Junkanoo
The 2024 Goombay King and Queen dancing alongside a Junkanoo groupat Armbrister Park, Coconut Grove, Florida.2024. Photo by Jason Smith.
A defining feature of the Coconut Grove Goombay Festival in Miami is the presence of Junkanoo groups. This Bahamian cultural tradition dates to the era of slavery. In an article published by TIME Magazine, FIU doctoral student Sasha Wells describes how Junkanoo evolved.1 She notes, that the earliest recorded Junkanoo celebrations in the Bahamas took place in the 1820s when enslavers gave their slaves a day off for the holidays. In the post emancipation era, Black Bahamians used Junkanoo to contest their marginalized societal status. Wells explains, “In 1849, Afro-Bahamians were reported stilt walking, which represented a manifestation of a West African spirit protector, and it was referred to as “John Canoe,” a reference to an Akan warrior. While there may have been conflation between stilt-walking and rushing, it’s clear how time and time again, Junkanoo provided a space for the Black population to connect with each other, embracing their roots and blending African traditions with an emerging Black Bahamian culture. It also created an opportunity for Black bodies to take up space in areas that were generally reserved for White people.”
A Junkanoo group with stilt walkers rushes on Grand Avenue during the Goombay Festival, Florida. 2023. Video by Aarti Mehta-Kroll.
After slavery ended the British colonial government allowed Junkanoo rushes to continue until 1942, when all forms of parading were banned in response to what came to be known as the Burma Road Riot. 2 Despite this ban, Wells notes that Junkanooers continued to rush during the holiday season. As government officials recognized the potential of Junkanoo to boost tourism, it was brought back to Bay Street in 1948. Today, Bahamian Junkanoo has become an annual event, taking place on December 26th (Boxing Day) and January 1st during which Junkanoo groups compete against each other for cash prizes3. Parades are also held in the summer to celebrate Bahamian Independence Day (July 10) and as a part of the Junkanoo Summer Festival4. The Goombay Festival of Coconut Grove tends to take place in early June. Today, in the Bahamas and in Miami, women play a prominent role in the Junkanoo parades however they only began participating in this cultural tradition in the late 1950s.
A Junkanoo group at Armbrister Park on the opening night of the 2024 Goombay Festival, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Jason Smith.
Junkanoo costumes, like the festival, have evolved over time. Photographs from the early 20th century show costumes made from sponges5. Dr. Keith Wisdom explains that “Junkanoo costumes reflected the successful sponge industry of the early 20th century. When blight ended the sponge supply in 1940, shredded paper became the main material of Junkanoo costumes.” While the costumes today use a much wider range of materials, Wells notes, “Participants dress in masks and costumes, often made from crepe paper and cardboard6, meant to hark back to the original costumes once made from sponges and newspapers” items readily available to them that society also often discarded.” At the annual celebrations on Bay Street, costumes were often left discarded in the street. To preserve these works of art, winning costumes are now displayed at the Junkanoo Museum in Nassau7. The images below, taken during the Coconut Grove Goombay Festival in 2024, show how Junkanoo group members decked out from head to toe.
A drummer at Armbrister Park during the opening night of the Goombay Festival, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by A’Keitha Carey.
A Junkanoo group member holding a feathered baton and blowing a whistle as he and his group rush down Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Christine Cortes.
A Junkanoo group member holds out his arms displaying his magnificent costume, Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Enrique Rosell.
Drummers in elaborate headdresses make their way past Gibson Plaza on Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Enrique Rosell.
While there is no competition amongst the Junkanoo groups at the Coconut Grove Goombay Participants nonetheless give it their all. Dressed in beautifully crafted costumes made from cardboard and felt8, adorned with feathers, beads and rhinestones, their energetic dance moves include turns that allow onlookers to view their elaborate outfits from every angle.
A Junkanoo costume which incorporates the face on the Goombay Punch soda can and references Little Bahamas, Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Fernanda Romero.
A Junkanoo group member’s costume incorporates a large star, Grand Avenue, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Enrique Rosell.
Music is made using instruments ranging from sousaphones and trumpets to cowbells and whistles. In an interview with HistoryMiami Museum in 2014, Junkanoo Revue leader Langston Longley explained, “Traditional Junkanoo musical instruments include drums made from open-ended, wooden or metal barrels covered in goat or sheep skin. Cow skin is used to cover bass drums. A store-bought floor tom is used as the rhythm drum today because skins are not readily available. Cowbells are still homemade by welders. Brass and woodwind instruments are commonly used, as well as black horns and whistles.”9
A sousaphone being played as a Junkanoo group rushes toward Armbrister Park on the opening night of the 2024 Goombay Festival, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Jason Smith.
Trumpets, trombones and cowbells set the beat as a Junkanoo group rushes along the Goombay 2024 Grand Avenue parade route Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Alvaro Angulo
A Junkanoo group member plays a drum and blows a whistle as he rushes the Goombay 2024 Grand Avenue parade route, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Alvaro Angulo.
A Junkanoo group member looks into the camera while playing a rake and scrape instrument, Coconut Grove, Florida. 2024. Photo by Alvaro Angulo.
The selection of videos below, captured by Fernanda Romero, provides a sense of what festivalgoers get to experience when Junkanoo groups rush along Grand Avenue. However, nothing compares to experiencing these rhythmic performances firsthand!
1 Wells, S. C. (2024). What to Know About the History of Junkanoo, One of the Caribbean’s Biggest Holiday Celebrations. Time Magazine. 26 December.
https://time.com/7202192/junkanoo-holiday-history/
2 Dixon, E. A. (2020). 1942 Burma Road Riot Bahamas. blackpast.org 14 December https://www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/1942-burma-road-riot-bahamas/
3 On the Government of the Bahamas website one kind find detailed information about the major Junkanoo groups in the Bahamas and the criteria used to judge them.
4 Junkanoo page of the Grand Bahamas Museum https://www.grandbahamamuseum.org/exhibits/culture/junkanoo
5 Wisdom, Keith D. 1994. Ecstasy in junkanoo, A Public Celebration of Freedom. 1994 Festival of American Folklife, The Commonwealth of the Bahamas https://festival.si.edu/articles/1994/ecstasy-in-junkanoo-a-public-celebration-of-freedom
6 At the very end of this HistoryMiami Museum page about the Bahamas Junkanoo Revue is a slideshow with images showing how Junkanoo costumes are constructed using cardboard and glue guns https://historymiami.org/south-florida-folklife-center/artist-in-residence-programs/bahamas-junkanoo-revue/
7 Bahamas Museum of Junkanoo https://www.bahamasmuseumofjunkanoo.com/
8 In an interview with History Miami, the ensemble leader of the group Junkanoo Revue explains that while crepe paper is used in the Bahamas for background color, in the USA this is replaced by felt. The full interview is accessible here https://historymiami.org/south-florida-folklife-center/artist-in-residence-programs/bahamas-junkanoo-revue/
9 See note 8.