Jonkonnu
Jonkonnu
At the beginning of the eighteenth century a new Christmas custom arose in the British West Indies. Called Jonkonnu, this Caribbean Christmas celebration blended African and English masquerade and mumming traditions. At one time Jonkonnu celebrations spread as far as the southern United States. The festival survives today in Jamaica, the Bahamas, Belize, St. Kitts-Nevis, Guyana, and Bermuda.
Jonkonnu in Jamaica
The origins of Jonkonnu reflect Jamaica's colonial history. The British seized control of Jamaica from the Spanish in 1660 and established a colonial outpost there. Although some African slaves already lived on the island, in the late seventeenth century the English colonists began to import slaves from west Africa in great numbers to work on their sugar plantations. The English colonists brought many cultural traditions with them to Jamaica, including the celebration of Christmas with music, dancing, masquerades, and mumming. The African slaves retained their own music, dance, and masquerade traditions, for which they, too, sought an outlet. These two cultural streams flowed together in Jamaican Christmas celebrations, giving rise to Jonkonnu.
Jamaican Jonkonnu celebrations take place on December 26 (see also St. Stephen's Day). Most of the Jonkonnu performers are male. Bands of dancers prepare homemade costumes that identify them as specific characters associated with the festival masquerade. Some of these characters, such as "cowhead," clearly reflect African imagery. Others, like "the king" and "the queen," show remnants of British influence. Small bands of musicians accompany these dancers as they briefly parade to some public location. The bands are composed of both African instruments, like the gumbay drum, and European instruments, such as the fife. The dancing that takes place when the group arrives at the chosen site also illustrates this Afro-European cultural blend. The participants combine African dance movements with old European dance steps, such those from the quadrille. African cultural influences appear to dominate Jonkonnu dancing, probably because Jamaicans of African descent developed and kept the custom alive over the centuries.
No one knows for sure where the name "Jonkonnu" comes from. Some say it refers to an early eighteenth-century west African king, John Canoe. Others believe it represents a sloppy English pronunciation of a French phrase, gens inconnu, meaning "unknown people." They suggest that early observers gave that name to the ritual because they could not recognize the masked and costumed dancers.
Jonkonnu in the Caribbean
As Jonkonnu spread throughout the Caribbean, the people of different islands varied the costumes, parades, dances, festival name, and festival date. Belize dancers call their tradition "John Canoe" and perform it on Christmas and December 26, Boxing Day. In the Bahamas the festival is called "Junkanoo" and is celebrated between December 26 and January 1, New Year's Day. Bahamians use strips of colored paper to create dazzling costumes for Junkanoo. Today, with government sponsorship of the parade and costume competition, the elaborate costumes worn by top competitors resemble those of Trinidad's fabulous Carnival celebrations.
Jonkonnu in the United States
During slavery times American blacks in North Carolina also carried out the Jonkonnu ritual at Christmas time. They called the custom "John Kooner" and spoke of going "John Canoeing" or "John Kunering" on Christmas morning. Like their Caribbean counterparts, most participants in American Jonkonnu celebrations were men. They prepared homemade costumes embellished with strips of colorful cloth and also wore masks, some of which sported horns. Thus garbed, and armed with simple musical instruments such as drums, triangles, violins, and jew's harps, they made their way across town. The masqueraders stopped at the houses of the well-to-do, sang and danced for the occupants, and asked for money in return. They also entertained the people they met on their way. Some reports depict plantation slaves celebrating Jonkonnu on the grounds of the estate. The plantation owners enjoyed the music, dancing, and masquerading, and often rewarded the participants with small gifts, such as coins or scarves. Some slaveowners convinced themselves that the happiness the slaves enjoyed during this yearly festival justified the institution of slavery.
The nineteenth-century American version of Jonkonnu strongly resembles the Christmas mumming practices common in England at the time. Nevertheless, the custom probably arrived in the United States via Jamaica and the Bahamas. In past centuries, much trade from these areas entered the United States through the port town of Wilmington, North Carolina. Caribbean slaves familiar with Jonkonnu probably passed the custom on to American blacks via this trade route. After the Civil War African Americans began to abandon Jonkonnu. Oddly enough, as the tradition declined among African Americans, white youths began to adopt it. They called the seasonal masquerade "coonering" and kept it going from the 1890s until it finally died out in the early 1900s. (See also America, Christmas in Nineteenth-Century.)
Further Reading
Cohen, Hennig, and Tristram Potter Coffin, eds. The Folklore of AmericanHolidays. Detroit, Mich.: Gale Research, 1987. Kane, Harnett T. The Southern Christmas Book. 1958. Reprint. Detroit, Mich.: Omnigraphics, 1998. Nissenbaum, Stephen. The Battle for Christmas. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1996. Nunly, John W., and Judith Bettleheim, eds. Caribbean Festival Arts. Seattle, Wash.: University of Washington Press, 1988. Restad, Penne. Christmas in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1995.
Web Site
The Bahamas Tourism Office provides information on Jonkonnu at: