Teaching Children In The Caribbean And In The United States How To Be Moko Jumbies (Stilt Walk/Dance)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides information about moko jumbies in the Caribbean (the West Indies). This post also showcases five videos of children in the Caribbean and in the United States learning how to be moko jumbies (stilt walk/dance) in the Caribbean ikisbtilmoko jumbies in Trinidad and Tobago. Selected comments from the discussion thread of some of these videos are also included in this post.

The content of this post is presented for folkloric, cultural, entertainment, and aesthetic purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to all those who are featured in these videos.
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Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/08/eight-youtube-videos-of-traditional.html for a closely related pancocojams post entitled "Eight YouTube Videos Of Traditional Stilt Walking & Stilt Dancing In Africa".

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ARTICLE EXCERPT ABOUT MOKO JUMBIES
From https://www.gotostcroix.com/st-croix-blog/the-moko-jumbie-a-cultural-icon/  "The Moko Jumbie: A Cultural Icon" [no date, no author given, retrieved August 22, 2020]

"The Moko Jumbie: A Cultural Icon

The Dutch, English, French, Spanish, Danish, British, and American flags have all flown over St. Croix with each country leaving its own impression on our society and cultural. As it turns out the most influential culture on St. Croix was not the Dutch, the French, or the Americans, but the Africans. Presently, the African culture is widely seen in how we behave, the foods we eat, and how we prepare them, and most of all, in our celebrations and traditions – most notably, the Moko Jumbie.

When Africans were brought to the Caribbean and sold to St. Croix planters as labor, they also brought with them seeds, oral lessons, and traditions, and of course their religious and cultural beliefs. Since many of the African cultural practices were forbidden while they were enslaved, the African people often had to disguise their practices in a festive context. Which may explain why the traditional plain “potato sack” costumes of the Moko Jumbie evolved into a colorful one.

Moko Jumbies have been in the Virgin Island’s cultural heritage for over 200 years and can be traced to Africa as far back as the 13th and 14th centuries. The presence of the Mocko Jumbie at our carnivals, parades, jump-ups, and even at a beach BBQ is a blessing and an honor. They are viewed as symbols of our history, culture, and heritage. At celebrations, such as carnival, a wedding, or even jump up, men, women and children perched high up on stilts are dressed in bright colors and masks. In this costume they are no longer men, women, and children – they have now transformed into Moko Jumbies.

The actual meaning of the words Mocko Jumbie varies depending on whom you ask. In Central Africa, the word ‘moko’ means healer, while most English speaking people interpret moko as ‘mock’. Simple, huh? ‘Jumbie’ would be slang for ghost, or spirit. West Africans view a Moko Jumbie as a seeker or a protector and that their tallness is symbolic to the power of God.

Their presence was an important part of African religious ceremonies as well as to the rites of passage when a boy is recognized as a man and a girl as a woman. Many African tribes believed that Moko Jumbies acted as the spiritual seers and protectors of the village. It was believed that the height of the Moko Jumbie allowed them to see evil before it arrived and warn other villagers. Traditional African Moko Jumbie costumes were adorned with mirrors in the belief that evil spirits were afraid to see themselves. In Central Africa, it is believed that that the Moko Jumbie wards off evil spirits by their mockery of them.

Throughout the Virgin Islands, the character and importance of the Moko Jumbie presently lives on. Not as a ‘ghost buster’, if you will, but rather as an exhibit of the culture of the Virgin Islands. In 1978, Gerry Cockrell moved to St. Thomas from Florida and discovered a culture that was embraceable, with the St. Thomas Carnival being one of her favorite cultural events. A friend of Gerry’s had been participating in carnival as a Moko Jumbie when Gerry decided to try it for her self; she has been a part of carnival ever since. She saw that the number of Moko Jumbies was decreasing and saw the need of keeping the culture of the Virgin Islands alive, in 1992 she started a St. Thomas based troupe called Moko Jumbie Jambourie.

Gerry taught the skill in many of the schools to gain youth involvement. Gerry’s efforts help the community to take pride in their history and culture in addition to helping children take pride in themselves and what they can now do."...

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SHOWCASE VIDEOSThese videos are presented in chronological order based on their publishing date.

Numbers are added for referencing purposes only.

Video #1: Jumbie Jamboree

Carnival Institute, 

Sep 21, 2017

Produced by Carnival Institute of Trinidad and Tobago
Music: Laventille Rhythm Section Drums and Tassa and Johann Strauss Jr. Blue Danube the blue danube fast version.

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Video #2: Kaisokah Moko Jumbies: Stilt-Walkers in Training | BK Stories


BRIC TV, Nov 9, 2017

In East Flatbush, a group called Kaisokah Moko Jumbies practice the delicate and rigorous art of stilt-walking in a local alley way. The young stilt-walkers in training learn about their cultural roots as they prepare to compete worldwide. -snip-
East Flatbush is a residential neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.(a neighborhood in New York [USA]

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Video #3: Dance in Trinidad: Moko Jumbie On 9-Foot Stilts



The New York Times, Dec. 17, 2017

In Trinidad, locals dance on stilts and learn to "touch the sky" from an early age.

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Video #4: Dancing With 10- Foot Stilts



Great Big Story, April 10, 2018

In Trindad and Tobago, “moko jumbies” soar high during Carnival. The traditional art of stilt dancing is a highlight of Trinidadian celebrations, but for stilt walker Adrian Young, it’s an everyday practice. For the past 21 years, he has been dancing among the clouds. Now, through his Future Jumbies youth group, he’s helping the next generation make their own strides.

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Here are some comments from this video's discussion thread, with numbers added for referencing purposes only.
1. Y'all, 2018
"This is cool, but

How do they get off?"

** REPLY 2.Nikhil Manrag, 2018 "Ladder i live in tnt" ** REPLY 3. Skye Hernandez, 2018 "Moko jumbies have a way of coming down with the help of the all-important handlers. You simply turn your back to a handler, put your arms out, stoop and let yourself fall backwards into the hands of the handler. A lot of strength and trust involved. The ones on the higher sticks sit on walls or trees or anywhere high to untie themselves and then come down. And yes, as Epicness FTW says, they use short ladders, if available."

** REPLY

4. InfiredKookieMonster, 2018

"The Muffled Crew on a wall or high structure"

**
5. It's just Tay Tay, 2019
"I'm from st.thomas in the Virgin Islands and here in the the Caribbean we love to do this in our parades 🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮🇻🇮"

**** Video #4: Magic Of Moko Jumbies: New Generation Of Teens Take Up Stilt Dancing Tradition | NBC Nightly News


NBC News, October 26, 2019
There’s a new generation of Brooklyn kids learning to become Moko Jumbies - stilt dancers that you see at celebrations all across the Caribbean. Jason Edwards, an immigrant from Trinidad and Tobago, is teaching teenagers to get in touch with their heritage.
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Video #5: MOKO JUMBIE 101 | Artist in Motion


Jason Edwards from Kaisokah USA will show us the basics of stilt walking and do's and don't of being a Moko Jumbie!

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