The Bahamas Junkanoo Festival

Junkanoo is the most widely practiced folk art form in the Bahamas. It was a Pan Caribbean Festival conducted in the Bahamas by slaves throughout the 16th and 17th centuries. The origins of Junkanoo are a source of much debate. The most widely recognized theory is that the word "Junkanoo" comes from the name John Canoe, an African ruler and slave trader who lived in the seventeenth century on the Gold Coast of Africa.

Junkanoo is now mostly a street procession held in the Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands. Music, dance, and art and craft are three parts of the parade's performing arts.

Nassau, the capital, has the largest Junkanoo parade. There are also Junkanoo celebrations in June and October in Miami and Key West, where the local Afro-American populations have ties to the Bahamas.

Date: December, January, and July