Sunday, January 3, 2010

John Canoe

This old year ended  and the new year started with a bang in the Bahamas.Junkanoo perhaps one of the most unique  festival in the western hemisphere is celebrated and cherished.Junkanoo a street festival held in the streets of Nassau as well as other island in the Bahamas on Boxing Day ( holiday after Christmas ) and New Years morning.

Junkanoo is  a festival I have seen mentioned in a slave narrative and  goes back during the time of slavery.I am no historian but it seems it is a mixture of  African tradition and New World slavery celebrations.Today it has evolved into a colorful display of crepe paper and artistry and the sweet sounds of drums cowbells and horns.

Junkanoo to me is the only original Bahamian cultural activity left.A festival created by us,performed by us and watched by the world.The sound of the cowbell is like none other.While all music festival can have drums,horns and elaborate costumes none that I know of has the kalik,kalik sound of the cowbells.

As rituals go either it be religous or secular, Junkanoo seems to posses the participants and causes the spectator to be caught up in the spirit of it all.When you sit in the bleacher or stand on the sideline you cannot help but feel the pulse and rhythm of the music as ,the moving heartbeat ( as I have once heard it described) goes pass you.

Junkanoo will probably last for a very long time because the children fresh from their mothers bosom can be seen  participating on the parade.It is the one thing in the Bahamas that has been consistently been passed down from generation to generation.Once outlawed by colonial establishment it is now an integral part of the fabric of Bahamian society.Bay Street the symbol of the elite financial machinery in the Bahamas, for two days of the year is filled with people from all walks of life.Bay Street and its sister Shirley St. become filled with sweet body moving sounds and  colours from the entire spectrum of the rainbow.

Junkanoo the Day the People take over Bay Street!

Anup Shah, US and Foreign Aid Assistance, GlobalIssues.org, Last updated: Sunday, April 27, 2008