Today in 1973, the Bahamas gained independence from Britain. On Bahamas independence day, we are exploring this island’s cultural artforms. Let’s jump right in!

The Bahamas is an archipelago, made up of 700 islands, with 30 of them currently inhabited. In 2010, the Encyclopedia Britannica reported that 90.6% of the Bahamanian population was Black, with 4.7% White, 2.1% Black and White, and 2.6% made of other minorities. Since the 20th century, the Bahamas has experienced many Haitian immigrants moving to the country, and this migration is reflected in the Bahamanian Creole spoken in the country, which is a mixture of English and African languages.

Goombay is a musical art form that utilizes calypso rhythms to preserve oral storytelling and encourage dance in Bahamian communities. The art form is usually performed by ‘Rake and Scrape Bands’, who are music groups that originated during the slave era when enslaved populations would take whatever objects they could find and make music with them.

(Chickarney. Apokryltaros at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons )

Chickcarney is a Bahamian folklore character that is three feet long, has three toes, with the body of an owl and the face of a human being. The legend says that if you happen to meet a Chickarney in the forest and you are nice to it you will receive good luck, and if you treat a Chickcarney badly, or make fun of it, you will receive bad luck.

Junkanoo is an internationally known, annual four-day festival that takes place after Boxing day, which is the day after Christmas. This event, originally known as the West African John Canoe Festival, originated in the 17th century with enslaved populations as a masquerade festival.

(Bahamians at a festival. Image by Steve Beger via Flickr) 

Sidney Poitier, a Bahamian-American actor and singer known for his Broadway role in Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by former President Barack Obama in 2009.

Bahamaian cuisine is full of strong flavors, seafood, and the influences of Africa, Britain, and French. Popular dishes include baked crab, conch salad, Bahamian stew fish, pigeon peas and rice, and cracked conch.

Learn more about Bahamian life here:

Tonya Manor: Different Bahamian Accent

Cindy the Creative: Growing up Bahamian: The Weekend

Works Cited

https://baylor-ir.tdl.org/bitstream/handle/2104/5539/jennette_walkine_edd.pdf?sequence=1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y20dLxxBjjU

https://www.bahamas.gov.bs/wps/portal/public/Culture/Junkanoo/!ut/p/b1/vZLLkqIwGEafxQewCXddgoSb3Em4bSgEFFFAxQbh6ceemkVXV033LKb7zypVJzn5vgqREBGRtNlwPGT3Y9dm57d9wqU0UExBYFamwgIOaNgxBIdXKdthnkD8CcCAr86HRKTGs7jptRFCL33gVzv28ocunbcuhq67m4DMtPrlSmcoPKFhnbqAn1VJMItC5-dWKDoxYIcLVSJbtNpD6FhV1voxJxX2nrqi4D5faGyeg0xE-7bpL5LgLxWHYV3o3qg8wsvq1t7KWVuJ1FD5QdXWFyPmps6idQEkBh9Od2HZaccrnHaTs18K7r06Lf7kBn8Z4R9yJ58iFPsF8Fbtb-CTN8RPgH93AwoA0EggeD7pAgYDAhERYFK_ni7afJq9GjwM84bBfSdqpBTSFkyRhc82skLSNwKNrDF9xyPp13BEyBytQnKKwMOisMEy5-sfhTaF1k_hhuS2mAW-_e1ChbVXz4545AgsBRSG_Gkh_aOVKo79_Qk_fBr2vwt1Ijnumpcxb17AC_scjmM4jgYkyQKWCOqY4aWVNkoaSjfdXc36dX8VdW2j-VCBWnQ2EvGYV8ZxPxzoh1Xaa2vt9Hfa62A0e4_IhRKy5LApAhypltTfzLVgxri86nm_9GCAxXy1XaXxoMiNDDcqs0yyPT0e8OyxQXnsyVDbPeotu15mp_71ZJwLj-ul6QRv-S6VaQ5q0jiAVUOWWUeWPVX1yJcrMsv4rjvRbtJMVWIwVCp6aC9XfirfUL0fABTnnB3HxYKw1K4piUuDB4Pz1Dl6t0ph8Qt570k8/dl4/d5/L2dBISEvZ0FBIS9nQSEh/

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Sidney-Poitier

https://bahamaschronicle.com/sir-sidney-has-made-invaluable-contributions-to-the-bahamas-2/

https://caribbean.home.blog/tag/chickcharney/

https://www.britannica.com/place/The-Bahamas/Government-and-society#ref276768

https://www.rwbimini.com/blog/exploring-the-distinct-culture-of-the-bahamas/

https://www.bahamas.com/experiences/junkanoo-celebrations-nassau