Junkanoo is one of the greatest cultural events in The Bahamas. Two major junkanoo parades are held in the city of Nassau on the island of New Providence. One takes place on Boxing Day, the day after Christmas day, and the other takes place on New Year’s day. Both of these days are public holidays.
During these parades junkanoo groups 'rush' along Bay Street and Shirley Street located 'Downtown'. They are judged based on things like music, costumes, themes and dancing. There are ‘A’ groups like 'The Saxons', 'Valleyboys', 'One Family', 'Roots' and the 'Music Makers'. Then there are smaller ‘B’ groups like 'Colours' and 'The Pigs'. These ‘A’ and ‘B’ groups compete for cash prizes. There are also scrap groups like 'Sting' and 'The Pigs' who compete for fun. The groups dance along the streets to traditional music using goat-skinned drums, cowbells, horns, whistles and conch shells. A brass section also accompanies each group to add to the music. The groups also use choreographed dancers who dance and step on time to the music. Costumes for the groups are made from cardboard, crepe paper, wires, cement, styrofoam, glitter, beads, studs and glue.
The junkanoo groups are awarded ‘seed money’ by the Government. This money helps them to buy much needed supplies. Costumes are built in ‘shacks’ or sheds that are located in areas where the junkanoo groups originate. These places are guarded from outsiders by group members. Practice sessions are big events where groups meet at a location to practice their music and dance moves before ‘goin to Bay’. The groups could solicit corporate sponsors to provide them with money or supplies as well.
I can clearly remember when my mother took me to see a Boxing Day Junkanoo parade. Boy, did we have a good time. The first group out of the gates was the ‘Valley Boys’. Their costumes were ‘off the chains’ and they had the crowd dancing and shouting for more. Then out of the gates came ‘One Family’. Their music had everyone going wild and ‘carryin on bad’. But boy we could not wait for the crowd pleasers, ‘The Saxons’. Suddenly in the distance we heard their magical chant, “They comin, they comin.”
Then we heard their pulsating rhythmic beat, “boom- boom, boom-boom, boom-boom.”
The crowd went crazy in bated anticipation of something spectacular, something big, something out of this world. This was Bahamas junkanoo at its best and I was right in the middle of it just soaking it all up. The Saxons definitely brought the house down. Everyone was shouting, “Saxons, Saxons, Saxons...”. The group was huge, loud, colorful and orderly yet frenzied. It seemed like they took forever to go by and the agitated crowd enjoyed every minute of it. Once they disappeared the crowd went mute and I was falling asleep when another group jolted me awake. It was a ‘scrap group’ called ‘The Pigs’ made up of tourists and locals who just rushed for the love of it. Everyone was laughing and talking bad to them; we did not want to see the small groups but wanted to see more of the big groups. Then I got sleepy again and slept across my mother’s lap until the next big group went by. I would then jump up and make noise and ‘carry on’ like everyone else.
We stayed on 'Bay' until ‘day clean’ and then we left for home, even though groups were still doing their laps around Bay Street and Shirley Street. This was definitely one of my best experiences.