Headdress, Junkanoo

Date: 1994

Maker and Participant: Nassau Junkanoo Contingent

Festival Program: 1994 FAF: The Bahamas
Description: The headdress is comprised of several components. Described from the bottom up: there is cardboard strip meant to go around the neck, several vertical strips of cardboard that would have covered the face, a crown with two appendages shaped like elongated fleur-de-lis’s extend on either side of the face, and a swan emerges from the crown. Each component is elaborately decorated with paint (coral, lite pink, white, indigo, green, and yellow), tinsel, half-spheres of Styrofoam, glitter (in the shape of snowflakes), and plastic jewels of assorted colors and shapes. From the crown, there are three additional crepe paper decorations: at the top there is an additional crepe paper decoration of a flower / star / sun with a large blue jewel at the center; on the back there is a flap extending at the base of the crown (which shields the neck and back of the head of the wearer); and on the top of the back of the crown is a design of three circles meeting at the center point on the crown. Finally, there is a black elastic attached to the inside of the headdress for fastening to a person’s head and the words "Puckas Cowbell" written in black marker.
Technique: Handmade; crepe paper painted onto cardboard
Provenance: Made before the Festival, but solely for the Festival. Used during the Junkanoo Parade Demonstration and left by a participant
Exhibition History: 50 Years | 50 Objects: Storied Objects from the Smithsonian Folklife Festival. June, 2017.; http://festival.si.edu/50objects

Geography: Nassau, The Bahamas, Caribbean

Culture: Bahamian

See more items in: Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage Collection

Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage

Object number: 763

Type: Costumes & Masks

Restrictions & Rights: Usage conditions apply

Medium: Paper (crepe paper and corrugated cardboard), Plastic (gems, glitter, sequins, tinsel), Fabric/Cloth (synthetic fabric lining)

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