Junkanoo is a festival that was originated during the period of African chattel slavery in British American colonies. It is practiced most notably in Jamaica, The Bahamas, and Belize as well as historically in North Carolina and where there are significant settles of West Indian people during the post-emancipation era, including Miami. In the present day, there are considerable variations in performance and spelling but there are the shared elements of masquerade (or masking), drumming, dance and parading.
In many territories, Jankunu is observed around Boxing Day (26 December), New Year's Day (1 January), and Easter holiday in some countries. These Christmas time cultural parades are predominantly showcased in Jamaica. In The Bahamas it is originally called Junkanoo and is said to date back to the 1700’s and is celebrated year round, and Belize. where the music is also mainstreamed, and competition results are hotly contested. There are also Jankunu parades in Miami in June and Key West in October, where local black populations have their roots in the Caribbean.
Origins
Its origin is assumed to have begun in The Bahamas, but is claimed by several other islands in the English speaking Caribbean. However, evidence shows that Jankunu origin points strongly to Jamaica, and was later spread throughout the Caribbean as early as the 18th century, and possibly earlier. Though stemming from the same origin, each celebration has been localized by different countries, and over time, evolved to be somewhat different.
This tradition is one of the oldest dance celebration in Jamaica. In addition to being a cultural dance for the Garifuna people, this type of dancing is also performed in The Bahamas on their independence day and other historical holidays.
Historically, Junkanoo parades were also found in southeastern North Carolina that can be traced back to Jamaican roots. However, the custom became less popular after slavery was abolished. The last known Jankunu celebration in the Southern United States was in Wilmington, North Carolina, in the late 1880s.
Dances are choreographed to the beat of goatskin drums and cowbells.
History
The festival may have originated several decades ago, when enslaved Africans or their descendants, on the plantations in Jamaica celebrated holidays granted around Christmastime. This was done with dance, music (drumming), and costumes. The costumes and drumming used in celebration in Jamaica shows strong similarities to West Africans mask dances.
Contribution made to the origins of this Jamaican tradition could be found in three “ groups” of West African festival traditions. These are;
the annual New Yam Festival of the Mmo secret society of the Igbo peoples
the Egungun masquerades of the Yoruba people, and
the Homowo yam festival of the Ga people
In Countries like The Bahamas after emancipation, the tradition continued and junkanoo evolved far from a simple origins to a formal, organized 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.
Douglas Chambers, professor of African studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, suggests a possible Igbo origin from the Igbo yam deity Njoku Ji referencing festivities in time for the 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.
Similarities with the Yoruba Egungun festivals have also been identified. However, an Akan origin is more likely because the celebration of the Fancy Dress Festivals/Masquerades are the same Christmas week (December 25–January 1) in the Central and Western Regions of Ghana and also John Canoe was in fact an existing Ahanta king and hero that ruled Axim, Ghana, before 1720, the same year the John Canoe festival was created in the Caribbean. As Jeroen Dewulf pointed out, the term may have had a religious dimension, relating to the Akan deity Nyankompong, who was known in eighteenth-century English sources as John Company.