Friday, January 16, 2009

Junkanoo


I can't believe what I saw last night. It had to be the coolest thing ever. Every Thursday night, at Treasure Cay, Bahamas the locals host a pizza night. But this time during the pizza night, they hosted a Junkanoo. A Junkanoo is a group that travels and preforms in local places. They were raising money to travel to Nassau for the annual festival. It was the most amazing sound I've ever heard. But you know what? They didn't use expensive instruments like drums. And personally, I believe it sounded better! The first people came out with something like cowbells and it sounded amazing. The next people came with really big drums but they weren't drums! It was big barrels! Last night had to be the greatest experience of my life. Here is some history about the Junkanoo!

History: There has been a lot of different explanations on the origin of Junkanoo. The most accepted is that the word “Junkanoo” comes from the name John Canoe, who was a 17th century African prince and slave trader from the Gold Coast. They say that he outwitted the English and took control of Fort Brandenbury. The slaves viewed him as a hero and the Dutch and English are said to have feared him. Those slaves who were brought here to the Bahamas, thought of him as a hero.
In the pre-Emancipation era, the slaves were allowed 3 days off during the year: 1st January, 25th December and 26th December. On the 1st January and the 26th December, they were allowed to perform their Junkanoo festival. The 26th December was the day for exchanging gifts and visiting friends. The festival still goes on today. I hope to see the main festival sometime.

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