Junkanoo is celebrated in the Bahamas on Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), New Years Day, and sometimes in the summer. Since Nassau is the capital city of the Bahamas they have the largest celebration. I had seen pictures on the other islands last winter but I didn't really know anything about it. Other cruisers told us there was a big parade and that we could go buy tickets for it so we could sit in the bleachers and watch. When we checked it out we realized it was very similar, in a lot of ways, to the Mummers Day parade held on New Year's Day in Philadelphia where we are originally from. They dress up in elaborate costumes and dance their way down the main street. The big difference is that it is warm in the Bahamas during the parade, not so in Philadelphia.

We went through a lot to buy the tickets but we managed to get it done. Our seats were near the front of the parade. They put bleachers up all along the parade route and sell tickets by assigned seat on the bleachers. Our tickets only cost $15 a piece but our friends had tickets near the judging stand and they paid $35 apiece. I can't imagine how the paraders had any energy left by the time they must have gotten to them!

The parade normally starts at 1am. Not my best time to be going out generally! Especially since Nassau is known to cruisers to be a bit dangerous - it isn't recommended you go out after dark. There was some concerns about the weather though so they pushed it back two hours to 3am. Not much better, right? Well we walked the mile and a half or so with our friends. We left the marina at 1am so we would have plenty of time. There weren't many people there when we got there but we had time to look around and check it all out.

At exactly 3am the parade started. It was mostly organized and well run and the people in the stands, mostly locals near where we were sitting, were all well behaved and obviously having a good time. It was an incredible parade. We have posted a number of pictures in our photo gallery, but you can see a sample in the picture above. Click here to see them. We made it until 7am and then decided our ears were ringing and we should go back to our marina. It was a very long walk back but it was daylight by then. Even though at least a dozen taxis asked us if we wanted a ride we managed to walk all the way. Now we have done Junkanoo! We highly recommend it. You still have time to fly to the Bahamas for the New Years Day show!