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Junkanoo
Junkanoo is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes with origin in many islands across the English speaking Caribbean every Boxing Day (26 December) and New Year's Day (1 January). These cultural parades are predominantly showcased in the Bahamas where the music is also mainstreamed, and competition results are hotly contested, There are also Junkanoo parades in Miami in June and Key West in October, where local black populations have their roots in the Caribbean. In addition to being a culture dance for the Garifuna people, this type of dancing is also performed in The Bahamas on Independence day and other historical holidays. Historically, Junkanoo parades were also found in Southeastern North Carolina. However, the custom became less popular after slavery was abolished. The last known Jonkonnu celebration in the Southern United States was in Wilmington, N.C., in the late 1880s. Dances are choreographed to the beat of goatskin drums and cowbells. History The festiv ...
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John Canoe
John Canoe, also known as January Conny, (died circa 1725) was the European name given to an Akan warrior from Axim, Ghana. He was a chief of the Ahanta people in the early 18th century, who established a stronghold in the defunct Fort Fredericksburg and fought multiple wars with European traders for twenty years. The stronghold finally fell in 1725, though Canoe's fate is unknown. He is commemorated in the Junkanoo festival held in the Caribbean each December. History Origin of John Canoe January Conny (also named ''John Kenu'', ''Johann Kuny'', ''John Conrad'', ''Johann Cuny'', ''Jean Cunny'', ''January Konny'' or ''John Conni'' by German, Dutch, British or French-language designation) was a powerful Gold Coast merchant. Conny had a private army and was an ally of Brandenburg-Prussia at the time of the Brandenburger Gold Coast colony (1683–1720) in Axim on the coast of present-day Ghana in West Africa. Between 25 December 1708 to 1724 he took over control of the abandoned ...
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Baha Men
The Baha Men are a Bahamian junkanoo band formed in New Providence, Bahamas in 1977. They are best known for their Grammy Award-winning hit song "Who Let the Dogs Out". History Early years The Baha Men formed in 1977 as High Voltage, initially playing disco and funk.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp.28–29 They performed regularly in nightclubs and hotels in the Bahamas and self-released several albums. In 1991, one of their tapes found its way to Atlantic Records A&R man Steve Greenberg, who signed the band to the Big Beat subsidiary, at the same time getting the band to change their name to the Baha Men. Early success The following year, the Baha Men released their first album, '' Junkanoo,'' which included the local hit "Back to the Island". ''Kalik'' followed in 1994, including the international hit "Dancing in the Moonlight". The band moved with Greenberg to Polygram for the 1997 album '' I Like What I Like'' and '' Doong Spank' ...
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The Bahamas
The Bahamas (), officially the Commonwealth of The Bahamas, is an island country within the Lucayan Archipelago of the West Indies in the North Atlantic. It takes up 97% of the Lucayan Archipelago's land area and is home to 88% of the archipelago's population. The archipelagic state consists of more than 3,000 islands, cays, and islets in the Atlantic Ocean, and is located north of Cuba and northwest of the island of Hispaniola (split between the Dominican Republic and Haiti) and the Turks and Caicos Islands, southeast of the U.S. state of Florida, and east of the Florida Keys. The capital is Nassau on the island of New Providence. The Royal Bahamas Defence Force describes The Bahamas' territory as encompassing of ocean space. The Bahama Islands were inhabited by the Lucayans, a branch of the Arawakan- speaking Taíno, for many centuries. Christopher Columbus was the first European to see the islands, making his first landfall in the " New World" in 1492 wh ...
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Jeroen Dewulf
Jeroen Dewulf (1972 in Nieuwpoort, Belgium) is a Belgian scholar specializing in Dutch culture, the Dutch language, German Studies, slavery and African-American culture, Caribbean Studies, and Latin American Studies. He is a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. Biography Dewulf was born in 1972 in Belgium. He was educated at Ghent University, University of Porto and the University of Bern. Since 2007, he teaches in the German department at the University of California, Berkeley. Since 2014, he is the director of Institute of European Studies at University of California, Berkeley. Works Dewulf works mainly on slavery and African-American culture in Dutch Brazil, New Netherland and New York City, most notably the legacy of Pinkster and Sojourner Truth in his book ''The Pinkster King and the King of Kongo: The Forgotten History of America’s Dutch-Owned Slaves'' (2017), and in Louisiana, most notably the origins of the Mardi Gras Indians in his book ''From the ...
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New Year's Day
New Year's Day is a festival observed in most of the world on 1 January, the first day of the year in the modern Gregorian calendar. 1 January is also New Year's Day on the Julian calendar, but this is not the same day as the Gregorian one. Whilst most solar calendars (like the Gregorian and Julian) begin the year regularly at or near the northern winter solstice, cultures that observe a lunisolar or lunar calendar celebrate their New Year (such as the Chinese New Year and the Islamic New Year) at less fixed points relative to the solar year. In pre-Christian Rome under the Julian calendar, the day was dedicated to Janus, god of gateways and beginnings, for whom January is also named. From Roman times until the middle of the 18th century, the new year was celebrated at various stages and in various parts of Christian Europe on 25 December, on 1 March, on 25 March and on the movable feast of Easter. In the present day, with most countries now using the Gregorian calenda ...
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Street Festival
A street fair celebrates the character of a neighborhood. As its name suggests, it is typically held on the main street of a neighborhood. The principal component of street fairs are booths used to sell goods (particularly food) or convey information. Some include carnival rides and parades. Many have live music and dance demonstrations. Fairs typically range no more than a few blocks long, although some fairs, such as the 9th Avenue International Food Festival in New York City and the Solano Stroll in Northern California, extend more than a mile. A fair only one block long is commonly called a block party. Variety Street fairs vary greatly in character, even within one city. Annual street fairs in Seattle, Washington, for example, include the University District Street Fair that feature the work of craftspeople and require that the person who make the goods that are for sale must be present in their own booths. The Fremont Fair features crafts from around the world, as well ...
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Folk Festival
A folk festival celebrates traditional folk crafts and folk music. This list includes folk festivals worldwide, except those with only a partial focus on folk music or arts. Folk festivals may also feature folk dance or ethnic foods. Handicrafting has long been exhibited at such events and festival-like gatherings, as it has its roots in the rural crafts. Like folk art, handicraft output often has cultural, political, and/or religious significance. Folk art encompasses art produced from an indigenous culture or by peasants or other laboring tradespeople. In contrast to fine art, folk art is primarily utilitarian and decorative rather than purely aesthetic, and is often sold at festivals by tradespeople or practicing amateurs.West, Shearer (general editor), ''The Bullfinch Guide to Art History'', page 440, Bloomsbury Publishing Plc, United Kingdom, 1996. As at folk festivals, such art and handicraft may also appear at historical reenactments and events such as Renaissance f ...
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Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and Togo in the east.Jackson, John G. (2001) ''Introduction to African Civilizations'', Citadel Press, p. 201, . Ghana covers an area of , spanning diverse biomes that range from coastal savannas to tropical rainforests. With nearly 31 million inhabitants (according to 2021 census), Ghana is the second-most populous country in West Africa, after Nigeria. The capital and largest city is Accra; other major cities are Kumasi, Tamale, and Sekondi-Takoradi. The first permanent state in present-day Ghana was the Bono state of the 11th century. Numerous kingdoms and empires emerged over the centuries, of which the most powerful were the Kingdom of Dagbon in the north and the Ashanti Empire in the south. Beginning in the 15th century, the Portuguese Em ...
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Axim
Axim is a coastal town and the capital of Nzema East Municipal district, a district in Western Region of South Ghana. Axim lies 64 kilometers west of the port city of Sekondi-Takoradi in the Western Region, west of Cape Three Points. Axim has a 2013 settlement population of 27,719 people. History This area was occupied by the Nzema people. The Portuguese arrived by the early 16th century as traders. They built a prominent seaside fort, Fort Santo Antonio, in 1515. They exported some Africans as slaves to Europe and the Americas. Between 1642 and 1872, the fort was expanded and altered by the Dutch, who "ruled" during that period. The fort, now property of Ghana, is open to the public. Off-shore are some picturesque islands, including one with a lighthouse. Axim structure The town of Axim is divided into two parts: Upper Axim and Lower Axim. Fort Santo Antonio lies roughly on the division between the two parts, but closest to the centre of Upper Axim, the original Europe ...
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Fancy Dress Festival
The Fancy Dress Festival (known locally as Kakamotobi) is a masquerade festival held on Christmas to the first day of January every year by the people of Winneba in the Central region of Ghana. It is a colourful festival that features brass band music. History Dutch and British traders at the Winneba seaport began the tradition of the festival in the 19th century. Wearing assorted masks, they danced and drank in white-owned bars celebrating Christmas. Janka Abraham, who hailed from Saltpond, also in the Central Region, and worked as a bar attendant at one of these bars, thought of incorporating the masquerade tradition and festival into local custom. He founded the troop known as Nobles with his friend, pharmacist A. K. Yamoah, in the Alata Kokwado neighborhood around 1923 or 1924. People who belonged to A. K. Yamoah's football club and indoor games groups joined. Membership required the ability to speak the English language. Early days The members of the Nobles would gather ...
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Egungun
Egungun, (''egúngún'' with Yorùbá language tone marks) in the broadest sense is any Yoruba masquerade or masked, costumed figure. More specifically, it is a Yoruba masquerade for ancestor reverence, or the ancestors themselves as a collective force. ''Eégún'' is the reduced form (abbreviation through assimilation) of the word ''egúngún'' and has the same meaning. There is a misconception that Egun or Eegun (eégún with Yorùbá tone marks) is the singular form, or that it represents the ancestors while egúngún is the masquerade or the plural form. This misconception is common in the Americas by Orisa devotees that do not speak Yorùbá language as a vernacular. Egungun is a visible manifestation of the spirits of departed ancestors who periodically revisit the human community for remembrance, celebration, and blessings. Classification of Egungun types The classification of Egun or Egungun types, might appear to be a fairly straightforward task, but in fact it is e ...
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Yoruba Religion
The Yoruba religion (Yoruba: Ìṣẹ̀ṣe), or Isese, comprises the traditional religious and spiritual concepts and practice of the Yoruba people. Its homeland is in present-day Southwestern Nigeria, which comprises the majority of Oyo, Ogun, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Kwara and Lagos States, as well as parts of Kogi state and the adjoining parts of Benin and Togo, commonly known as Yoruba land. It shares some parallels with the Vodun practiced by the neighboring Fon and Ewe peoples to the west and to the religion of the Edo people and Igala people to the east. Yoruba religion is the basis for a number of religions in the New World, notably Santería, Umbanda, Trinidad Orisha, and Candomblé. Yoruba religious beliefs are part of Itàn (history), the total complex of songs, histories, stories, and other cultural concepts which make up the Yoruba society. Term The Yoruba name for the Yoruba indigenous religion is Ìṣẹ̀ṣẹ, which also refers to the traditions a ...
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