Imani Finley: My Junkanoo Experience

I can remember the rush of excitement I felt as the hours dwindled to the start of the Junkanoo festival. Although sleepy due to the late start time of 2:00am, I couldn’t wait to experience the cultural festival and all of its components including music and costumes.  As I sat amongst local Bahamian, I learned so much about the culture and history of the festival as they shared stories and feelings about their favorite groups in the parade. Once the parade began, my energy level quickly spiked as the environment began to fill with lively Bahamians dancing in vibrant costumes to the miraculous sounds of the bands. In such an atmosphere you couldn’t help but begin to dance and stare in awe at the art work of the costumes created all from scratch. Overall, this experience served as the opportunity for me to truly witness the Bahamian culture and see how important traditions are to them and the hard work put in to continuing these traditions. I left the parade extremely fulfilled of all the performances given by the groups and even developed a few favorites, “The Valley Boys” and “Colors”.