I was in the Bahamas mid-February, and got a taste of Junkanoo
Now, as I know it, Junkanoo (Jankunu, Jonkanoo, Jonkonnu and other spelling variants) is a Caribbean street festival common enough at least to the Bahamas, Belize, the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. I've also read of some establishment of the festival in North Carolina, United States, but I don't know the nature or extent of this. But whatever the state of Junkanoo in North Carolina, Junkanoo, and with this referenced spelling, is very well established in the Bahamas as a year-end festival of sizable scope and scale, with official acknowledgement and broad based participation from the populace.
There are various explanations for the origins and meaning of the word Junkanoo. Such include that John Canoe (and other spelling variants of the name) was an actual person who lived in West Africa. And so earlier references to Junkanoo could be references to the leader of a particular Masquerade troupe, a central figure outfitted with elaborate head-dress such as horse-head or tall hat with an ugly mask, dancing and moving to goombay (goat skin) drumming and to the music of such other instruments as whistles and bells, and charging at and frightening onlookers, and receiving money.
By the way, Randy told me during our very pleasant conversation on Bay Street in the Bahamas, in mid-February, off season for Junkanoo in the Bahamas, that he has been a Junkanoo drummer and band leader for over 20 years. And tradition does appear to say that it's fine to leave money . . . especially when there's Junkanoo drumming, and dancing.
True to the African roots of carnivals and crop overs in the Caribbean region, Junkanoo has masks and costumes and music. But unlike carnivals and crop overs associated with Lent and harvestime in places and in time now removed from the masked rituals of the Continent, Junkanoo, again, is especially these days in the Bahamas associated with the year-end holiday season, and numerous parades and other festivities are quite common.
Now, I have to confess that I don't have much in the way of everyday experience with Junkanoo, but I did have everyday experience with masquerade as a child; and I still remember hearing the unmistakable drums and whistles from far off, and talking excitedly with my brothers about the fact that masquerade was coming, as I remember that we would say it; and I still see in my mind's eye such masquerade staples then as long lady dancing high up to the music and beat of the drums. And, so, when I wandered over to Randy on Bay Street in the Bahamas after I focused on the unmistakable sounds of Junkanoo, or masquerade, drumming, I was quite pleased and spent some time with him, talking, listening to the drums, and dancing.
As I know it, Junkanoo on Bay Street in the Bahamas is fun, and can be so even when it's off season for Junkanoo in the Bahamas; and if you're lucky you might run into Randy even on the off season. Say hi for me, and make sure you leave a tip.
Do you know about Junkanoo? How do you know it?
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