Aspects of Bahamian Culture
ANASTACIA ELAINE DAHL SMITH
A Study of Bahamian Folklore
Many of the Bahamian folklore costume are similar to the West Indian folklore practices. Many of them have their origins in Africa and have been handed down from generation to generation, even when the system of slavery tried to prohibit or forestall the traditional practices and belief of the Black slave.
Although during slavery black people culture had been disrupted and they were forced to assimilate into the British white man's culture in the Bahamas, the Blacks never lost their traditional cultural beliefs and practices, and they even on some occasions practiced them in secret. Perhaps some of the Bahamian folklore grew out of slavery.
After emancipation came to the slaves in the Bahamas in 1834, they began to indulge in some of their original African culture practices and up to this day still do. Many of these practices have become a significant part of the Bahamian folklore. Some of them include: the practice of bush medicine, Junkanoo, the telling of old stories, obeah and folk songs-all contribute a part to the way of life of the Bahamian people.
The Junkanoo is a Bahamian festival that is still a significant part of the folklore of the people that has its origin in Africa. The Black slaves who were brought from Africa to work on plantations in the Bahamas brought it to the Bahamas. Basil Cracknell (1974) described Junkanoo as a masked dance, which can be traced, back as early as 1801. It is in fact less a dance than a parade, a kind of miniature carnival.
There are variations in the stories as to how the name Junkanoo had been derived. According to a suggestion mentioned by the Nassau magazine of 1935, the Word came from the name John Canoe probably because many of the participants in the parade carried a kind of houseboat Canoe on their heads.
It is believed that that the birthplace of the Junkanoo in the early eighteenth century was Axim on the Western Coast of Ghana near the Ivory Coast of Africa. John Canoe was believed to be an African chief in Axim who was very influential in the slave trade to the West Indies around 1720. He was considered a great man of character whose presence embedded itself on the minds of all those men and women who went through his hands to the slave traders' (Nassau Guardian 1971). John Connu was the anglicized version of his name, which has been handed down through history in many parts of the New World. He was likewise known as john Canoe, Jony, Jonny, John Kooner, and Junkanoo, the latter being the name Black Bahamian, whose ancestors were products of slavery who brought the practice to the islands, use today.
Other researchers suggested other versions of the origin of the word Junkanoo. For example, gen inconnus ('unknown people'), Jeunes Caneurs after the young sugar cane field hands. It is believed that it was in the predominantly English-Speaking islands along North Carolina coast that the Custom of John canoes flourished' (Nassau Guardian 1971)
As mentioned before, the Junkanoo is believed by many people to be of African origin. It is also believed to be connected with the language and culture of West Africa, especially Ghana.
The most commonly practiced dance step that was characteristic of the Junkanoo dancers in the earlier years in the Bahamas was one step forward, two steps back. However this is not the general step today. There have been many variations in the dance steps employed today, some of which are difficult to explain. Nevertheless the original was one step forward followed by two steps backward. This movement was believed to have come from an Ashanti dance figure called Yankomo, who was noted for a dance in which he took one step forward and two steps back. Axim was in the middle of the Ashanti region, thirty-five miles from Takoradi. Yankomo could be easily translated or anglicized into John Canoe or Junkanoo and associated with the famous African Chief spoken of earlier. It is believed that the festivities in Jamaica, Bahamas and other islands are connected with this memory. A description of the Junkanoo is written in living memory. The use of the stilts in the Junkanoo parade was and still is important, and certainly has an African origin. It was noted (Nassau Guardian 1971) that the memory of one Bahamian was one dated back to 1890 when the men of Nassau who were usually in front with a contingent behind used the stilts.
The traditional Junkanoo flavor was the much-fringed costumes and a very high, towering headdress that is also of African origin. Many African today in Africa still wear the towering headdress as a part of their culture at festivals and on other occasions. A feature that is characteristic of John Canoe Festivals all over the West Indies and North Carolina was the traditional time of the year when it was held. It was held at both Christmas and New Years. In the Bahamas with particular emphasis on Nassau in New Providence and a few other Islands like Grand Bahama, and Exuma, the Junkanoo festivals are held every year on Boxing Day that is the day after Christmas and on New Year's Day. It begins early in the morning about 4am and continues full swing until about 8am.
Nassau in the Island of New Providence is the main city for the Junkanoo festivals. The reason is probably due to the fact that Nassau is the capital City of the Bahamas and it is the main tourist attraction area and also because of the fact that more than half of the total population of the Bahamas is concentrated on the island of New Providence, where the orientation of actors tend to be more universalistic and more collective. New Providence Island and Grand Bahama are the two most developed islands in the Bahamas and the only two cities are found on these two islands. The Junkanoo festival is perhaps the only Folklore activity that is practiced more in the cities, particularly in Nassau because of its importance as a tourist attraction and because the cities are the main center for festivities.
The Paraders used to march up and down Bay Street, which is in the heart of town, but recently, additional changes have been made in the routes to accommodate more people. The Junkanoo parade is still concentrated in the town area, but different streets have been assigned as routes. It is believed that the Christmas and New Years became significant days for the Junkanoo parade in the Bahamas because of the three day holiday that slaves were eventually given over Christmas and the New Years, which they celebrated with the traditional African festival-The Junkanoo.
The masks are another characteristic of Junkanoo. It is very important to the festival. The origin of the use of the mask in the festivity was believed to have come from men who came on ships and boats to Wilmington who had brought back false faces. (Kooner Faces). The sailors said that the faces came from Arabs and Africans. However it can be argued that the natives were already familiar with painting their faces as a part of their African culture and heritage before they were brought to the islands as slaves. So they were allowed to have their celebration, they just employed what they are already accustomed to in their festivities while in the homeland Africa.
Painting the face can be considered a mask, and it probably was the original mask for the Junkanoo paraders. It was most likely the mask used in the early 1800's in the Junkanoo festivals. Then the hand made mask came later, perhaps with the influence of the European Sailors.
The music is another characteristic of Junkanoo in the Bahamas. It is a very important part of the festival, and without it there would probably be no Junkanoo at all. The Junkanoo beat in the Bahamas is unique to the islands. It may be found in other John Canoe Festivals in the Caribbean and in North Carolina, as well as in Africa today. It is very similar to the African music and is said and is said to have its origin on that continent. The traditional instruments certainly have their origins in Africa. They are the drums bones and rattles. The rattles in the Bahamas however were not used. These instruments are believed to be similar to those found among the tribes on the coast of West Africa. Today most of the instruments have not been changed from the traditional instruments, but there have been many additions over the years as accompanying instruments lend to the musical atmosphere of the parade.
In the early twentieth century, we learned from interviews held from some people, who were the young Bahamians at this time and who are now older Bahamians, that many changes have taken place in the Junkanoo festivals. The entire subject agreed that the goat-skinned drums were an integral part of the festival. Some of them listed other instruments that were used in the Junkanoo parades on some of the islands. These were the small horn, one subject noted, the whistle and the cowbells.
Today the instruments used are many and varied. Some of them are the traditional goat skinned drums Congo drum bongo drum cowbells and whistles conch shells, horns saws cans trumpets, the modern American drum, an occasional steel drum, and various other objects that can be use to make music. It can be argued that many changes were a function of modernization.
The Junkanoo was and still is comprised of different groups called gangs. In the earlier years, these groups or gangs literally rushed up and down Bay Street at a rapid rate. Today Junkanoo is more refined with a slower strutting shuffle. Unfortunately today groups are becoming less organized. This may be attributed to several factors.
One has to do with the prize competition that is characteristic of Junkanoo today. Many people feel that since the competition seems to be restricted to certain groups every year, regardless of how well other groups meet the requirement, more groups have b become less interested in trying to compete, and as a result, some simply go and rush on bay Street in what they call scrap gangs. The scrap gang may include anyone who wishes to rush for fun, which has a costume and can shake play blow or beat an instruments or objects to the sound of music.
Another reason for the Junkanoo becoming less organized results from the fact that the Crepe paper costumes used today can be very expensive and it is also a great deal of hard work to put them together. As a result some people don't even bother to make them too neat. And hence they are not able to rush in one of the more organized groups. The competition is based on the group whose costume is the neatest that is well organized, whose music is the best and somewhat in unison, and also the complexity of the costumes.
A third reason results from the fact that many of the Bahamians use the Junkanoo season to have a good time. Their main emphasis is on fun and not the prizes. So many of them join any scrap gang that will have them.
It should be noted that Bahamian Junkanoo in the earlier days, there was a peculiar quality of all the groups that not only came from Nassau, but also from all parts of the island with the same beat in unison. There were also characteristics of the Junkanoo on some of the other Bahamian Islands, for example Grand Bahama, Crooked Island, and Exuma. It was a happy occasion for all Blacks. However the unity of time and rhythm is no longer present in the Junkanoo festivals in the Bahamas today. The groups and gangs play different rhythms in subtle variations.
Particular mention should be given to one point at this time- although the Junkanoo festivals take place in some of the islands and not others, many of the best drummers and cowbell shakers come from the out islands. Most of the Bahamian musicians are originally from the Family Islands. The nature of the traditional culture has forced excellence in the use of traditional instruments. It is only since modernization that traditional instruments have been mixed with modern instruments, to add flavor, so to speak.
It was mentioned before that an occasional steel drum was incorporated in the Junkanoo festivals. It is important to not that the steel drum is a fairly new musical instrument of recent times. It originated in Trinidad after Bamboo stick used for making music. (Cracknell, 1974) was banned in the 1939's. The people then began to experiment with hitting garbage tins to make music.
The steel drums or pans are becoming identified more with indigenous West Indian Culture. They are not only used for Calypsos bur for all kinds of classical music. (Cracknell 1974)
Music and dancing will always be an important part of the way of life for black Bahamians, for they are in the people's blood. Music has often been for the West Indian an outlet for bottled up emotions: a vehicle of protest, at first against the system of slavery and later against the prevailing conditions of poverty and economic degradation. Music was however not only protest, but also it was also a spontaneous expression of West Indian 'joie de vivre', the bubbling up of an innate sense of fun. (Cracknell 1974). The West Indian including the Bahamian expressed his feelings in words that were set to music. This gave rise to the Calypso, a folk song that is characteristic of the Junkanoo and also other features of the Bahamian lifestyle. The Calypso is played and sung at the Junkanoo, in the nightclubs, in the homes and at work. It is an important aspect of the everyday life of the Bahamian people.
The Junkanoo costumes have also undergone changes over the past years. When the Junkanoo first started in the Bahamas with the slaves, they probably used their own old clothes as costumes. Later late in the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century when sponging was one of the most popular job opportunities for the Bahamian men, sponge being a major industry in the Bahamas was also available to make Junkanoo costumes. The poorer classes of people also used heavy tissue paper for only the poorer classes celebrated Junkanoo.
Today, the people dress in costumes made of Crepe paper. The aspect of Junkanoo is believed to be unique to the Bahamas because it is only in these islands that they used crepe paper in their festivals. In the other West Indian Islands, fancy materials are used to make costumes. For example, the costumes in the Trinidadian Carnival are made of materials. However as recent as the 1940's people on some of the out island like Crooked Island used their own clothes. It is also known that the men wore ladies dresses as costumes.
In the olden days, there was no masquerade committee, no set pieces, (Nassau Guardian 1971) and every one was responsible for making his or her own costume. Today there is a committee responsible for the parade.
John Canoe Festival
A New World Africanize
By Ira De A Reid
The house is usually constructed of paste board and colored papers- it is also frequently highly ornamented with beads, tinsel, spangles pieces of looking glass and being firmly fixed on a board, the bearer is enabled to balance, whilst going through many strange contortions of body and limbs…the position in which he is drawn, will convey a tolerably accurate idea of one of his favorite steps, consisting of rapid crossing of legs, several times repeated and terminating in a sudden stoppage, at which point it requires all the ability of this Posture Master to poise his body with his paper castle borne aloft, and indeed, it is truly astonishing to witness the clarity and precision with which this feat of agility is performed.
From I.M. Belisario
The John Canoe Festival
A New World Africanism
Poor old John Kooner
Hah Low, Hah Low
Here Come Kooner John
For my lady
For my lady
To the Accompaniment of this rhythmic chant and amid a cacophony of motley noises- bell ringing, horn tooting beating of pots and pans, yells peals of laughter and musical shouting, there appeared in a distance the most unusual collection of characters ever conceived by the imagination. In the van of the assembly pranced a costumed King be decked out in an outfit best described as an ornate collection of tatters and rags, a grass skirt, a jacket fringed with a diamond like glass, arms covered with playing cards, stripped trouser legs, a white boot encasing one foot, a shapeless black shoe the other. Atop this outfit was a headpiece house like in form, with windows and doors, below with glared a most hideous and grotesque white masked face. His four to six followers, attired in garments not so colorful and gaudy, danced along in his wake chorusing antiphonally to his musical lead. This was John Canoe, Negro king of many of the nineteenth century Easter, Christmas and New Years festival in the New World.
Reaching the front of a prosperous citizen's home the group began its performance. John Canoe sounded a melodious refrain, which was taken up by his followers and the air resounded with the lilting tones and loud tones of
She stood long on the shore
Eyes grow dim with tears
Oh I lack the melt.
She went across the seas
She swung a kiss to me
I'll wait for her
I'll be true to her
As the skies above
I'll await my darlin' girl.
This was followed by an act entitled 'Tony's Convict', or a playlet said to be comparable to the well-known 'Ten Nights in a Bar Room'. The climax of the performance came when John Canoe and his coherts went into their dance, said by some to be a variety of well-known 'Buzzard Lope'. At the conclusion of the dance the citizens rewarded the actors with coins, foodstuffs and beverages for which John Canoe and his company graciously bowed out their thanks sounded their instruments, and with a flourish move down the street chanting.
Blow! Blow! Blow!
Here come de Kooner
Blow! Blow! Blow!
When you comin' over?
Beginning Christmas Eve and continuing intermittently throughout the season's holidays until the new years the John Canoes performed and entertained the public until the bells tolled out the old year and pealed in the new. The John Canoe festival was a fascinating rivalry in spite of the weird and grotesque manner of dress of its participants that frightened the smaller children and frequently scared some adults. Year in and year out the gay event was anticipated by participants and spectators.
A field study, supplemented by scattered published material indicated that so far as it is known this phenomenon occurred in the United States only along the coastal region of eastern North Carolina: specifically, the towns of Edenton, New Bern, Hillsboro, Wilmington, Hilton, Fayetteville and Southport, were the most noted centers where John Canoe appeared. Of them all Wilmington was the place where the festivity was celebrated most vigorously. Whether or not it is spread from this one important city to the other localities has not been determined, but it is in Wilmington that we find the vestigial
remains of the tradition most strongly entrenched. Wherever it occurred in eastern North Carolina the pattern of its cultural product is strongly similar, a trait that the passing years failed to distort in any of its broad and fundamental outlines. The dress the instruments the dancing the songs, the period of appearance, the participants, all for the most parts adhere to a generalized framework.
Research has indicated that it is an event largely confined to the Christmas and the Yule season in general, more recent data led to the belief that the John Canoe festival was seen at other times during the year-July fourth and Halloween. This in no manner distracts from the fact that it was originally confined to a period, which marks the close of the year, but opens an avenue of study relative to trait culture dissemination and change in social significance.
When did John Canoe appear in the United States? When and why did the festival past out of our culture? Whence did it come and whence did it go? What changes, if any occurred in its structure during the period when it was flourishing and following its heyday?
The definite date of the appearance of John Canoe is lost in the misty past, but aged living informants recall its prominence during slavery. It is impossible to date specifically in each of the villages, towns or cities where it flourished but it is certain that prior to 1850, John Canoe was a social event among the Negro slaves in the eastern part of North Carolina. It retained its place of prominence among the colored people in the area, growing in importance year by year, until it reached its peak during the period 1880-1890. It became an annual affair, expected and anticipated with much pleasure up until this time.
Several reasons have been given for the demise of this festival. It has been said that John Canoe cease to be of importance because the Negro preachers finally succeeded in preaching the custom out of existence. It tended to degrade the Negroes in the eyes of the white people of the community. An added factor in its decline was the concerted efforts on the part of the middle class colored inhabitants who began to look upon the exhibition as one that lowered the status in the eyes of the whites.
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