Hyperlink Links To Pancocojams Posts About Christmas, Kwanzaa, And Junkanoo (from 2012 through 2024)

Compiled by Azizi Powell

Latest Update- December 13, 2024

This pancocojams post provides links to posts that were published on this blog from 2012-2024 about the holidays of Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Junkanoo. One of the posts about Christmas also includes information about the antebellum African American custom of "kunering".  

Publishing these links in one post makes it easier for me- and hopefully you - to enjoy these posts again. Publishing these links also provide opportunities for you to check out some posts that you might have missed.

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PANCOCOJAMS LINKS ABOUT CHRISTMAS

African American Christmas Songs About Naming Jesus (videos & lyrics)

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/black-christmas-songs-about-naming.html

Dec. 20, 2012

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Ma Ma, Bake That Johnny Cake, Christmas Comin’ (examples & lyrics)

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/12/mama-bake-that-johnny-cake-christmas.html

Dec. 20, 2013

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How Black Americans Celebrated Christmas In The Antebellum South

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-black-americans-celebrated.html

December 21, 2016
-snip-
This post also includes information about the antebellum custom of "kunering" which is related to Caribbean Jonkanoo customs.

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Singing Extra Lyrics For "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/documenting-when-people-sung-extra.html

Dec. 20, 2017

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Examples Of The "Batman's In The Kitchen" Verse In "Jingle Bells Batman Smells" Rhymes

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/examples-of-questions-about-batmans-in.html

Dec. 1, 2018

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Non-Racist Examples Of The Children's Parody Song "Jingle Bells Shotgun Shells"

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/non-racist-examples-of-childrens-parody.html

Dec. 5, 2018

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Racist Examples Of The Children's Parody Song "Jingle Bells Shotgun Shells"

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/racist-examples-of-childrens-parody.html

Dec. 5, 2018

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Mavis Staples - Christmas Vacation (from the movie "National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation")

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/mavis-staples-christmas-vacation-from.html

December 8, 2018

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Christmas Traditions In Ethiopia & Four Videos Of Christmas In Ethiopia

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/christmas-traditions-in-ethiopia-four.html

Dec. 18. 2018

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Two Article Reprints About Some Ways That Enslaved Black People Experienced The Christmas Holidays In The United States South

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/two-article-excerpts-how-enslaved-black.html

December 11, 2019

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Starrkeisha's Christmas Carols" Videos 2016, 2017, & 2018 (with information about Cameron J. Henderson's Starrkeisha character)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/starrkeishas-christmas-carols-videos.html

December 14, 2019

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Starrkeisha's Christmas Carols, 2019 (Video & Selected Comments)

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/starrkeishas-christmas-carols-2019.html

December 19, 2019

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Sizalelwe Indodana - A South African Christmas Song (with lyrics and links to additional examples)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/sizalelwe-indodana-south-african.html

Dec. 9, 2020

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Donny Hathaway - This Christmas (Official Audio) And Chris Brown - This Christmas (video) with information & lyrics

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/donny-hathaway-this-christmas-official.html

Dec. 9, 2020

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"While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks"/"Sweet Chiming Christmas Bells" (YouTube Examples, Information, Lyrics, & Comments)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/examples-of-lyrics-for-christmas-carol.html

December 19, 2020

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Daystar's The Healing Streams of God Choir - "E Lu Agogo" (Nigerian Choir Singing "Ring Bells" & Two Other Christmas Songs)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/daystars-healing-streams-of-god-choir-e_51.html

Dec. 19, 2020

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Leslie Odom Jr. featuring Mzansi Youth Choir -" Little Drummer Boy" (video, information, & comments)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/leslie-odom-jr-featuring-mzansi-youth.html

Dec. 20, 2020

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Ntokozo Mbambo - Yi Naye (A Ghanaian Worship Song Sung By A South African Gospel Singer During A Christmas Program)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2020/12/ntokozo-mbambo-yi-naye-ghanaian-worship.html

Dec. 22, 2020

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More Examples Of "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" (with extra lyrics)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2021/12/more-examples-of-rudolph-red-nosed.html

December 14, 2021

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Even More Examples Of The Song "Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer" Song With Added Lyrics

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2024/12/even-more-examples-of-song-rudolph-red.html

December 24, 2024

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PANCOCOJAMS LINKS ABOUT KWANZAA

Teddy Pendergrass - Happy Kwanzaa (video & lyrics)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/12/teddy-pendergrass-happy-kwanzaa-video.html

December 22, 2012

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Why Swahili Terms Are Used For The African American Originated Holiday "Kwanzaa"
December 26, 2015 

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2015/12/why-swahili-terms-are-used-for-african.html

re-posted on December 17, 2018

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Sesame Street's Elmo Performing A Kwanzaa Dance Featuring A Musical Bow Instrument"

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/12/sesame-streets-elmo-performing-kwanzaa.html

December 17, 2016

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Kwanzaa Children's Song "O Kwanzaa" (information, lyrics, videos, & instrumental song file)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/kwanzaa-childrens-song-o-kwanzaa.html

December 17, 2017

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Excerpts From & Comments About The 2012 Washington Post Article "Confessions of a Kwanzaa drop-out: Why I don’t celebrate the holiday"

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/excerpts-from-comments-about-2012.html

December 18, 2017

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Videos Of Kwanzaa Celebrations In The United States & In Canada

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/12/videos-of-kwanzaa-celebrations-in.html

December 18, 2017

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1998 Chicago Tribune Reprint: "Kwanzaa: It's Not About Christmas" (with Pancocojams editor's response to that article)

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/12/1998-chicago-tribune-reprint-kwanzaa.html

December 9, 2018

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Videos Of Two Kwanzaa Songs & A Hyperlinked List Of Pancocojams Posts About Kwanzaa

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/videos-of-two-kwanzaa-songs-hyperlinked.html

December 26, 2019

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PANCOCOJAMS LINKS ABOUT JUNKANOO 

Jonkanoo, Gombey, New Orleans Indians, & The Philadelphia Mummers Costume Traditions (videos)

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/jonkanoo-gombey-new-orleans-indians.html

February 18, 2012

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A Traditional Caribbean Jonkonoo Song & Three Contemporary Jonkanoo Videos From The Bahama

http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-traditional-caribbean-jonkunnu-song.html

December 20, 2013

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Kunering (John Canoe) Traditions Among Enslaved Black People In North Carolina & Information About Jonkanoo In The Bahamas

https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/kunering-john-canoe-traditions-among.html

December 11, 2019

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Visitor comments are welcome.

Kunering (John Canoe; Jonkanoo) Traditions Among Enslaved Black People In North Carolina & John Canoe Re-enactments In North Carolina In The late 20th & In The 21st Century

Edited by Azizi Powell

Latest revision - Nov. 26, 2023

This pancocojams post presents a full reprint of one online article by the Cape Fear Historical Institute under the heading " "Jonkonnu" or "John Kunering" or "John Kooner" at Christmas".

This pancocojams post also includes excerpts from the Wikipedia article on Jonkanoo as well as a reprint of a 2015 ourstate.com article about celebrating John Canoe (Jonkanoo) in North Carolina in the late 20th century through 2015.

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to the online publisher of this content.
-snip-
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/12/how-black-americans-celebrated.html for a 2016 pancocojams post entitled "How Black Americans Celebrated Christmas In The Antebellum South".

Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/12/two-article-excerpts-how-enslaved-black.html for a 2019 pancocojams post entitled "Two Article Reprints About Some Ways That Enslaved Black People Experienced The Christmas Holidays In The United States South".

Note that according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Fear_(region) "Cape Fear is a coastal plain and Tidewater region of North Carolina centered about the city of Wilmington.[1] The region takes its name from the adjacent Cape Fear headland, as does the Cape Fear River which flows through the region and empties into the Atlantic Ocean near the cape. ...Wilmington [is] the busiest port in North Carolina"...
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ARTICLE REPRINT #1
[Pancocojams' Editor's Note] This reprint doesn't include drawings that are inserted throughout that article. This reprint also doesn't include the italics font that is used for much of the content.

From http://www.cfhi.net/JohnKuneringatChristmas.php "Jonkonnu" or "John Kunering" or "John Kooner" at Christmas" by Cape Fear Historical Instutute [sic] Papers

The John Kuners were a chief attraction of the Christmas season since colonial times.”
Dr. James Sprunt
"An old Christmas tradition of Wilmington called “John Kunering” is still remembered, with one similar in Edenton referred to as “John Canoeing.” This was a tradition practiced mainly by black slaves, a custom that would find noisy and gaily-dressed processions “singing strange tunes accompanied by banjo, accordian, tambourine and other instruments.” Some of the participants would dress as women, and they festooned themselves with shreds of cloth sewn to their daily attire.

In Wilmington, the “John Kuners” would dance throughout the town to the rhythmic chants of:

Hah! Low! Here we go!
Hah! Low! Here we go!
Hah! Low! Here we go! Kuners come from Denby!”

"With the rattles of bones, the blowing of cow’s horns, and the tinkling of tambourines, the singing slaves, grotesque in their “Kuner” costumes, would halt whenever an appreciative crowd gathered. Strips of brightly colored cloth sewn to their clothes fluttered gaily as the John Kuners danced merrily. They were bedecked in horned masks, beards, staring eyes and enormous noses with grinning mouths. All were men, but some would dress as women.

After a few songs and dancing, the Kuners would approach the spectators with hat extended to collect a monetary reward for the antics. The Kuners would then depart for another crowd to dance and sing for and the usual reward”(Johnson).

Slave Harriet Brent Jacobs described the custom (Cashman, p.51):
"Every child rises on Christmas morning to see the John Kannaus. Without them Christmas would be shorn of its greatest attraction... a box covered with sheepskin is called the gumbo box. A dozen beat on this while others strike triangles and jawbones to which a band of dancers keep time. For a month previous they are composing songs."

"John Kunering" was a way in which blacks, free and slave, would imitate the Christmas traditions in their own manner, and an opportunity to parade in gaily-dressed musical groups around the city and request gifts and treats from white families. Lacking the long Christian traditions of the annual holiday celebrated by white families, blacks initiated what may be called a pagan ritual of their own.

The custom fell into disuse in the 1880’s after being tabooed by black residents, it was seen "as tending to lower them as a race in the eyes of the public (Moore)."

Though usually viewed as a black custom, historians note that the processions was not limited to blacks, as many white youths would dress and march as well, joining in the Christmas gaiety."

"Slaves Granted Liberty at Holidays:
"Wilmington historian Louis T. Moore wrote that "At Christmas seasons especially, a greater degree of real liberty was enjoyed by the colored people...and they were permitted to band themselves together in groups and from Christmas Eve through the advent of the New Year, Wilmington verily rang with the chants, songs and merry-making of the John Kuners. As the groups would stop in front of the different handsome homes, or pass into the gardens and spacious yards of the stately houses, they would always expect some type of Christmas cheer or gift. Invariably, the Kuners were fed on the substantial viands and appetizing desserts with which the groaning tables were filled during the Christmas season.”

There was substantial support for granting slaves the freedom to enjoy time away from their labor, and antebellum North Carolina’s Chief Justice Ruffin typified this with his view that:
“It would really be a source of regret, if, contrary to common custom, it were denied to slaves, in the intervals between their toils, to indulge in mirthful pastimes…”

Christmas as celebrated by white Wilmingtonians was a quiet and reflective time with families at home, and author Guion Griffis Johnson relates in “Antebellum North Carolina” that:
“Christmas in North Carolina was celebrated without official ceremony, and the town authorities ordinarily made no occasion of the day, “leaving it to quiet church services, visiting parties and pleasant family reunions.” The Wilmington Daily Journal wrote on December 23, 1851: “Christmas is coming…and were it not for the little and big (Negroes) begging for quarters, and the “noise and confusion” and the “Kooners,” . . . and the fire-crackers, and all the other unnamed horrors and abominations, we should be much inclined to rejoice thereat…”

In 1859 the same Journal wrote that “Christmas is past… A crowd on foot preceded by an ox team was quite amusing. John Kuner was feeble. John Barleycorn retained his usual spirit…our town authorities on Christmas generally let the boys have their way so far as mere noise is concerned….much firing of crackers, rockets, sapients, etc…” It was customary to give slaves considerable freedom on Saturday afternoons, Sundays, and on general holidays such as the 4th of July and Christmas. The old Southern custom of ladies staying indoors on Saturday afternoons arose from the great numbers of slaves in town at that time.

Christmas was the time that slaves enjoyed more than others, and it was a general custom to give the workers a rest from the field labors for several days at least, and often the period between Christmas and New Year Day. The masters were liberal in issuing passes so the slaves could visit relatives and former masters on neighboring plantations. The slaves would have more money at this time as masters seldom forgot to give coins and presents on Christmas morning as “the slaves gathered about happily shouting “Chris’mus gif!”

The gifts received were usually gay head-cloths for the women and “hands of tobacco” for the men, plus barbequed pork, molasses and weakened liquor. The Negroes (in Edenton) arose early Christmas morning, singing their John Canoe songs and shouting “Chris’mus gif” at their masters’ doors. With liquor on their breaths and money in their pockets, they spent to day in one long jubilee.”

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EXCERPT #2
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkanoo
"Historian Stephen Nissenbaum described the festival as it was performed in 19th-century North Carolina:

Essentially, it involved a band of black men—generally young—who dressed themselves in ornate and often bizarre costumes. Each band was led by a man who was variously dressed in animal horns, elaborate rags, female disguise, whiteface (and wearing a gentleman's wig!), or simply his "Sunday-go-to-meeting-suit." Accompanied by music, the band marched along the roads from plantation to plantation, town to town, accosting whites along the way and sometimes even entering their houses. In the process the men performed elaborate and (to white observers) grotesque dances that were probably of African origin. And in return for this performance they always demanded money (the leader generally carried "a small bowl or tin cup" for this purpose), though whiskey was an acceptable substitute.[8]"

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ADDENDUM: ORIGIN OF JONKANOO
EXCERPT #1:
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkanoo
"Junkanoo (or Jonkonnu) is a street parade with music, dance, and costumes of mixed African origin in many islands across the English speaking Caribbean every Boxing Day (26 December) and New Year's Day (1 January), the same as "Kakamotobi" or the Fancy Dress Festival of Ghana. 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,[1][2] this type of dancing is also performed in The Bahamas on Independence day and other historical holidays.

Dances are choreographed to the beat of goatskin drums and cowbells.

History
The festival may have originated several centuries ago, when enslaved descendants of Africans on plantations in The Bahamas celebrated holidays granted around Christmas time with dance, music, and costumes. After emancipation the tradition continued and junkanoo evolved from simple origins to a formal, organised parade with intricate costumes, themed music and official prizes within various categories.

The origin of the word junkanoo is disputed. Theories include that it is named after a folk hero named John Canoe or that it is derived from the French gens inconnus (unknown people) as masks are worn by the revelers.[3] Douglas Chambers, professor of African studies at the University of Southern Mississippi, suggests a possible Igbo origin from the Igbo yam deity Njoku Ji referencing festivities in time for the new yam festival. Chambers also suggests a link with the Igbo okonko masking tradition of southern Igboland which feature horned maskers and other masked characters in similar style to jonkonnu masks.[4] Similarities with the Yoruba Egungun festivals have also been identified.[5] However, an Akan origin is more likely because the celebration of the Fancy Dress Festivals/Masquerades are the same Christmas week(Dec 25- Jan 1st) and also John Canoe was in fact an existing king and hero that ruled Axim, Ghana before 1720, the same year the John Canoe festival was created in the Caribbean.[6]

According to Edward Long, an 18th-century Jamaican slave owner/historian, the John Canoe festival was created in Jamaica and the Caribbean by enslaved Akans who backed the man known as John Canoe. John Canoe, from Axim, Ghana, was an Akan from the Ahanta. He was a soldier for the Germans, until one day he turned his back on them for his Ahanta people and sided with Nzima and Ashanti troops, in order to take the area from the Germans and other Europeans. The news of his victory reached Jamaica and he has been celebrated ever since that Christmas of 1708 when he first defeated Prussic forces for Axim. Twenty years later his stronghold was broken by neighbouring Fante forces aided by the military might of the British and Ahanta, Nzima and Ashanti captives were taken to Jamaica as prisoners of war. The festival itself included motifs from battles typical of Akan fashion. The Ashanti swordsman became the "horned headed man"; the Ashanti commander became "Pitchy patchy" who also wears a battledress with what would resemble charms, referred to as a "Batakari".[7]"...

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EXCERPT #2: JONKANOO TRADITIONS IN THE BAHAMAS
From https://www.bahamas.com/junkanoo
"WHAT IS JUNKANOO?
Although the roots of the Junkanoo parade remain subject to long and passionate debates, what is agreed, is that after centuries of practice, today's cultural extravaganzas have become the most entertaining street carnivals of not only The Bahamas, but also the world at large.
With the costumes, dance, and music inspired by a different theme each time, preparations for the Boxing Day, New Year's Day and summertime Junkanoo literally take months, and bring together men and women from all different walks of life.

[...]

THE HISTORY OF JUNKANOO
Legend has it that you haven't needed an excuse to party in The Bahamas for well over 500 years.

But ask folks here at the top of the Caribbean how The Bahamas Junkanoo tradition got started and they'll all tell you a different story—with many believing it was established by John Canoe, a legendary West African Prince, who outwitted the English and became a local hero; and others suspecting it comes from the French ‘gens inconnus,’ which translates as 'unknown' or 'masked people".

The most popular belief, however, is that it evolved from the days of slavery. Loyalists who migrated to The Bahamas in the late 18th Century brought their African slaves with them. The slaves were given three days off during the Christmas season, which they used to celebrate by singing and dancing in colorful masks, traveling from house to house, often on stilts. Junkanoo nearly vanished after slavery was abolished but the revival of the festival in The Bahamas now provides entertainment for many thousands."...

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EXCERPT #3
From https://www.ourstate.com/jonkonnu-is-a-whirl-of-song-and-dance/ Jonkonnu Is A Whirl of Song and Dance

Every Christmas, the little-known antebellum tradition of Jonkonnu, found almost nowhere else in North America, comes to life in New Bern.

by Bryan Mims,  Dec 12, 2015
…."Christmas is a couple of weeks off yet, and the air on this Saturday night is crisp. A crowd gathers expectantly along the brick sidewalks, as if awaiting the fa-la-la-la-la of carolers. But then a woman’s voice makes a shrill call. She emerges from a house, yelling something that sounds like, “John Canoe is coming! John Canoe is coming!”

Before long, others stream out of the house: A man in a getup of rags from neck to toe and wide horns on his head. Another man, dapper in a dark suit, vest, and top hat. Men in straw hats, pounding on drums. Someone in a raccoon headdress. Women in raggedy dresses with white cloths on their heads, dancing. Little girls in bonnets keeping step, smiling. To the beat of the drums, they sing: Funga alafia, ashay ashay! Funga alafia, ashay ashay! 

The West African chant roughly translates to, “I welcome you into my heart.” *

A year’s worth of celebrations

This festive scene plays out four times every December in New Bern for the celebration of Jonkonnu. (It’s pronounced like John Canoe, though the name’s origin is something of a mystery.) Twice each on the second and third Saturdays in December, during the palace’s candlelight celebration, African-American reenactors dance and sing, just as slaves in eastern North Carolina once did on the day after Christmas.

The man costumed in shreds of cloth — the ragman, he’s called — leads the procession after the shrill-voiced woman — she’s the town crier — runs through the crowd to announce the coming spectacle. Revelers go door to door with a big tin cup to collect coins. In plantation days, slaveholders were the ones giving the dancers money and other small gifts. This reenactment lasts 30 minutes or so, but the beat of the antebellum celebrations often would go on all day, with the ragman doing something that was totally taboo the other 364 days of the year: shaking hands with the slave master.

[…]

Blended cultures

Spalding started the drumbeat for a regular reenactment of Jonkonnu in New Bern. In the late ’90s, he was working full-time at Tryon Palace, the first permanent state capitol and governor’s house for the colony. “I was looking for ways to develop more of an interpretation of the African-American history of Tryon Palace,” he says. “I was aware of some of the Jamaican musical traditions, which probably contributed to the Jonkonnu celebrations here in North Carolina.”

Those celebrations, he says, began in the state in the early 1800s, and were likely started by slaves brought from Jamaica. And those celebrations mostly stayed in North Carolina. Spalding says there are no accounts that Jonkonnu took place elsewhere in the South, save for one celebration just north of the state line in Virginia. Why? “Good question,” he says. It’s also unknown whether the festivals ever occurred in New Bern itself. Much of Spalding’s knowledge about what the ritual looked like comes from an 1829 description written by a slaveholder at Somerset Plantation in Washington County. Hillsborough and Wilmington were two other places known to host Jonkonnu festivals.

“I believe what you see in Jonkonnu is a melding of several different West African festival traditions with English traditions,” Spalding says. “The fusion of these different traditions occurred in Jamaica.” Jonkonnu spread to other Caribbean locales, such as the Bahamas and Belize.

The slaves made their costumes with whatever they could scrounge up: tablecloths, sleeping gowns, rags. Records show slave masters, too, often bought regalia for Jonkonnu parties. The crowd roved from house to house in the community, clapping and cavorting and carrying on. “Sometimes, you wouldn’t even know who was living in the next plantation until this event came about,” Bryant says. Unbeknownst to white listeners, some of the songs ribbed and mocked the slave masters.

Jonkonnu festivals faded in North Carolina by the end of the 19th century, with Jim Crow laws discouraging African-Americans from throwing boisterous parties in the street. But now, on two Saturday nights in December, the sounds of shouting, drumming, and clapping burst onto the street like a ragtag dance troupe. There they go, to the middle of Pollock Street, to the wrought-iron fence of Tryon Palace, past spectators smiling and clapping. Some don’t just spectate; they join in.

Jonkonnu is a rare sound of joy born out of a sorrowful episode in American history. That unbridled joy, absent the sorrow, returns every Christmastime among the lovely old houses of George Street."
-snip-
The article that is excerpted in this pancocojams post describes the song "Funga Alafia" as a "West African chant". However, the song "Funga Alafia" was composed by African American drummer and dancer LaRocque Bey in Harlem (New York City) in 1959 or 1960. Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2019/04/the-real-origin-of-song-funga-alafia.html for the 2019 pancocojams post entitled "The REAL Origin Of The Song "Funga Alafia" - Hint: It Isn't A Liberian Song, Or A Nigerian Song, Or A Traditional African Song".

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Visitor comments are welcome.

How Black Americans Celebrated Christmas In The Antebellum South

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides extensive excerpts from two online articles about how Black Americans celebrated Christmas in the antebellum South (19th century Southern USA before the Civil War).

An excerpt from a previous pancocojams post about Jonkanoo in the Caribbean is given in the Addendum as a comparison to the information about the antebellum South's kunering traditions.

The content of this post is presented for historical and cultural purposes.

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to the authors of these articles.

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EXCERPT #1
From http://gwtwscrapbook.blogspot.com/2010/12/black-christmas-in-antebellum-south.html#more
..."Eliza Ripley recounts the ceremony of distributing gifts at her own plantation, along with the custom of giving everyone a dram or "drap" of whiskey, a custom also mentioned in Gone with the Wind:

"The following morning, Christmas Day, the field negroes were summoned to the back porch of the big house, where Marse Jim, after a few preliminary remarks, distributed the presents—a head handkerchief, a pocketknife, a pipe, a dress for the baby, shoes for the growing boy (his first pair, maybe), etc., etc., down the list. Each gift was received with a 'Thankee, sir,' and, perhaps, also a remark [about] its usefulness. Then after Charlotte brought forth the jug of whisky and the tin cups, and everyone had a comforting dram, they filed off to the quarters, with a week of holiday before them and a trip to town to do their little buying."
--excerpt from Social Life in Old New Orleans, Being Recollections of my Girlhood

Many planters went further than just a dram of whiskey and made alcohol available in larger quantities, especially during the Christmas dinner in the slave quarters. "Not to be drunk during the holidays was a disgrace," the famous Frederick Douglass remarked. But though alcohol was a big part of the holidays' attraction, it was by no means the only one. "Slaves lived jus' fo' Christmas to come round," recalls Fanny Berry, an ex-slave. Christmas was the time for re-uniting families and for creating new ones. Husbands that worked on neighboring plantations would come home to see the babies born in their absence for the first time. Men and women would take advantage of the holiday to get married.

In his Social Life in Old Virginia Before the War, Thomas Nelson Page recalls that no Christmas holiday would pass without at least one wedding in the slave quarters. The bride's trousseau was usually assembled with the help of the master's family, as Eliza Ripley recounts herself, and the wedding would be officiated by the master (or on occasions, a black preacher) in the mansion or down at the slave quarters.

Giving the plantation slaves some time off during the winter holiday was the sensible, let alone moral thing to do after a year of work. Not only that it allowed workers to rest and regain their strength, but it also attenuated a lot of the tension and resentment people in their situation would otherwise feel. It was Frederick Douglass who noted that "those holidays were among the most effective means in the hands of slave holders of keeping down the spirit of insurrection among the slaves."

But even so, not every planter was as moral as our saintly Colonel Openheart and not every planter was a sensible being. Many in fact were neither. Even in the last years of slavery, there were plantations on which the idea of giving slaves a day off on Christmas had never been posed. One particularly cruel master, by the name of Bennett Barrow, was in the custom of sharpening punishment for his slaves on Christmas day and taking the occasion to sanction misdemeanors from around the year. And even on the plantations where planters did allow their slaves to celebrate Christmas, it appears that four days was the maximum of time off that the workers could generally aspire to.

Nonetheless, the black inhabitants of the plantations began to recognize this free period as one of their rights and developed specific ways to celebrate it. One of the most famous, and peculiar, was the custom called Koonering (also appearing as John Koonering, John Canoeing or John Kunering) in which men dressed as animals or disguised with various masks would parade around the plantation, dancing and making noise.

Parallel to the Christmas parties of their masters, the slaves would hold their own parties in the slave quarters. A big supper was usually prepared in front of the cabins, as a counterpart to the meals served to the whites at the mansion. After the war, most of the ex-slaves remembered these meals as being the most lavish they had ever seen, with a wide variety of dishes including "roasted chickens, ducks, turkeys, pigs, and maybe a wild ox, varieties of vegetables, biscuits, preserves, tarts, and pies." Dancing would inevitably follow, in the sounds of fiddles and banjos and guitars, and the white masters would sometimes come down to watch as well."....

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EXCERPT #2
From http://thegrio.com/2013/12/25/how-slaves-celebrated-christmas/
How slaves celebrated Christmas in America by Theodore R. Johnson | December 25, 2013
..."Christmas as a respite from hardship

Christmastime on southern antebellum plantations was the occasion that slaves looked forward to the most. Even while subjected to the evils of slavery and its horrors, blacks managed to find small pockets of joy in this holiday celebration. As former slave Charley Hurt told federal officials tasked to document his experiences, “Dat was one day on Massa’s place when all am happy and forgets dey am slaves.”

Based on a collection of slave narratives the government collected as part of the Federal Writer’s Project in the late 1930s, we know that Christmas was observed on nearly all such plantations, with black slaves and white slave owners often celebrating together. Black household servants and field hands were usually given a break from their daily labor lasting anywhere from two to seven days.

While some have contended the holiday spirit caused slaveowners to temporarily treat their slaves with some measure of dignity, the reality is the celebration was used to reinforce paternalism, encourage slave allegiance, and provide what Frederick Douglass described as a, “safety valve to carry off the rebellious spirit of enslaved humanity.”

In other words, Christmas was used to keep slaves passive and in check.

Christmas: A time of controlled plenty

Despite this, blacks found a way to make this time significant by strengthening communal bonds, reuniting families, and rejuvenating their bodies and spirits from the extremely brutal conditions of slavery.

On a typical plantation Christmas, slaves would awake and actually seek out whites because it was customary for all slaves to receive gifts. To get their presents, they played a game called Christmas Gift. When slaves first encountered whites on that morning, the first to shout “Christmas Gift!” would be the winner, to which the loser must give a gift. Of course, the slaves were always allowed to win to, because whites often refused to accept gifts from them. That would signal some measure of equality and disrupt the social order.

Later in the morning, many slave-owning families would gather all of the domestic servants and field hands together and pass out presents in a more formal manner. The children would receive candy or hand-me-down toys, and sometimes coins were thrown at them. The adults usually received gifts of necessity, such as clothes and shoes to replace their tattered garments. These gifts were how slave owners protected their investment, as proper clothing was better for a slave’s health and morale.

In many places, slaves that picked the most cotton, or had a child, were given special gifts as a reward for their increased productivity. These gift-giving rituals served as a reminder to the slaves that their owners were in total control and even their most basic needs were provided at the whim of whites....

Breaking “normal” rules at Christmas

Christmas was also one of the few times of the year when slaves were allowed to eat a wealth of fresh meat, fruits, and baked goods. Their diet usually consisted of cornmeal and salted meat, so the holiday meal was a welcome change they eagerly anticipated.

Plus, slaves were usually permitted to congregate in the house only during holiday season. These large meals with blacks and whites eating in adjacent rooms were often followed by lots of music and dancing.

Additionally, slaves were provided with just about all the alcohol they could drink. It is widely thought this was done to keep them inebriated and, thus, incapable of organizing a revolt. Francis Fedric was an escaped slave who recounted how his master used to force his slaves to drink too much. And then he’d have them gather around, all of them extremely drunk, and tell them they obviously don’t know how to be responsible with their freedom, and that they were lucky to have him as a master to keep them from ruining themselves.

Slaves create their own traditions

Christmas was also used to ensure slaves accepted the version of Christianity their masters practiced. Religion was used as a tool to keep slaves complacent and to convey the notion that God approved of their condition. But in parts of the coastal South, many slaves broke away from the Christian tradition and engaged in festivities with roots from their West African heritage in a celebration called “John Kunering.”

The primary element of the John Kunering ceremony consisted of black men dressed in rags and animal skins, playing instruments, singing, dancing, and marching from home to home to perform for masters and overseers. Those who witnessed the show were to reward the men with money and alcohol.

This ritual has the same roots as New Orleans “second line” parades and is a precursor to the modern-day performances of black marching bands and the step routines of black fraternities and sororities."...

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ADDENDUM: EXCERPT ABOUT JONKANOO IN THE CARIBBEAN
From http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2013/12/a-traditional-caribbean-jonkunnu-song.html
"Jonkannu is a Christmas festivity which dates back to the days of slavery [in the Caribbean.] Processions of merrymakers, masked dancers and drummers go through the streets singing and playing fifes. The masks the dancers wear are often made to resemble the heads of cows and horses, and other characters like the Bride and Devil are mimed. During slavery, the Jonkunnu processions collected money from the onlookers to pay for their own Christmas celebrations and this song was sung to draw attention to their lack of finery and money to pay for it."...

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From http://www.yale.edu/glc/belisario/Bilby.pdf "Masking the Spirit in the South Atlantic World: Jankunu’s Partially‐ Hidden History", Kenneth Bilby, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago; 2007.
..."Kenneth Bilby wrote that "The historical evidence strongly suggests that the Jankunu festival originated in Jamaica during the 18th century – possibly earlier. From there it seems to have spread to other English speaking colonial territories where slavery was entrenched, including British Honduras (now known as Belize) and other parts of Central America, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and the Bahamas." Bilby indicates that contemporary researchers have focused "three “clusters” of West African festival traditions: 1) the yam festival of the Mmo secret society of the Igbo peoples; 2) the Egungun masquerades of the Yoruba; and, 3) the Homowo yam festival of the Ga people (Patterson 1969 [1967]: 244‐47)" as the sources for the Jonkanoo celebrations. But "the evidence suggests that the more obviously European‐derived components of the Christmas festivities – which included “actor” characters, mumming troupes, and fife and drum bands – eventually overshadowed the more obviously African‐derived components. Those aspects of the creolized Christmas celebrations generally perceived to be of African origin were heavily stigmatized, and their suppression gradually forced them underground, while those aspects understood to be of European derivation emerged as the dominant forms....) "

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Visitor comments are welcome.

A Traditional Caribbean Jonkonoo Song & Three Contemporary Jonkanoo Videos From The Bahamas

Edited by Azizi Powell

This post provides a song example, information, comments, and video examples of Jonkanoo.

Part I of this post showcases a text (word only) version of the traditional Caribbean song "Christmus A Come" from the 1981 book Mango Spice- 44 Caribbean Songs edited by Yvonne Conolly, Gloria Cameron, and Sonia Singham (with music scores & drawings; A&C Black, London, pp.33-34). The editors' notes to this song, which are included in this post, describe "Christmus A Come" as a Jonkunnu song.

Part II of this post provides general information & comments about Jonkanoo in the Caribbean and in the United States.

Part III of this post showcases three contemporary videos of Jonkunnu celebrations from the Bahamas.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

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PART I: LYRICS: CHRISTMUS A COME
(traditional Caribbean)

Christmus a come, me wan me lama,
Christmus a come, me wan me lama,
Christmus a come, me wan me deggeday,
Christmus a come, me wan me deggeday.

Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me lama,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me lama,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday.

Not a shoe to me foot, me wan me lama,
Not a shoe to me foot, me wan me lama.
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday,
Pretty, pretty gal, me wan me deggeday.

Not a hat to me head...

Not a bangle to me han...
-snip-
Notes:
"This is a Jonkannu song. Jonkannu is a Christmas festivity which dates back to the days of slavery. Processions of merrymakers, masked dancers and drummers go through the streets singing and playing fifes. The masks the dancers wear are often made to resemble the heads of cows and horses, and other characters like the Bride and Devil are mimed. During slavery, the Jonkunnu processions collected money from the onlookers to pay for their own Christmas celebrations and this song was sung to draw attention to their lack of finery and money to pay for it.

lama-presents
deggeday-finery"

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PART II: ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ABOUT JONKANOO
From http://www.yale.edu/glc/belisario/Bilby.pdf "Masking the Spirit in the South Atlantic World: Jankunu’s Partially‐ Hidden History", Kenneth Bilby, Center for Black Music Research, Columbia College, Chicago; 2007.

Kenneth Bilby wrote that "The historical evidence strongly suggests that the Jankunu festival originated in Jamaica during the 18th century – possibly earlier. From there it seems to have spread to other English speaking colonial territories where slavery was entrenched, including British Honduras (now known as Belize) and other parts of Central America, North and South Carolina, Virginia, and the Bahamas." Bilby indicates that contemporary researchers have focused "three “clusters” of West African festival traditions: 1) the yam festival of the Mmo secret society of the Igbo peoples; 2) the Egungun masquerades of the Yoruba; and, 3) the Homowo yam festival of the Ga people (Patterson 1969 [1967]: 244‐47)" as the sources for the Jonkanoo celebrations. But "the evidence suggests that the more obviously European‐derived components of the Christmas festivities – which included “actor” characters, mumming troupes, and fife and drum bands – eventually overshadowed the more obviously African‐derived components. Those aspects of the creolized Christmas celebrations generally perceived to be of African origin were heavily stigmatized, and their suppression gradually forced them underground, while those aspects understood to be of European derivation emerged as the dominant forms....)

As a result, in Jamaica today, although its partial African origins are still acknowledged, Jankunu is almost universally understood to be a secular form of masquerading involving silent mumming by all‐male troupes to the music of fife and drum bands. Singing is never involved in these newer, now dominant forms. Investigation of the written historical sources, however, shows that Jankunu was quite different from this during its heyday in the 18th and 19th centuries, when it flourished on slave plantations. As opposed to silent mumming backed by a fife and drum band, the older forms of Jankunu most often featured a mixed male‐female chorus, and a lead dancer wearing a large headdress in the shape of a house, together with a unique type of square or rectangular frame drum played with the hands, known as the gumbe (also sometimes spelled gumbay or goombay)"

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From http://www.presnc.org/Community/Jonkonnu-Celebration-at-Bellamy-Mansion Jonkonnu Celebration at Bellamy Mansion , February 04, 2008
"This [Jonkanoo] festival - a unique blend of West African traditions -- used to take place between Christmas and New Year's from antebellum times through the late 19th century. Originating in enslaved communities, it included masked dancers, vibrant costumes and original songs and chants performed to the sound of bones, cows' horns, drums and triangles. The musicians' songs were in the African tradition of call and response and included sometimes irreverant songs about their masters.

The group paraded from house to house, stopping to perform and collect coins and candies from the people inside, usually their white masters. The procession concluded at their quarters where festvities continued including the serving of foods, among them sweet cakes like gingerbread. The first recorded report of Jonkonnu was in 1774 from the Caribbean, where it still thrives. Jonkonnu appeared in North America, but it was not widespread. Antebellum accounts of the festivities all come from North Carolina. There are descriptions from Edenton, Hillsborough, and Creswell, but Jonkonnu thrived longest in the Wilmington area. In her 1861 book, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs, an escaped slave from Edenton, recounted the excitement that accompanied the festive holiday event and describes the colorful ragman costumes, dancing, music, and gumba box drums.”

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From http://voices.yahoo.com/junkanoo-north-carolina-african-7471872.html Junkanoo in North Carolina: An African American Celebration" by Niambi Davis, Yahoo Contributor Network
Dec 25, 2010
..."Questions of spelling and origin aside, one thing is certain - Junkanoo is African to its core.
Junkanoo is considered a Bahamian or Jamaican tradition, but two centuries ago, African-Americans in North Carolina observed a nearly identical celebration. They called it Johnkankus; and like their Caribbean counterparts, masqueraders took to the road in costumes made from colorful rags, tattered clothing, wigs and cast-off finery. They wore masks and made music from whatever could be found - bottles, bones, spoons, castanets - anything that called up the ancestral rhythm; one that survived the middle passage and thwarted every futile attempt to stamp it out. Johnkankus was a festive time, a brief respite from the day-to-day grind of life as a slave. Harriet Jacobs, author of "Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Written by Herself," noted that "every child rises early on Christmas morning to see the Johnkankus...These companies of a hundred each, turn out early in the morning and are allowed to go around until twelve o'clock (midnight)."

Not everyone looked forward to Johnkankus with the same excitement. According to one observer "there are grades among the slaves as in all other classes of society, and those who rank highest will not join in this species of beggary and frolick combined."Johnkankus waned in popularity after emancipation. For many African Americans, instead of a celebration of heritage, it was an unwelcome reminder of their slave past. Shortened to "konering" or "coonering," the words became synonymous with "low-class buffoonery."...

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From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junkanoo
"Junkanoo is a street parade with music which occurs in many towns across The Bahamas every Boxing Day (December 26), New Year's Day and, more recently, in the summer on the island of Grand Bahama. The largest Junkanoo parade happens in Nassau, the capital. There are also Junkanoo parades in Miami in June and Key West in October, where the local black American populations have their roots in the Bahamas. In addition to being a culture dance for the Garifuna people,[1] [2] this type of dancing is also performed in Jamaica on Independence day and other historical holidays."
-snip-
http://mudcat.org/detail_pf.cfm?messages__Message_ID=1651185
The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #88125 Message #1651185
Posted By: Azizi
18-Jan-06 - 05:56 PM
Thread Name: Iko Iko http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=88125
Subject: RE: Iko Iko
"I'm not sure if anyone else has made a connection between the Mardi Gras Indians and the Jonkonnu {John Canoe} celebrations by 19th* century {and probably earlier} African Americans in the South. Both feature masking and promenading in the streets. Both seem to be a blend of West African, Caribbean, and English traditions.

See this description of the early Mardi Gras Indian costumes from the Grateful Dead page whose link was provided earlier: http://www3.clearlight.com/~acsa/introjs.htm?/~acsa/songfile/IKOIKO.HTM

Reg Johnsey came up with this explanation {for the reference to chicken wire in the song "Iko Iko":
"The way country people celebrated Carnivale/Mardis Gras was to make conical masks out of chicken wire and decorate them, wearing them with costumes festooned with strips of cloth. So, the references to fixing someone's chicken wire sounds like a joking threat to mess up their masks, since part of the battle was how good the costumes were."

And see this excerpt from this website:
Pulse Planet: Jonkonnu http://www.pulseplanet.com/dailyprogram/dailies.php?POP=3067..."
-snip-
*I wrote 18th century" but meant "19th century". However, I've read that the earliest date that Jonkanuu is documented in the Caribbean is 1774. That said, I think that it's unlikely that Jonkonoo customs occurred in the the United States until the 19th century.
-snip-
Also, visit this pancocojams post http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2012/02/jonkanoo-gombey-new-orleans-indians.html "Jonkanoo, Gombey, New Orleans Indians, & The Philadelphia Mummers Costume Traditions" and read this historical overview of Jonkanoo http://www.bahamasentertainers.com/Paper/jnkno.html

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PART III:
FEATURED JONKANOO VIDEOS
Example #1: One Family 2012 New Years Day Junkanoo 1



hugomanager, Uploaded on Jan 4, 2012
-snip-
"One Family" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Example #2: Saxons 2010 Boxing Day Junkanoo 14



hugomanager Uploaded on Dec 30, 2010
-snip-
"Saxons" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Example #3: Valley Boys 2011 New Years Junkanoo 1



hugomanager, Uploaded on Jan 3, 2011
-snip-
"Valley Boys" is the name of a Jonkanoo group in the Bahamas.

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Thanks to the editors of Mango Spice for the words to the song "Christmus A Come" and for information about Jonkanoo.

Thanks to all those who I quoted in this post and thanks to hugomanager for publishing the featured videos of contemporary Jonkanoo parade groups in the Bahamas.

Thanks for visiting pancoocjams.

Visitor comments are welcome.