WELCOMING NEW YEAR IN NASSAU BAHAMAS!

PART OF A DISCARDED JUNKANOO FLOAT
IN DOWNTOWN NASSAU NEW YEAR 2018

Last night we brought the New Year in by watching Baha Mar’s spectacular fireworks display from our window. Then after lunch today Erskine and I headed over to Atlantis on Paradise Island. The streets were still being cleaned up after “Junkanoo” that started early this morning. A few discarded remnants of Junkanoo floats and costumes lay on the pavements.

“Junkanoo” is a vibrant pulsating street festival and competition that usually takes place in The Bahamas in the early hours of Boxing Day (December 26th) and New Year’s Day. The roots of Junkanoo can be traced back to West Africa. It is said that the name originated from that of “John Canoe”, an African tribal chief.

Groups of participants spend months prior to Junkanoo in the “shacks” making elaborate costumes and floats out of crepe paper, cardboard, beads, sequins and other innovative materials. Tourists and residents alike huddle on bleachers or hang over balconies on Bay Street in downtown Nassau to watch the floats and performers pass by. Spectators revel in the sound of rhythmic cow bells, whistles, goat skin or steel drums and horns; the kaleidoscopic costumes; and the enthralling dancing called “rushing”. Other islands of The Bahamas also have their own Junkanoo rushes.

We parked in the pay parking opposite the Riu Paradise Hotel and walked through Atlantis to Marina Village for a coffee in Starbucks. The weather was sunny and the temperature about 78 degrees. A perfect New Year’s Day!

Wishing you all a very Happy, Healthy and Peaceful New Year!