JUNKANOO
THE CALL OF THE DRUM By Arlene Nash Ferguson | Photography by Antoine Thompson
I
t is the soul, not the ears, that first alerts the body. Borne on the air it comes: a sound that pours into your skin, surrounds your senses, mesmerizes your soul. It is a message that overwhelms the inner places of your being. You instinctively respond to the throbbing beat of a goatskin drum from somewhere deep in your subconscious. This is Junkanoo. For over two hundred years, the Bahamian spirit has instinctively answered that call of the drum. Out of Africa this spirit came, transported across the high seas in the filthy holds of slave ships, nestled in sobbing breasts to strengthen and buoy up the weakened spirit at the ebb of its lowest tide. And in the raw wind of day-to-day slavery, it anchored humanity and heritage, and proclaimed the indomitable spirit of the Bahamian people. Down through the centuries it survived, proudly passed from one generation to the next, this defiant assertion of personhood and unconquered soul. Today this spirit lives on, paraded each year in majesty and music in spectacular parades that occur on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day in New Providence, and from January through March in the Family Islands. The journey from the secret night ceremonies on the plantations of yesteryear to today’s magnificent spectacle proudly showcased in prominent places, unites an intriguing mix of old traditions and modern day realities. Today’s costumes reflect today’s world. The earlier costuming materials: sponge, newspaper, rags and plants, have given way to the present’s
october 2019
14
