Junkanoo!
Pix of An Abacos-Style New Year's Celebration!
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[Left] Lickin' cowbells, whistles, crepe paper costumes, goatskin drums and hand-fashioned horns (conch, metal or wood) all add to the color, sounds and spectacle of Green Turtle's Junkanoo. [Right] Every New Year's Day for the past 11 years, Green Turtle's normally quiet streets surge with "rushers" and reverberate with the sounds of Junkanoo. In the left forground of the right pix, the rusher wearing the skull mask is "Bunce", an important member of the festival (he usually rides under a sheet in a wheel-barrow for the first part of Junkanoo's festivities ... see pix at bottom of this page).

[Left] Traditionally, the rushers' drums are hand-crafted of goat-skin and are heat-tightened and tuned to just the right pitch with candles, burning paper or (in a few cases) Sterno. [Right] The "Unknown Junkanoo Eggs" participated in a Junkanoo rush several years ago ... and, to this date, nobody has "uncovered" who was under the whimsical costumes!

[Left] The brightly colored sign at the front of the Junkanoo "rush" (parade) announces the name(s) of the various group(s) who will be "rushing". In Green Turtle's version of the country-wide event,The Green Turtle Slammers provide a large part of the festival's spectacle. [Right] Bunce usually rides (covered) in a wheelbarrow for the first part of the Junkanoo "Rush".

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