The History Of The Hoochie Coochie Dance (including information about The Song "Ham Fat Man")

MindsiMedia Home, March 6, 2019

Here's a 19th century film clip from Edison studios in it a young dancer named Ella Lola performs a period "Oriental" dance (commonly known as a belly dance) with some Turkish styling. She performs distinctive  hoochie coochie dance movements that include shoulder shimmies with pelvic movements and several foot patterns, side traveling movements with pelvic circles, a slow pelvic circle and a front pelvic lock, and paddle turns with various arm gestures. Her dance costume consists of a two-layered skirt to the knee, a hip belt with fringe, a chemise-like shirt under a fitted vest, several layers of necklaces and front decoration, white stockings, white--perhaps ballet--shoes, and a glittering fitted cap.

Background on the dancer provided by dance ethnologist Michelle Forner, 5/22/96. From the New York clipper, 4/19/02, p. 167: Ella Lola was born Sept. 2, 1883, in Boston, and made her first appearance as a dancer at the age of eleven years, and by her clever work has steadily come to the fore, until now she takes rank among the best in her class. She has been featured at various times with road companies, and has met with success at the leading vaudeville houses through the country. CREATED/PUBLISHED Apparently filmed in Thomas Edison's "Black Maria" studio in West Orange, New Jersey in 1898. Music is “Bazar” by Lobo Loco downloaded from FreeMusicArchive. You can find more music by them here. http://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lob...

And here's a link to an interesting post on Edison's films. http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article...

-snip-
I reformatted this video summary to enhance its readability.

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Edited by Azizi Powell

This is Part I of a two part pancocojams series on the Hoochie Coochie Dance.

This post showcases a 19th century film clip of what is now called "the Hoochie Coochie dance".

This post also presents a long excerpt from a 2016 blog post written by Peter Jensen Brown. Peter Jensen Brown's blog post presents some history about what is now called "the Hoochie Coochie dance". I'm particularly interested in portions of that blog post that provides information about early forms of that dance name and portions of that post that provides information about and lyrics for the African American song "The Ham Fat Man".

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2022/09/examples-of-childrens-recreational.html for Part II of this pancocojams series. That post presents some examples of English language children's recreational rhymes that include a reference to the "Hoochie Coochie dance".

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to Thomas Edison for this film and thanks to Ella Lola, the dancer who is featured in this film.
Thanks to Peter Jensen Brown and all those who are quoted in this post.

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THE HISTORY OF THE HOOCHIE KOOCHIE DANCE   
From https://esnpc.blogspot.com/2016/07/part-ii-history-and-etymology-of.html#:~:text=The%20exotic%2C%20erotic%20form%20of,dance%E2%80%9D%20or%20danse%20du%20ventre The History and Etymology of the "Hoochie-Coochie" Dance.

Peter Jensen Brown,  July 8, 2016

Part II - the History and Etymology of the "Hoochie-Coochie" Dance
..."The exotic, erotic form of dancing popularized at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 would only later become known as the “coochie-coochie” or “hoochie-coochie.”.  When the dance rose to prominence three years earlier, at the Paris World’s Fair, the dance was generally referred to as the “stomach dance” or danse du ventre (French for dance of the stomach).  During the six-month run of the Chicago fair, the dance was generally referred to as, danse du ventre, “mussle dance,” “stomach dance” or the “Midway dance.”

 About one year before the Chicago World’s Fair, a dancer named “Avita” (or “Vita”), an Italian-American dancer who was educated in a convent in France, introduced a dance called the “Kouta-Kouta” in a Broadway play about a man who inherited his uncle’s harem when the uncle (as it turned out) faked his own death to avoid facing his first wife.  Avita said she learned the dance in India from a Rajah’s favorite dancer.  The dance may not have been precisely the same as a belly dance, but it was considered just as risqué, and was lumped together with the other exotic dances that shocked and titillated American audiences.

Shortly after the fair closed, and occasionally during the fair, the name, “Kouta-Kouta” (or the like), became widely associated with Midway dances at the fair.  The name “Coochie-Coochie” first appeared in print about one year after the fair closed; apparently derived from “Kouta-Kouta” under the influence of the expressions, “kutchy, kutchy” and “hootchy, kootchy, kootchy,” which had been popular song lyrics from as early as 1863.  The transition from “Coochie-Coochie” to “Hoochie-coochie” may have been further influenced by a linguistic template favoring rhyming reduplication expressions that begin with “H”, like “helter skelter,” hocus pocus,” and “hodge podge”[i]; and earlier such dancing girl-related expressions like, “hurdy gurdy,” “honky tonk” and “hula-hula,” all of which were in use before “hoochie coochie.”

The dancer named “Little Egypt,” who frequently gets credit for popularizing the dance at the fair, first appears in the written record within weeks after the fair closed.  It is possible that she danced at the fair, but if she did, she did not appear to achieve any degree of notoriety.  She did not become famous, or infamous, until taking her clothes off at a bachelor party thrown for one of P. T. Barnum’s grandsons in 1896.

(See Part I: The "Kouta-Kouta" and the "Coochie-Coochie - a History and Etymology of the "Hoochie-Coochie" Dance.)

[...]

The “kouta-kouta” (by that name) was still being performed in Washington DC[v] and Pittsburg[vi] during 1895.

In late-1894 and again in 1896, two newspapers in Washington DC referred to the dance with an apparently transitional form of the word, midway between “Kouta-Kouta” and “Coochie-Coochie”:

The kutcha-kutcha dance, which was put on with the Reily & Wood show at Kernan's Theater, Monday night, was stopped yesterday by Mr. Kernan, who was much displeased with it.

Washington Post, December 5, 1894, page 6.[vii]

[...]

But by late-1896, the expression “Coochie-Coochie,” which first appeared as early as late-1894, had almost completely erased “Kouta-Kouta,” and “Hoochie-Coochie” was starting to make inroads.

Coochie-Coochie

The earliest example of “coochie-coochie” (or the like) that I could find, in the sense of an exotic, erotic dance, is from a fair in New Jersey; on the other side of New York City from White Plains, where the “kouta-kouta” was still in use:

VICE AND VLUGARITY AT A FAIR.

UNWORTHY FEATURES OF THE SOMERSET COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SHOW

Somerville, N. J., Sept. 13 (Special). – “Come, gents, walk right up and see the ‘Couchee-Couchee Dance.’ For gents only, remember; no ladies allowed.”

New York Tribune, September 14, 1894, page 5.

In February of 1895, a high-society “French Ball” in New York City featured a woman in a skin-tight, flesh-colored body suit, a high-kicker, a “hula-hula” dancer and the “coochie-coochie.”  The police were on hand to stop any funny business.  A reporter was on hand to chronicle the madness.  And the band played “snatches from the coochie coochie,” suggesting that the song, “Poor Little Country Maid” may already have been known

[…]

The “coochie coochee” music played at the masked ball may have been the popular song, “The Streets of Cairo; or The Poor Little Country Maid,” a song about a naïve young country girl who loses her innocence at the fair and gets a job, appearing “each night, in abbreviated clothes.”

The lyrics featured the now familiar expression, “kutchy, kutchy”:

She never saw the Streets of Cairo,
On the Midway she had never strayed,
She never saw the kutchy, kutchy,
Poor little country maid.[viii]

The now-familiar melody is now played in every cartoon ever made with a snake charmer or a Middle Eastern dancing girl.  I think I learned the tune in the second grade; it went something like this: “There’s a place in France, where the Ladies wear no pants, but the men don’t care, ‘cause they wear no underwear.”  Andy Bernard sang it on "The Office" (with slightly different lyrics); and Dan Quinn recorded the original version of the song in 1895.

The same tune was published separately in 1895 as an instrumental called, “Kutchy Kutchy, or the Midway Dance.”

The iconic first five notes of the song (da-da-dah dah dah) are said to be identical to a French dancing song, “Colin Prend Sa Hotte,” which “appears in a French songbook from 1719”; and which, in turn, is nearly identical to “an Algerian or Arabic melody known as Kradoutja . . . popular in France since 1600.”[ix]

The melody had also been associated with exotic dancers during the Chicago World’s Fair.  The theme appears in the “Persian Dancers” section of Gustav Luders’ 1893 composition, “An Afternoon in Midway Plaisance”[x]; beginning in the fourth measure.

It may be only a coincidence, but the fact that the original title of the “kouta-kouta” dance melody was apparently “Kradoutja” in France makes me wonder.  Is “Kouta” a corruption of “Kradoutja”?  I don’t know, and there’s no other suggestion that it is.  But still, the fact that exotic, Middle Eastern dance forms were a hit in Paris before they came to the United States, and that they knew the melody as “Kradoutja,” makes me wonder. 

Of course, I do not know how well known “Kradoutja” was in France, or whether it was popularly associated with Middle Eastern dance there, so the jury is still out.  French linguists – a little help please.  But the first use of the expression, “Kouta-Kouta,” by the dancer “Avita,” who said that she learned the dance in India, may be a more likely explanation for the origin of “hoochie coochie,” as applied to the dance. (See Part I).

By 1896, when Thomas Edison took time off from working on his nickel-a-view X-ray machine to film an exotic dancer doing the “coochie-coochie,” the expression “kouta-kouta” was nearly extinct:

New York, March 29. – Thomas A. Edison ceased experimenting with X-rays today just long enough to see some Coochee-Coochee dancers photographed for exhibition in his kinetoscope.  Then he went back to his Crookes tubes and stayed at work all night, for his wife was away.

The wizard has almost completed another nickel-in-the-slot machine.  You put your hand in a box containing X-rays and a fluorescent screen.  Drop in a nickel and see the bones of your hand.

 The Pacific Commercial Advertiser (Honolulu, Hawaii), April 20, 1896, page 1.

Through the magic of Youtube – you can still see Edison’s Coochee-Coochee dancers (note, I do not vouch for the dates or titles; these are early images – but the dates, titles and places may be wrong):

Black Maria, Hoochie Coochie (1894) Thomas A. Edison
Fatima’s Coochee-Coochee Dance – Edison - 1896
Little Egypt (Fatima Djemille) 1896 Edison
Edison Dancer Ella Lola – Turkish Dancer (1898)

The expression, “coochie-coochie” had a brief run of dominance, but “hoochie-coochie” was not far behind.

Hoochie-Coochie

One of the earliest examples of “hoochie-coochie” I could find date to 1896, in the title of another song about the fair, “When I Do the Hoochy Coochy in de Sky.”  The lyrics refer several attractions from the World’s Fair and reflect the casually racist language of the day (“coon” and “nig”) – and again with the X-rays:

They’ll turn the X-rays on me when the music plays,
So dat ev’ry one can see into the dance,
I’m goin’ to do the coochy seven thousand diff’rent ways,
And I’ll knock the Midway people in a trance.
Oh, I have got a big balloon
With a seat for ev’ry coon,
So now ev’ry nig must either go or die;
Don’t you listen to strange rumors,
but go buy a pair of “bloomers,”
For to do the hoochy coochy in the sky![xi]

In 1904, The Colored American (a newspaper based in Washington DC) called the songwriter, Gussie L. Davis, “[t]he most famous Negro composer of popular songs”; so it is not immediately clear whether they lyrics pandered to white attitudes and tastes, or reflected common black usage of the time.

Music historian, Charles Kennedy, in his essay, “When Cairo Met Main Street” (included in the book, Music and Culture in America, 1861-1918), places the expression, “hoochie coochie” (the dance) at Surf Avenue, Coney Island, in 1895 [xii]; which, if true, would make the expression older than the song, but still younger than “Kouta-Kouta” and “Coochie-Coochie.”

[UPDATE: September 4, 2017] The expression, "Hoochie Coochie," does, in fact, pre-date 1896.  It appeared in an account of the Great Southern Fair in November 1895:

After this [mock-wedding] ceremony the Hoochie coochie dance too place in the theatre.  This dance shows strange skill in the manipulation of all the muscles of the body, but its descriptino does not come within the bounds of propriety.  It is a credit to the managers of our North Carolina Fair that the Hoochie coochie was stopped, and I understand the Georgia legislature has passed a law against it, to take effect after the fair.

The Washington Gazette (Washington, North Carolina), November 14, 1895, page 2. [End Update]

Charles Kennedy also postulated that “hoochy coochy,” in the context of the song, did not refer to the then popular dance, but harkened back to an early meaning related to the lyric, “hoochee koochee koochee,” in the song, “The Ham Fat Man,” a staple of minstrel shows in the 1860s. [xiii]  I am inclined to disagree.  The song’s exhortation to “buy a pair of ‘bloomers,’ [f]or to do the hoochy coochy in the sky,” is a clear allusion to purchasing a loose-fitting pair of “harem pants,” now perhaps better known as “Hammer” pants (as in M. C. Hammer); precisely the types of pants someone might wear to do a “hoochie-coochie” dance.

But that is not to say that there is no connection between “hoochie-coochie” and “The Ham Fat Man.”  The transition from “Kouta-Kouta” to “Coochie-Coochie” and “Hoochie-Coochie” may have been influenced by a general familiarity with the old Ham-Fat lyrics; and perhaps to more recent popular songs of the 1880s, like “Kutchy, Kutchy My Baby” (1884) and “Kutchy, Kutchy Coo!” (1888).

[…]

If “Kutchy, Kutchy” was kissy-face, baby-talk nonsense in the 1880s, it may have been just rhyming, kissy-face nonsense in the 1860s, when “hootchy, cootchy, cootchy” is first attested – in the lyrics of “The Ham Fat Man.”

The Ham Fat Man

Both “hoochie-coochie” (derived from “coochie coochie”) and “coochie-coochie” (an altered form of kouta-kouta) may have been derived, at least in part, from a general familiarity with what was then a decades-old song lyric, “hootchy, kootchy, kootchy, I’m the Ham Fat Man.”  “The Ham Fat Man” was a staple of black-face minstrelsy in the 1860s, but is best known today as the inspiration for the word “hamfatter,” later shortened to “ham,” meaning a bad actor.

The earliest reference I could find to the song is in a report of a military construction battalion of free black workers erecting the defenses around Baltimore during the American Civil War:

[...]

At the time, the song was only a few years old.  The earliest indication of the song that I’ve found is an instruction to sing the early Civil War song, “The Union Man” (published in 1861) to the tune of “The Ham Fat Man.”[xiv]

Although Baltimore’s construction battalion is quoted as having sung, “Coochee, Coochee, Coochee,” other published versions of the song, and later reminiscences of the song, generally recite the lyric, “hoochy, koochy, koochy” (or equivalent).[xv]  Alternate versions of the song, however, used “rooksey, cooksey, cooksey[xvi] or “roochy coochy coochy.”[xvii]

The song, or performers who sang the song, seem to have been wildly popular for a time; with several rival performers claiming to be the “original” “Ham Fat Man.”  But by 1865, the song had already overstayed its welcome…

[…]

By 1903, with many of the old-time blackface performers dying away, the song may have reached such a level of obscurity that the origin of the term “hamfatter” (bad actor) was not widely known.  An old-timer explained the origins of the term for a new generation:

Perhaps from the giving away of ham at Pastor’s the impression may prevail that that’s just how the term ‘hamfatter’ for a bad performer originated but this is not so.

The expression is an old minstrel term and came from the refrain of a song and dance which goes something like this: ‘Ham fat, ham fat, smoking in the pan.’  This song became popular, and the performers and later the public caught up the term.  When a minstrel or a variety actor appeared and he was not up to the standard they used to yell at him, ‘Ham fat, ham fat, smoking in the pan.’  And this was abbreviated until poor actors were known as ‘hamfatters.’

The Rock Island Argus (Rock Island, Illinois), June 13, 1902 (reprint from the New York Sun).

Ham Fat Men

The “Ham Fat Man” was more than just a character in a minstrel show; he was based on an actual occupation.  Other occupations were also subject to parody by the minstrels.  One song book of the period[xix], for example, has songs about, “The Soap Fat Man” (another name for the “ham fat man”), “The Stage Driver,” “The Pop-Corn Man,” “The Charcoal Man,” “The Rat-Catcher’s Daughter,” “The Shop Gals,” and “The Candle Maker’s Daughter.”

Not long since a class of traders called “soap fat men” used to go from house to house exchanging soap for the refuse fat accumulated by housewifes.

The Democrat (London), Volume 2, Number 23, December 5, 1885, page 178.

Soap-fat men, or ham-fat men, were at the low end of the food chain.  Ham-fat men went door to door collecting leftover ham and bacon grease for delivery to a soap boiler.  The soap boiler, in turn, made soap and tallow candles to be sold or traded back to the households donating the fat.  A nostalgic piece from 1920 described the business as practiced in one neighborhood in Washington DC:

Who remembers the soap factory on the banks of Rock Creek at the terminus of Twenty-fifth and U streets, where you could take a quart bucket of grease and get a long bar of common soap, good for family washing, household scrubbing, etc?

The Washington Times (Washington DC), May 23, 1920, page 16.

A description of a poor neighborhood in which a quack doctor treated patients at the police station in the early 1800s lumps “soap-fat men” in with a number of other lowly trades:

These, however, were the aristocrats of my practice; the bulk of my patients were soap-fat men, rag-pickers, oystermen, hose-house bummers, and worse, with other and nameless trades, men and women, white, black, or mulatto.

The Century, volume 59, number 15, page 114.

[…]

But the “Ham Fat Man” did have one advantage; he had an opportunity to meet all of the women, cooks and kitchen staff in the neighborhood.  Like the milk man of later generations, the “Ham-Fat Man” of song was a sort of neighborhood lothario; precisely the kind of man who might be the “someone in the kitchen with Dinah,” another staple of minstrel performances.

The Lyrics

The various versions of “The Ham-Fat Man” and “The Soap Fat Man” that I have seen, involve a relationship with someone on his fat-collection route.  In “The Soap Fat Man,” which does not appear to be the same song, although it relates to a similar character, he seduces an “old maid” who is “fifty-six with a face of tan”; takes her to a “lager bier” garden; convinces her lend him $10 to open his own beer garden; and then absconds with the funds; as “he’d a wife and seven children, had the soap fat man.”

Two versions of “The Ham-Fat Man” may also offer a peek into social conditions that led to the development of so-called, “Soul Food;” traditional foods associated with African-American culture in the South.  Although some features of soul food relate back to grains and vegetables brought over from Africa, other elements of soul food reflect the practice of slave “owners” feeding their captive workers as cheaply as possible.  Slaves had to make do with what were considered less desirable “greens,” as well as less desirable cuts of meat.  The “Ham-Fat” Man is satisfied with the fat of the ham; who needs veal, venison, chicken, hare or lamb:

Oh! good-ev'n to you, white folks,
I'm glad to see you all,
I'm right from ole Virginny,
Which some people say will fall;
You may talk about ole massa,
But he am just de man,
To make de n[-words] happy
Wid de ham-fat man.

Chorus.

Ham-fat, ham-fat, zig a zig a zam,
Ham-fat, ham-fat frying in de pan;
Oh! roll into de kitchen fast, boys, as you can,
Oh! rooksey, cooksey, cooksey, I'm de ham-fat man.

Ole missus she's up stair
A-eating bread and honey;
Massa's in de store
A-counting ob his money;
But Susan's in de kitchen
Frying at de ham,
And saving all de gravy
For de ham-fat man.-Chorus.

Some n[-words] likes de mutton,
Puddin', cakes and jam;
Some like veal and venison,
Chicken, hare and lamb.
But of all dese birds and beastesses
Dat plow the raging main,
Dey're not to be compared
To gravy in de pan - Chorus.

In this version, his relationship with Susan seems to be a good one; she saves her “gravy” and “ham fat” just for him, in what may be a mildly naughty sexual suggestion.

In another version, the “Ham Fat Man” is jealous of his rivals; and his “yaller gal’s” loyalty may be suspect:

When wittels am so plenty, oh! I bound to get my fill;
I know a pretty yaller gal, and I lover her to kill,
If any n[-word] fools wid her, I’ll tan him if I can,
A Hoochee, Koochee, Koochee, says the Hamfat man.

A third version of the song involves a more brazen cheater, who leaves town with an Asian man:

White folks attention, and listen to my song
I’ll sing to you a ditty and it won’t detain you long
It’s all about a pretty girl, whose name was Sara Ann
And she fell deep in love with the ham fat man.

Ham fat, soap fat, candle fat or lard,
Ham fat, cat fat, or any other man,
Jump into the kitchen as quick as you can,
With my roochee, coochee, coochee, the ham fat man.

Now the ham fat man, he couldn't stand the press
For every day she wanted to buy a new dress
His money it was gone and the faithless Sara Ann
She hooked it off to Bathurst with a Chinaman

Elements of the second and third versions point to another early influence on the song; a traditional Irish song called, “The Cuckoo’s Nest.”  Both versions are about a woman who is, or may be, unfaithful, and the third version, from Australia, is said to be sung to the tune of “The Cuckoo’s Nest.”

The connection is plausible.  Although a musicologist might see it differently, you can make your own judgment.  Listen to the Australian version here* – and compare it to this version of “The Ham Fat Man” melody; there is a marked similarity, particularly in the chorus, which begins in the second line:

[…]

Summary

The expression, “hoochie, coochie, coochie,” dates to at least the early 1860s, as an apparently nonsense lyric in the popular minstrel song, “The Ham Fat Man.”  The expression may have been influenced by an older, melodically and rhythmically similar song, “The Cuckoo’s Nest.”  It may also have been understood as a kissing sound (as it would be later in the popular songs, “Kutchy, Kutchy, My Baby,” and “Kutchy, Kutchy, Coo!”), since the ham-fat man of the song generally had some sort of sumpin’-sumpin’ going on with someone.

The “Eastern” dance style popularized at the Paris World’s Fair in 1889 and Chicago World’s Fair of 1893 is not known to have been called the “coochie-coochie” or “hoochie-coochie” until a year or two after the fair closed.  The dancer, “Avita” (or “Vita”) introduced the “Kouta-Kouta” dance on Broadway in 1892, in the harem scene of the play, Elysium.  She claims to have learned the dance in India, where the word, “Kouta” is known to have been the name of a “quick style of dance” as early as 1858.  Avita toured the United States for at least a year, performing the “Kouta-Kouta” in New York, Indianapolis, and Washington DC, before taking the dance to London in early 1894, just a few months after the Chicago World’s Fair closed.

The dance name, “Kouta-Kouta, became associated, generally, with dancing at the Chicago World’s Fair before it closed in October, 1893.  By mid-1894, the “Kouta-Kouta” had made news in all corners of the country, usually in association with dancers said to have performed at the Midway Plaisance at the Chicago World’s Fair.  The name, “Coochie-Coochie,” first appeared in association with the dance in late-1894; and the name, “Hoochie-Coochie,” appeared about one year later.  By the end of 1896, the names, “Coochie-Coochie” and “Hoochie-Coochie” had nearly erased Avita’s “Kouta-Kouta” from the popular lexicon."
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*The word "here" in that article leads to this link which is still active on 9/22/2022: http://ozfolksongaday.blogspot.com/2011/05/ham-fat-man.html?m=1

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Games Played by Enslaved Black Children In 19th Century United States (Book Excerpt)

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides an excerpt from the section "The Play Of Slave Children" in "The Antebellum Period" chapter in the 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective, edited by Jearold Winston Holland  (Burnham Publishers, 2002)

This excerpt is given without citation sources. 

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

All copyrights remain with their owners. 

Thanks to the unknown creators of these games, and thanks to the memories of all the enslaved people ho played them. Thanks to Jearold Winston Holland for his research and writing and thanks to all those who are quoted in this pancocojams post.

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BOOK EXCERPT 
from the section entitled "The Play Of Slave Children" in Jearold Winton Holland's 2002 book Black Recreation: A Historical Perspective

[page] 95

.."The lives of most slave chilren changed drastically and significanly when they became old enough, big enough, and strong enough-generally between twelve and seventeen years of age-to join their fellow slaves in plantation work. Up until this time most children were fairly free to engage in typical childhood activities, sometimes having most of the day free. (80) However, unde some masters, slave children might be required to work much earlier.

[...]

Indeed, many slave children were required to work to earn their keep. Children, sometimes younger than six years old, performed a number of regular work-related tasks.  One young girl recalled having to keepwatch over the crop or livestock on the plantation by chasing away cows and keeping the animals from trambling through the plantation fields. Other youngster weeded,  

[page] 96

gathered wood, and plucked caterpillars from plans to six days each week. (83)

While their parents toiled in the fields under the hot sun, most children were essentially left alone to play and raise each other. The older childen cared for the younger ones and for themselves/  They might also perform some non-routine jobs such as carrying water to field slaves, clening yards, fetching wood, tending gardens, and feeding livestock....

Sometimes slave children wee allowed to play with white children.  Generally, black and white children loved playing ogether, but on some plantation this was forbidden. Most often it was the slave owner who objected to the children playing together.... However, as a general rule this practice was hard to enforce, and some black and whie children played together in secrecy.

In their play with whie children, slave children sometimes received some education, perhaps learning to count.  in additio, they picked up traditional American children's games such as shooting marbles, jumping rope, throwing horseshoes, playing hopscotch or mumblety-peg, and jumping poles/

[...]

[page] 97

[....]

When the slave children played among themselvess, they had to be more creative due to the lack of play materials and equipment. They became efficient improvisers, ofen developing and naming their own gamesand activites.

[...]

Perhaps because they wee not allowed to be formally educated, slave children often kept their minds sharp through involvement in intellectual games like riddles. William Henry Towns, an Alabama slave, recalled the following riddle recited by slave children:

Slick as a mole, Black as coal,
Got a great long tail like a thunder hole (A skillet)

Crooked as a rainbow, teeth like a cat,

[page] 98

Guess all of your life but you can't guess that (A blackberry bush)  87

There is evidence to suggest that some of he slave children's games came from their African heritage/ One such game was Hen and Hawk, in which the chicks line up behind he mother hen who protects them from the hawk or old witch.  The hen says:

Chickname, chickname chime crow,
I went to de well to wash my toe;
When I came back my chick was gone.
What o'clock ol' witch?

A colloquy between the hen nd the hawk follows:

Hawk: Hen, give me your chick
Hen: Hawk, I can't giv' you a chick
Hawk: I shall have a chick
Hen: You shan't have none. 88

Many of the children's games were cooperative in naure.  The majority of these games did not have specific names and were generally called "ring games". In ring games the children often joined hands or formed circles, singing and spinning around. Much like the games of many black children today, particularly those living in large metropolitan areas, those were accompanied by a variety of songs and riddless. The hildren would typically make a circle and chant, sing, and/or dance to different rhythnic melodies. Participation in ring games continued throughout adolescence, but for the most part ring games were children's games, passed from older children to younger ones.

For slave children, there was minimal categorization of masculine or feminine play activities. 89 As the children began to grow older, ring games were often the opportunities for youngsters to learn how to inteact with the opposite sex and to assume gender roles.. Two such games wee Peep Squirrel an King William Was King George's Son. In Peep Squirrel a biy and girl stand some distance apart, facing each other.  A different girl gets behind the boy and a different boy lines up behind the girl.  The rest of the children sing the following lines while performers suit the actionto the words:

[page] 99

Peep squirrel, eedle, deedle, deele, dum
Walk around squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Hop aaround squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Skip along squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 
Run the squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum,
Catch that squirrel, eedle, deedle, deeledum, 90

If the boy finally caught the girl (squirrel) he was entitled to a kiss.

In King William Was King George's Son, the children formed a ring around one child and sang:

King William was King Geoge's Son
And up from the royal race he spring;
Upon his breast he wore a star,
Three gold rings and a glittering crown.
Go choose the East, go choose the West,
Go choose the one that you love the best.
If he's not there to take your part,
Choose anothe one with all your heart.
Down on this carpet you shall kneel,
Jes shorz de grass grows in the fiel'
Salute your bride and kiss her swee,
Rise again to your feet. 91

The game would then repeat itself, the boy or girl choosing another to stand in the middle.

Another of the most popular and enduring ring games was Little Sally Walker

Little Sally Walker
Sittin in a saucer
Cryin for the old man
To come for the dollar
Ride, Sally, ride
Put your han's on your hips
Let your backbone slip,
Shake it to the East
Shake it to the West
Shake it to the one that you love the best.

[page] 100

Through some of their play, slave children were better able ro understand the world around them. A significant amound of their play involved challenging, role-playing, or reenacting events that were significant to them-as does the play of all children. However, the play of slave children presented some distinguishing features. First, they did not always reenact or reflect events found most enjoyable by adult slaves. Second, they usually imitated the social eents of their own people and not those of whites (probably due to the general resentment slaves felt toward whites)...

Slave childen also tried to relieve particular anxieies and fears through their play. One ring game was played by children forming a circcle around one child in the middle, who tries to break out of the circle singing:

Oh, do let me out! I'z in this lady's gyarden.
Oh, do let me out! I'z in this lady's gyarden.

De gate iz locked an' de wall iz high,
Round' dis lady's gyarden. Chorus.  

De gate oz lockt, an' de key iz lo'
Un dis lady's gyarden Chorus.

I mus', I will, git out er here.
Out er dis lady's gyarden. Chorus.

I'll break my neck but I'll get out er here, 
Out er dis lady's gyarden Chorus.

During this game the children in the circle danced around in time to the music while the child in the middle tried to escape by creeping under, jumping over, or breaking through the walls of the garden [the children's locked hands and arms.

[page] 101
   
Another ring game was called Good Old Egg-Bread. The leade shouted one line and the other children shouted the next.  The rhythm was strong and the children stamped their feet very energetically as they circled:

Did you go to the henhouse?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you get any eggs?
Yes' ma'am!
Did you stir it 'roun?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you bake it brow?
Yes ma'am!
Did you hand it 'roun'?
Yes ma'am?

Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!

Did you go to the lynchin?
Yes, ma'am!
Did they lynch that man?
Yes, m'am!
Did the man cry?
Yes' ma'am! 
How did he cry?
Baa, baa!"
How did he cry?
Baa, baa!

Did you go to the wedding?
Yes, ma'am!
Did you get any wine?
Yes ma'am!
Did you get any ake?
Yes ma'am!

[page] 102

How did it taste?
So good!
How did it taste!
So good!

Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Good old egg-bread,
Shake 'em, shake 'em!
Bow Mr. Blackgird, bow Mr. Cow
Bow Mr. Blackbird bow np mo! 95"
-snip-
This is the end of this excerpt. Other songs included in that section are "My old mistress promised me (Before she died she'd set me free" and "Run Ni&&er Run".

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What "Breakdowns" Mean In The Context Of 19th Century/ Early 20th Century Old Time Music/Fiddle Music

Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post provides a compilation of online excerpts about the meaning of the term "breakdowns" in reference to 19th century Old Time Music/fiddle music.

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

All copyrights remain with their owners.

Thanks to all those who are quoted in this post.
-snip-
Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2017/02/information-about-two-very-old-african.html for the related pancocojams post: Information About Two Very Old (African American Originated) Dance Forms: "The Breakdown" & "The Breakaway".

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FEATURED ONLINE EXCERPTS ABOUT THE TERM "BREAKDOWNS" (19TH CENTURY AMERICAN MUSIC)
These excerpts are given in no particular order and are numbered for referencing purposes only.

Excerpt #1
From https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/rec.music.country.old-time/Gqqnp8jW0TM
What does "breakdown" mean?
1. Gconklin, 9/17/96
"In article <51lleo$s...@nadine.teleport.com> mar...@teleport.com (Nancy K. Martin) writes:
“I am wondering if any of you country boys can explain to me why a breakdown is called a breakdown (or, for that matter, what a breakdown is)? It is one of those terms, like hoedown, that intrigues me."....
-end of quote-

Okay, I'll be the first country boy to venture out on your limb --actually, out on your twig. I don't recall ever hearing a definition of "breakdown" in my native Blue Ridge. My buddy John Cephas, country bluesman from Caroline County, Virginia, says it comes from house dances, that some dancing became so energetic that the puncheon floors of cabins were literally broken down by the dancers. John talked about this with three other Piedmont bluesmen (John Jackson, Archie Edwards, John Dee Holeman) when we were filming the documentary, "Blues House Party," in the early 80s and they all knew about it. (But I'm not sure the discussion is in the video; it may have been cut.) Their acoustic branch of the oldest blues draws upon the old black string bands (fiddle, banjo, rhythm groups) for repetoire, performance settings and many terms, so I suspect that you have here a Tidewater term that reveals some of the oldest roots of the American musical tree." Joe Wilson

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2. Paul M. Gifford, 9/18/96
"In traditional Canadian terminology (and in areas in the U.S. under Canadian cultural influence, like the U.P. and Thumb of Michigan), "breakdown" is a fast tune (reel) used for the third change of a square dance. The old Michigan (and New York State, I believe) name for the third change was "jig." How it
came to be called those terms, I don't know, but I assume from minstrel shows.

Quadrilles and cotillions seem to have been introduced in the 1840s, and minstrel tunes were used for the (then) five changes, and so maybe the breakdown term was introduced then. Joe's probably describing the original slave term."

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3. Yatesian, 9/23/96
"According to the OED (never thought I'd be looking up "breakdown" in the OED), a breakdown is: "A riotous dance, with which balls are often terminated in the country. A dance in the peculiar style of the negroes." It goes on to say the term was coined in the U.S. but was often used humorously in England.
Also, it mentions that a breakdown frequently followed the quadrilles. But I wonder whether, once the term entered common usage, a specific musical form evolved, like the chord change every measure. Anyone?"

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4. Kerry Blech, 9/23/96
"I can't answer this question even yet, but I can quote an intersting monologue that is somewhat relevant. This appeared in the liner notes to Folk Music in America Volume 3 (LBC 3) "Dance Music: Breakdowns & Waltzes." This was part of a 15 volume LP issue by the Library of Congress for the Bicentennial, edited by Richard K. Spottswood. The booklet for this record was written by John H. Cowley, and he wrote, in part:
"... The examples included here are mainly from commercial recordings of the 1920s and 1930s and represent only a tiny fraction of European national music which managed to survive and flourish in this country,
even while often incorporating musical elements used here.

Though some of the music heard here is from minority cultures, the feeling and tempos are those associated with most country dancing in the south, both east and west. Designation of the fast pieces as "breakdowns" would be somewhat arbitrary. Uptempo dance tunes have been given many names -- rag, reel, blues, and special are only a few. Unlike the waltz, no special dance or dances were universally designated for breakdowns. Dancing varied according to regional, community, and even individual tastes.

The waltz, of 18th-century German origin, had spread over Europe and the United States by the early 19th century. Because it is strictly a dance for couples it was the subject of frequently bitter controversies. The waltz was almost universally popular until the 1920s, although it was never an important part of black
dancing. Black and black-inspired dances which have become dominant in this century have made the waltz obsolete except in isolated areas. It remains fashionable, for example, among the Acadian French in Louisiana and in the Mexican and Mexican-influenced dancing in the southwest. The vitality of the selections on this record should prove that the waltz is anything but a genteel relic...."

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5. Paul M. Gifford, 9/23/96
"I'm not sure what you mean, but I wonder what the OED means by "following the quadrilles." As I mentioned earlier, Canadian terminology defines "breakdown" as the third and final change of a square dance (quadrille). Thus the OED definition is close. I gather that the term "change" is not generally
known around the country, but here in Michigan (and also Canada and no doubt elsewhere), it is a call; the first change is an easy one, often to 6/8; the second change a bit more complicated; and the third change faster and more complicated. The partners stand and pause for a bit between each change. I'm pretty sure these derive from the cotillions introduced in the 1840s, with five changes; then about 1855-1860, they began to be called quadrilles (but in fact seem to be the same as cotillions). I'm not sure when the five changes began to be reduced to three, but probably by 1880-1890.

I once knew a Scottish immigrant who played something called the "Banjo Breakdown," so the term obviously went over there and seems to be associated with the minstrel stage."

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Excerpt #2
From http://mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=115115 What's a breakdown?
1. From: Desert Dancer
Date: 09 Oct 08 - 12:27 PM

"Here are two good responses for the same questions from The Session:

[Fiddle Tunes of the Old Frontier: The Henry Reed Collection]
1. Breakdown: instrumental tunes in duple meter (2/4 or 4/4) at a quick dance speed. This general term in the American South is roughly equivalent to the term "reel" elsewhere in the English-speaking world. But it does not imply a particular type of dance; a "breakdown" tune may be used for square dances, longways dances, or other group dances, as well as for solo fancy dancing.

Reels: a class of dance tunes in duple meter (2/4 or 4/4 time), played at a fast tempo. The reel as a dance was originally a "longways" dance with couples forming facing lines, but the reel as a tune class is used for all sorts of group dances. In the American South the reel class has expanded into the large and generic breakdown class of dance tunes.
# Posted on October 19th 2007 by wyogal

2)In American Old Time fiddling the term "Breakdown" is used mostly in the Southern mountainous regions of the U.S ranging from the Appalachian chain westward into the Ozarks - with some spill over into the bordering areas.

In these regions the term "Breakdown" means an up-tempo dance tune that's played mostly by bowing two adjacent strings simultaneously while noting one or the other of'em. The two adjacent string pairs that are bowed will change as the tune's played.

This technique's especially effective when the fiddle's "cross-tuned" usually to ADAE for the key of D or AEAE for the key of A. The effective is to create a louder sound and to impart greater energy to the dancers - who are usually clogging.

In these regions a tune that's played by using mostly single note sequences to impart the melody and rhythm is often called a "Hornpipe" - without regard the how the term's used outside these regions - dotted eighth rhythm.

Southern OT fiddlers who prefer to render a tune using mostly single notes sequences are sometimes referred to as "Hornpipe Fiddlers". This usually a derisive term unless the target's especially good at it. Probably Cyril Stinnett from Missouri was one of our best - if not the best - American "hornpipe fiddler".

Most OT fiddle tunes combine a bit of both styles of playing. Any of these might be called a Breakdown, or sometimes a Reel, or sometimes even a hornpipes, though usually they just have a name that doesn't include any of these terms. We don't really have a rule book... ;-)

In Texas and points West the term "Breakdown" has been replaced by the term "Hoedown". I don't know the origin of the newer term. In Texas - and many of the Prairie states" - it's too hot to clog so the dance of choice there is the "Two step" that wants a slower tempo than that used for clogging. As dancing to live fiddling as has died off over the years, Texas fiddlers have used the slower tempo of the Hoedown as an opportunity to improvise on the older Breakdown tunes - creating the newer "Texas Style" of contest fiddling.

--OTJ
# Posted on October 19th 2007 by OTJunky

and, from the Online Etymology Dictionary under the entry for "break dancing":
breakdown "a riotous dance, in the style of the negroes" is recorded from 1864.

The Slang Dictionary: Or, the Vulgar Words, Street Phrases, and ... (Google Books Result) by John Camden Hotten - 1869
"BREAK-DOWN, a noisy dance, and violent enough to break the floor down ; a jovial , social gathering, a FLARE up; in Ireland, a wedding"

~ Becky in Tucson
Googling in the morning"

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Excerpt #3
From http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/135378
flange5st - Posted - 12/31/2008
"..........a" breakdown" is a tune that's designed to let the individual, whether a dancer or musician, interpret the song in their own style.......when you play for a square dance, some call it a quadrille, it is danced a certain way by the dance "caller" and at a certain tempo also chosen and maintained by the caller.......when you do a breakdown, you just " break down", ( as we say around this section of the woods), and give it your all......I've played Sally Goodin' for a dance and at the end just rip into it and seen folks dance like a free for all.......some of the best dancing and picking you'll get to see and hear are during these times..IMHO.........a "hoedown" is a dance party because you have gathered to party and not to work...ie.. you put you hoe down.......hoe, the thing you dig in the ground with.. and over time the term has been used to discribe a happy " up-medium" timed melody.......and a "special" is a melody designed for a certain musician and their instrument that shows off it's own character..........this is the way I understand these terms and I'm sure that there are alot more learned folk's who can give a better definition/ discription than me, too.............good thread....peace"

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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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