Ecstasy in , A Public Celebration of Freedom

by Keith G. Wisdom who recognizes the vast potential of this art form. Although Junkanoo is practiced in the islands of ahamian Junkanoo is an individual and com­ New Providence, Grand Bahama, Eleuthera, Bimini, munity celebration of freedom. The origins of and Abaco, the most organized and vibrant exhibi­ Bthe are shrouded in mystery. Though tions of this performance art are seen in New there is little doubt that they are West African, their Providence and Grand Bahama. New Providence meaning has been transformed by successive gener­ Junkanoo, the best example of modern Bahamian ations to bring fresh significance to the festival. The Junkanoo, is the focus of this article. name "Junkanoo" itself suggests connections with Jamaican Jonkonnu and similar festivals throughout jUNKANOO TIME the New World. ''junkanoo time" in is an almost magi­ Bahamian Junkanoo is now a national parade. cal time at the year's end that exemplifies the spirit Held from 2:00 - 8:00 a.m. on 26th and of , the idea that anything is possible. January lst, the Junkanoo parade is a judged event Junkanoo is also a time when the individual is free with three main prize categories: best music, best from a number of institutional, personal, and family costume, and best overall group presentation. obligations. A Bahamian form of organized play, in Today's Junkanoo presentations are organized which new symbolic worlds are generated, Junkanoo around particular themes, which are expressed in exists "out of' and in contrast to "normal" time. coordinated costumes, music, and dance, the three main artistic elements of Bahamian Junkanoo. jUNKANOO PRACTITIONERS Junkanoo participants in today's Junkanoo parade Bahamian Junkanoo today involves some 15 adult (drummers, cowbell ringers, horn players, dancers, groups representing roughly every area in New designers, and builders) continually re-create and Providence and Grand Bahama. Unlike in times develop these basic elements. Not allJunkanoo par­ past, group members do not have to live in or ticipants are organized or serious about prize belong in some way to the area being represented, money, however, and many simply want to be seen. although most group members do have some kind Nevertheless, they all, practitioners and spectators of relationship with their represented area. The alike, have a Junkanoo experience, including in major or "super" groups in Junkanoo currently are many cases moments of ecstasy. the Saxons Superstars, the Valley Boys, the Roots, The practitioners and spectators of contemporary and the newly founded One Family. These groups Bahamian Junkanoo represent a broad cross section have their base camps or "shacks" in various parts of the Bahamian population, to which is added a of New Providence or Grand Bahama and so are small percentage of visitors, since the Junkanoo said to represent those areas. However, the major event occurs during the Bahamian winter tourist sea­ cohesive factor among members of these groups is son. Elements of Junkanoo are also presented outside rather a shared belief in each other and the collec­ of The Bahamas, as cultural performances. Junkanoo tive attitude their assembled personal philosophies comes to the world stage this summer, with presen­ engender. tations and demonstrations and a gigantic Junkanoo Alongside these organized groups are the "scrap­ Rush-Out as part of the Festival on the National Mall pers," the other primary type of participants in in Washington, D.C. , on the Fourth of July. This Bahamian Junkanoo. Scrap groups are made up of project has been wholeheartedly supported by the individuals who are minimally costumed and are Honorable Brent Symonette, Minister of Tourism, only on the parade route to "rush" (a Junkanoo

76 THE BAHAMAS FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKUFE marching style) and have a good time. Scrappers are Today ]unkanoo costumes are made of cardboard not interested in prize money, organization, or group and tissue paper. Each group has its own theme, thematic presentation. Today theJunkanoo scrapper which remains a secret until the day of the rush. represents the pre-1950s style of Junkanoo perfor­ Photo courtesy The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism mance and attitude. Members of the major groups, on the other hand, represent the modern style of sition, which occurs shortly before the "official" end Junkanoo, whose complex and colorful paper cos­ of the Junkanoo event. The energy level on the tumes visually dominate the event. Both men and parade route drops drastically, and discarded cos­ women participate in Junkanoo, although its admin­ tume pieces litter the entire Bay Street portion of the istration and creation are totally male dominated. parade route. (The practice of leaving costumes on the parade route has been discouraged in recent THE jUNKANOO PARADE years. A permanent museum, The Junkanoo Expo, The Junkanoo event has four distinct phases: was established in 1993 under the leadership of the Presentation, Judgement, Celebration (or last lap), Honorable Algernon S. B. P. Allen, Minister of and Transition. In the Presentation phase, major Youth and Culture, to display and preserve these groups establish an intense performance pace, con­ magnificent pieces close to the parade route.) Sym­ centrating on the production of the group's own bolically, this phase represents the transition of the unique "Junkanoo beat," that is, repetitive, domi­ entire Junkanoo setting from metaphor and liminali­ nating notes of the drum. During the ty to its normal status as commercial banking and Judgement phase, which reaches its climax at day­ shopping district. break, lead and dancer costumes are "displayed"­ spun and raised up and down rhythmically - while jUNKANOO COSTUMES the remainder of the group constantly reorganizes The costumes of major Junkanoo groups have con­ the space of the parade route through the execution tinued to grow in size and complexity. In some of a number of previously rehearsed group march­ instances costume designers begin preparations ing configurations. Judges make their final choices seven to 12 months in advance. Groups strive for during this period. originality and excellence in the presentation of a Winners are announced just after the Celebration theme to be carried out, in various levels of detail, phase. In this short phase, beginning around 7:30 by all members of the group. Costume construction a.m., groups and spectators alike have decided who takes place mainly in high-ceilinged enclosures, the they think the winners will be. The Celebration shacks which serve as the groups' base camps. The phase is marked by the energetic, almost frantic interior of the shacks are open, dry, and can be rushing pace that the major groups, and especially locked or partitioned off, as organized groups pre­ the presumed winners, adopt. This burst of energy fer that their costume designs be seen only on also marks the beginning of the final phase, Tran- parade days.

FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKUFE THE BAHAMAS 77 Above: ]unkanoo costumes reflected the successful sponge industry of the early 20th century. When a blight ended the sponge supply in 1940, shredded paper became the main material of ]unkanoo costumes. Right: A]unkanoo reveler celebrates in Nassau, 1942. As the visual aspects of ]unkanoo became increasingly important, shredded paper was soon replaced with more colorful tissue paper, and eventually, with the crepe paper that is used today. Photos by Ira De A. Reid , courtesy Department of Archives, The Bahamas jUNKANOO MUSIC noticeable pattern. The patterns consist of turns, Junkanoo music is indispensable to the junkanoo spins, hops, skips, jumps, and lunges and are most­ experience, fueling the event by stimulating partici­ ly performed by group leaders, group dancers, and pants and spectators alike. The basic beat and vari­ linesmen who function as group marshals for major ety of rhythmic patterns in Junkanoo music remain Junkanoo groups. Coordinated and choreographed very much the same as they have always been. contemporary dance steps are seen today in Junk­ However, the older practice of singing in junkanoo anoo, but they were copied from Jr. Junkanoo has been replaced by chants, and melodic instru­ groups. ments such as the tuba, trumpet, saxophone, and Today, the best-knownjunkanoo dancers are the trombone have been added to the traditional leaders of the two principal Junkanoo groups, Percy junkanoo instruments (Goombay drum, cowbell, "Vola" Francis of the Saxons Superstars and whistles, bicycle horns, conch shell, foghorn). Winston "Gus" Cooper of the Valley Boys. Both of These new instruments, which are played in tune these individuals perform a recognizable set of with the traditional ones, are separated physically movements during the Junkanoo each year, in the group marching formation. movements which outside of the Junkanoo context are quite meaningless. Such movements or steps jUNKANOO DANCE can occur at any time and place during the parade In modern Bahamian Junkanoo, as well as in tradi­ march, and are seen as traditional or "natural" tional junkanoo, a number of movements are usual­ junkanoo steps or movements. In contrast, the ly done one after another and, to the junkanoo coordinated, choreographed dance steps must be newcomer, may appear to be a kind of dance. What performed only in predetermined sections of the is called "Junkanoo dance" is not a dance form like group marching formation and at specific locations ballet or modern jazz but is any quick, rhythmic along the parade route. movement that is consistently repeated to create a Together, the parade's main artistic elements- cos-

78 THE BAHAMAS FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKUFE tume design, music, and dance- create a "Theater of gists, for example Victor Turner and Jonathan Hill, Junkanoo," whose dramatic impact motivates and characterize as "flow. " Flow in this sense involves influences many other Bahamian art forms. "pleasure" in subordination to ritual forms, a spon­ taneous and individual joy in expressing oneself THE ECSTATIC MOMENT through a loss of self in disciplined actions. In fact, Both scrappers and members of major groups place it may be an almost addictive pleasure within disci­ a high value on the Junkanoo experience, and both plined performance communities. undergo ecstatic moments, especially during the The ecstatic moments that are achieved by the Judgement phase of the Junkanoo event. scrappers and the major group members symbolize The individual scrapper does not belong to any two forms of freedom. The scrappers in modern single group, and so his ecstatic moments occur Bahamian Junkanoo embody the freedom to sponta­ only when he is a part of a loosely organized, tran­ neously create an environment in which undisci­ sitory scrap gang that has established a fairly con­ plined play can occur. To the major group mem­ sistent group beat. Like the member of a major bers, on the other hand, Junkanoo grants them the group, the scrapper experiences ecstatic moments freedom to construct a complex, formal, disciplined created in large part by his "self-produced" celebration. Junkanoo beat. Ecstatic moments enrich the overall event experi­ The scrapper's ecstatic moments sometimes ence of primary Junkanoo participants and add involve his interacting with spectators, but never another dimension to the cultural inversion that with the members of a major group. While experi­ occurs within the setting of the Junkanoo event. encing an ecstatic moment the scrapper relates More importantly, perhaps, it is these ecstatic mo­ directly to others, appearing to understand other ments that make Junkanoo even more interesting scrappers and spectators in an empathetic rather for spectators; while they are going through their than a sympathetic way. That is, Junkanoo scrap­ ecstatic moments, primary Junkanoo participants pers appear not to "feel for" one another but rather raise the intensity of their performance. The ecstatic to "feel together." The ecstatic moments of the power of Junkanoo creates a personal linkage be­ scrapper seem to result from singularly group-relat­ tween indigenous participants and spectators, and ed interactions which produce "communitas," a with the culture and history they themselves create. feeling of oneness within a community. Communitas is achieved here via immersion in SUGGESTED READINGS rhythmic activity, peculiar in that it can be strived Bethel, Edward Clement. 1978. Music in The Bahamas: Its for but cannot be precisely planned. Roots, Development and Personality. M.A. Thesis, UCLA. The ecstatic moments of the member of a major __. 1991. ]UNKANOO: Festival of the Bahamas. Edited Junkanoo group differ from the scrapper's in three and expanded by Nicolette Bethel. Hong Kong: basic ways. First, group members describe their Macmillan . ecstatic moments as a more individual or personal Bettelheim, Judith. 1979. The Afro-Jamaican Jonkonnu experience which occurs in public; they are aware Festival: Playing the Forces and Operating the Cloth. of the group and their duty and responsibility to it, Ph.D. Dissertation, Yale University. yet feel connected via the gang to an experience Bettelheim, Judith. 1979. Jonkonnu and Related Caribbean (called being "in the beat") much greater than the Festivals. In Africa and Caribbean: The Legacies of A Link, group experience of the gang. Secondly, even edited by Margaret E. Graham and Franklin W. Knight. though the major group member is aware of Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. Junkanoo spectators and is very much affected by Goffman, Erving. 1959. The Presentation of Self in Everyday them, unless he is a group leader, he does not relate Life. Garden City: Doubleday. directly to them. Lastly, Junkanoo music for the Schechner, Richard. 1973. Ritual Play and Performance. major group member works more as a catalyst than New York: Hawthorn Books. a stimulus. His ecstatic moments seem very much Turner, Victor. 1982. From Ritual to Theatre: The Human like the experience that a number of anthropolo- Seriousness of Play. New York: Performing Arts Journals.

Keith G. Wisdom, a native of Nassau, Bahamas, received Wisdom, Keith. 1985. BahamianJunkanoo: An Act in a Modem Social Drama. Ph.D. Thesis, University of a B.S. from Mankato State University , Minnesota, and an Georgia. M.F.A. and Ph.D. from the University of Georgia at Athens. He is a stage director and a TV producer special­ izing in cultural programming.

FESTIVAL OF AMERICAN FOLKLIFE THE BAHAMAS 79