Bahamas Christmas Traditions

Christmas is a festival that is enjoyed all over the world. People come together to welcome the birth of Christ. Homes are decorated with festive lights and evergreen wreaths and twigs of holly and mistletoe. A family loves to go out for buying Christmas tree and bringing it home before Christmas. Once, the tree is brought home, it is decorated with color balls, tinsel and so on. One cannot think about Christmas without Christmas music. The traditional food served in feasts and parties during Christmas is delicious. Christmas has universal appeal. Christmas traditions differ from one nation to other. Bahamas Christmas traditions have typical Caribbean flavor.

Christmas in Bahamas is celebrated in a traditional manner with great enthusiasm. People visit each other and enjoy the festivities. Bahamas celebrate Christmas by going to church and attending Christmas mass. The people in Bahamas enjoy the festival by giving gifts to each other and having great food. All this is done in the accompaniment of great Christmas music and carols. Bahamas is famous for Christmas cruises. A lot of tourists come to Bahamas during Christmas to enjoy these cruises. The sandy beaches, palm tree and water sports are the important features of this beautiful and scenic country. The tourist can explore all this in the cruises.

Christmas celebration in Bahamas is different to other countries due to Junkanoo. Junkanoo is a parade organized during the wee hours of December 26 and on wee hours of New Year day. This parade is high on spirits due to the rhythm of music and dance. The dancers are thousand in numbers dressed in bright multi-colored hues. This parade is organized in the town of Nassau on the Bay Street. The streets are filled with dancers and curious onlookers. The darkness helps the celebration to reach a great height. The street lights and overhead lights make the atmosphere worth watching as you see an ocean of colors. This festival of Junkanoo attracts a lot of tourist. The air is filled with festive fervor and gusto.

The festival of Junkanoo began in sixteenth century. The festive started as a celebration of slaves who came to visit their families during Christmas. The masters would give slaves a special holiday during Christmas. The slaves would come together, dance with music and enjoy Christmas with friends and family. In this manner the festival started but today, it has evolved as an organized festival with specially created costumes, great music and rhythmic dancing moves. The dancers have groups. Each group has a specific theme. Based on that theme, costumes are prepared for the festival. These days, a large sum of money in form of prize is given to the best group for its performance in the festival.

The theme of group can be ancient, modern or contemporary. According to the theme, costumes are used by the dancers, who dance at the music created by drums, whistles, horns and so on. People just enjoy the dancing moves and great music during the Christmas celebration in Bahamas.