Location:
Rock Sound, Eleuthera, Bahamas
Position: N 24 52.142 W076 09.878
We've been lucky enough to attend not one but 2 Junkanoos this year. Junkanoo is a traditional Bahamian holiday parade and celebration. See http://www.bahamas.co.uk/about/junkanoo/what-is-junkanoo for more info.
January 1, 2014 – New Years Day
We love Junkanoo. Especially in Green Turtle Cay. It's not as big and fancy as the one in Nassau (there's only one band), but it starts in the afternoon on New Years Day rather than late at night – a much more “cruiser friendly” time of day! We attended Junkanoo here in 2009 and this year made a point of hanging around in the Abacos so we could go again. We enjoyed it just as much as our first time.
The rhythm of the drums, cow bells, whistles, and other noise makers is mesmerizing. The costumes are creative and colorful. The dancing is exotic and beautiful. The shuffling walk of the musicians moves the parade forward at a slow, rhythmic pace, giving everyone a chance to see all of the performers. It's very much a family friendly function, with children actively participating in the parade and in the activities before and after. It's one of our favorite experiences in the Bahamas.
We even managed to get a short movie of the parade before our camera ran out of juice. The video lost some quality when we uploaded it, and the soundtrack doesn't really capture the insistent rhythm of the big drums very well, but it will give you a taste of our experience. This was filmed about an hour after the parade started, so some of the initial “pep” is beginning to
See more of our photos following this post.
January 25, 2014
A few weeks later, on our way down the west coast of Eleuthera, we learned that in a few days, schools from all over the island would be sending entries to Governor's Harbour to compete in their Junior Junkanoo. This made Governor's Harbour a “must stop” for us. Luckily, we were blessed with benign weather, since the anchoring there can be a bit sketchy.
Each school had picked a theme and had obviously put many hours into practicing the dancing and music, and creating the costumes from cardboard and different colored tissue paper and other materials. The parade/competition started around 5pm. We found seats in the bleachers so we could see above the crowds that lined the street. Venders were selling food and drinks and all the families were there to see their kids in the parade. Everyone was happy and having fun. We had a lovely afternoon and evening watching and enjoying all of the kids from 5 to probably 12 or 13 years old. They were so cute!
Check this link for more Junior Junkanoo pictures: http://www.eleutheranews.com/permalink/3786.html
A bunch of other Junkanoo photos (not from us):
