Examine individual changes

'{{for|the [[Baha Men]] album|Junkanoo!}} {{Infobox recurring event | name = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | logo = | logo_alt = | logo_caption = | logo_size = | image = File:John Canoe Dancers Jamaica 1975 Dec ver06.jpg | image_size =300px | alt = | caption = Junkanoo (or "John Canoe") celebrants ([[Kingston, Jamaica]], Christmas 1975) | status = Active<!-- e.g. defunct, active, inactive ... --> | genre = [[Folk festival]], [[street festival]], [[parade]]<!-- e.g. natural phenomena, fairs, festivals, conferences, exhibitions ... --> | date = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|mm|dd}} "dates=" also works, but do not use both --> | begins = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|mm|dd}} --> | ends = <!-- {{end date|YYYY|mm|dd}} --> | frequency = <!-- Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly, Semi-annually, Annually, Bi-annually, 2nd Tuesday of November, etc. --> | venue = | location = | coordinates = <!-- {{coord|LAT|LON|type:event|display=inline,title}} --> | country = [[Caribbean]] | years_active = <!-- {{age|YYYY|mm|dd}} Date of the first occurrence --> | first = <!-- {{start date|YYYY|mm|dd}} "founded=" and "established=" also work --> | founder_name = <!-- or | founders = --> | last = <!-- Date of most recent event; if the event will not be held again, use {{End date|YYYY|MM|DD|df=y}} --> | prev = | next = | participants = | attendance = | capacity = | area = | budget = | activity = | leader_name = | patron = | organised = <!-- "organized=" also works --> | filing = | people = | member = | sponsor = <!-- | or sponsors = --> | website = <!-- {{URL|example.com}} --> | footnotes = }} {{Music of the Anglophone Caribbean}} '''Junkanoo''' (or '''Jonkonnu''') is a street [[parade]] with music, dance, and costumes of [[Akan people|Akan]] origin in many islands across the [[English-speaking world|English speaking]] [[West Indies|Caribbean]] every [[Boxing Day]] (26 December) and [[New Year's Day]] (1 January), the same as "Kakamotobi" or the [[Fancy Dress Festival]] of Ghana. There are also Junkanoo parades in [[Miami]] in June and [[Key West]] in October, where local black populations have their roots in the Caribbean. In addition to being a culture dance for the [[Garifuna people]],<ref>{{Citation |author= Ericka Hamburg|date= December 23, 2007 |title= Free to dance - Belize's liberating Jonkonnu celebration recalls a slavery-era tradition |publisher= [[Los Angeles Times]] |page=3 |url= http://articles.latimes.com/2007/dec/23/travel/tr-junkanoo23 |accessdate=October 15, 2013}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |author= Gene Scaramuzzo|date= April 28, 1989 |title= African-Caribbean Music Takes Off |publisher= [[The Times-Picayune]] |page= L21 |url= }}</ref> this type of dancing is also performed in The Bahamas on Independence day and other historical holidays. Dances are choreographed to the beat of goatskin drums and [[cowbell]]s. ==History== The festival may have originated several centuries ago, when enslaved descendants of Africans on plantations in The Bahamas celebrated holidays granted around Christmas time with dance, music, and costumes. After [[abolitionism in the United Kingdom|emancipation]] the tradition continued and junkanoo evolved from simple origins to a formal, organised parade with intricate costumes, themed music and official prizes within various categories. The origin of the word ''junkanoo'' is disputed. Theories include that it is named after a folk hero named [[John Canoe]] or that it is derived from the French ''gens inconnus'' (unknown people) as masks are worn by the revelers.<ref>{{cite web|title=What is Junkanoo|url=http://www.bahamas.co.uk/about/junkanoo/what-is-junkanoo|website=Official Website of the Bahamas Tourist Office|publisher=The Bahamas Tourist Office UK|accessdate=22 December 2015}}</ref> Douglas Chambers, professor of African studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, suggests a possible [[Igbo people|Igbo]] origin from the Igbo yam deity ''[[Njoku Ji]]'' referencing festivities in time for the [[New Yam Festival of the Igbo|new yam festival]]. Chambers also suggests a link with the Igbo ''okonko'' masking tradition of southern [[Igboland]] which feature horned maskers and other masked characters in similar style to jonkonnu masks.<ref name="doug">{{cite book |page=182 |title=Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia |isbn=1-57806-706-5 |last=Chambers |first=Douglas B. |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |date=March 1, 2005}}</ref> Similarities with the [[Yoruba religion|Yoruba]] [[Egungun]] festivals have also been identified.<ref name=Allsop>{{cite book|last=Allsop|first=Richard|title=The Dictionary of Caribbean English Usage|year=2003|publisher=University of the West Indies Press|location=Jamaica|isbn=978-976-640-145-0|pages=776}}</ref> However, an Akan origin is more likely because the celebration of the Fancy Dress Festivals/Masquerades are the same Christmas week(Dec 25- Jan 1st) and also [[John Canoe]] was in fact an existing king and hero that ruled Axim, Ghana before 1720, the same year the John Canoe festival was created in the Caribbean.<ref name="Fort Gross Frederiksburg">[http://www.ghanamuseums.org/forts/fort-gross-federickburg.php "Fort Gross Frederiksburg, Princestown (1683)"], Ghana Museums and Monuments Board.</ref> According to [[Edward Long]], an 18th-century Jamaican slave owner/historian, the John Canoe festival was created in Jamaica and the Caribbean by enslaved Akans who backed the man known as John Canoe. John Canoe, from Axim, Ghana, was an Akan from the Ahanta. He was a soldier for the Germans, until one day he turned his back on them for his Ahanta people and sided with Nzima and Ashanti troops, in order to take the area from the Germans and other Europeans. The news of his victory reached Jamaica and he has been celebrated ever since that Christmas of 1708 when he first defeated Prussic forces for Axim. Twenty years later his stronghold was broken by neighbouring Fante forces aided by the military might of the British and Ahanta, Nzima and Ashanti captives were taken to Jamaica as prisoners of war. The festival itself included motifs from battles typical of Akan fashion. The Ashanti swordsman became the "horned headed man"; the Ashanti commander became "[[Pitchy patchy]]" who also wears a battledress with what would resemble charms, referred to as a "Batakari".<ref name=Long>{{cite journal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QLw_AAAAcAAJ&dq=edward%20long%20coromantee&pg=PA446#v=onepage&q&f=false |format=google |first=Edward |last=Long |title=The History of Jamaica Or, A General Survey of the Antient and Modern State of that Island: With Reflexions on Its Situation, Settlements, Inhabitants, Climate, Products, Commerce, Laws, and Government |volume=2 |year=1774 |number= 3/4 |pages= 445–475}}</ref> ==Description== Many of the colonies Jonkonnu was prominent, Bahamas, Jamaica (as Jankunu), Virginia celebrated Jonkonnu.<ref name="doug">{{cite book |page=182 |title=Murder at Montpelier: Igbo Africans in Virginia |isbn=1-57806-706-5 |last=Chambers |first=Douglas B. |publisher=University Press of Mississippi |date=March 1, 2005}}</ref> Historian [[Stephen Nissenbaum]] described the festival as it was performed in 19th-century North Carolina: <blockquote>Essentially, it involved a band of black men&mdash;generally young&mdash;who dressed themselves in ornate and often bizarre costumes. Each band was led by a man who was variously dressed in animal horns, elaborate rags, female disguise, whiteface (and wearing a gentleman's wig!), or simply his "Sunday-go-to-meeting-suit." Accompanied by music, the band marched along the roads from plantation to plantation, town to town, accosting whites along the way and sometimes even entering their houses. In the process the men performed elaborate and (to white observers) grotesque dances that were probably of African origin. And in return for this performance they always demanded money (the leader generally carried "a small bowl or tin cup" for this purpose), though whiskey was an acceptable substitute.<ref>Stephen Nissenbaum, ''The Battle for Christmas''. New York: Vintage Books, 1997, p. 285.</ref></blockquote> [[File:Junkanoo costume.jpg|thumb|Example of Junkanoo costume December 2007]] ==Popular culture== The Junkanoo parade has featured in movies including the [[James Bond]] films ''[[Moonraker (film)|Moonraker]]'' and ''[[Thunderball (film)|Thunderball]]'' (erroneously described as a local [[Mardi Gras]]-type festival), ''[[After the Sunset]]'' and ''[[Jaws The Revenge]]'', as well as in the season one episode "Calderone's Return (Part II)" of the 1984 television series ''[[Miami Vice]]'', taking place on the fictitious island of St. Andrews. In the television show ''Top Chef: Allstars'' Season 8, episode 13, "[[Top Chef: All Stars#Episode 13: Fit for a King|Fit for a King]]", the contestants danced at the Junkanoo parade, learned about its history and competed to make the best dish for the Junkanoo King. ==Gallery== <gallery mode="packed"> File:Valley Boy at Rush for Peace Freeport Bahamas 2011.jpg|Rush for Peace (Freeport, Bahamas, 2011) File:JunkanooCostumeAfterTheParade2006.JPG|Costume sans participant after the parade File:Junkanoo costume.jpg|Junkanoo costume File:SaxonsCostume.jpg|Junkanoo costume File:Junkanoo Festival, Nassau 2.jpg|Junkanoo Festival, Nassau 2005 File:Junkanoo2.jpg|thumb|Junkanoo musician 2005 </gallery> ==See also== *[[Carnival]] *[[Pitchy patchy]] *[[John Canoe]], the 1708 king of Axim, after whom the practice may have been named ==References== {{reflist}} ==Sources== * Bethel, Clement. ''Junkanoo: Festival of the Bahamas''. Macmillan Caribbean, 1992. * Nissenbaum, Stephen. ''The Battle for Christmas''. New York: Vintage Books, 1997. * Wisdom, Keith Gordon. Bahamian Junkanoo: An Act in a Modern Social Drama (Dissertation) * Wood, Vivian Nina Michelle. Rushin' hard and runnin' hot: Experiencing the music of the Junkanoo Parade in Nassau, Bahamas (Dissertation) ==External links== {{Commons category|Junkanoo}} * https://web.archive.org/web/20160105052613/http://www.saxonsjunkanoo.org/ * http://www.ancestraltravels.com * http://www.bahamaslife.com * http://www.coloursbahamas.com * https://web.archive.org/web/20080320111103/http://junkanoopaparazzi.com/ * http://www.shidor.com * https://www.fest300.com/festivals/junkanoo-parade * http://www.bahamas.com/whatisjunkanoo {{Winter solstice}} {{Carnival around the world}} {{New Year}} [[Category:Bahamian music]] [[Category:Parades in the Bahamas]] [[Category:Nassau, Bahamas]] [[Category:December observances]] [[Category:January observances]] [[Category:Folk festivals in the Bahamas]] [[Category:Cultural festivals in the Bahamas]] [[Category:Carnivals in the Bahamas]] [[Category:Bahamian culture]] [[Category:Carnival]]'