rev. Fermin Whittaker, executive director of the Fresno-based California Southern Baptist Convention and a specialist in Latino ministries, will speak Sunday at the 11 a.m. service at First Southern Baptist Church of Temple City, 4856 N. Golden West Ave. (626) 286-9320.

FINALLY

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The newest Christian nightclub in the Southland, with dancing to live bands and DJ music, will open Friday night at midnight in a Norco bowling alley.

A number of Christian clubs, some of which have operated only briefly, have opened for youngsters from conservative churches that have dropped long-standing cultural and religious objections to dancing--as long as such activities are held in a Christian setting.

For the last 11 months, the Brunswick Classic Lanes in the Riverside County community has run a Friday night bowling event for local evangelical and charismatic churches with a DJ playing contemporary Christian music, including ska, hip-hop and reggae.

But now, from midnight to 2 a.m. each Friday, the building will be host to “Club Praise,” with live band performance as well as DJ music for dancing on a large carpeted area.

“Our focus will always be to provide young Christians a place to go that centers around Jesus Christ,” said Marty Resnick, assistant manager at the bowling alley.

PEOPLE

Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and poet-author Maya Angelou will appear as pulpit guests Sunday morning at Garden Grove’s Crystal Cathedral with Senior Pastor Robert H. Schuller.

Angelou will talk about her latest book, “Even the Stars Look Lonesome.”

The Republican senator will be plugging something too, but not political issues. Hatch, a Mormon and a composer of religious music, has a new album of his songs. The Crystal Cathedral Choir will perform the album’s title song, “My God Is Love.”

The audience for the 9:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. services are not only those in the pews and in the drive-in portion of the church complex at 13280 Chapman Avenue. The two services provide the content for the syndicated television program “Hour of Power.”