In New Bern, the Jonkonnu Christmas celebration communicates a timeless language of hope.
About two dozen men, women, and children dance and chant outside the gates of Tryon Palace. They look like they stepped out of the 19th century.
A woman shouts to the crowd gathered for New Bern’s annual Christmas Candlelight event, “Jonkonnu is coming! Jonkonnu is coming!” She pronounces it “John Canoe.”
The leader of the troupe, a well-dressed African-American man in a three-piece suit and top hat, gives a quick history lesson. For one day every winter, he explains, his enslaved ancestors were allowed to dance and sing through the streets. They called it Jonkonnu.
Then the leader shouts, “Can’t you hear it? Can’t you hear the drums?” On cue, the pounding of drums begins, and the chanting swells. Women carrying bright umbrellas dance through the streets. A man emerges in a cloud of colored rags and a giant, horned headdress. Musicians strum banjo-like instruments, bang drums, and hit bells with sticks.
The festival started in New Bern in the early 1800s, most likely began by slaves from West Africa and Jamaica.
On this one day, always in midwinter around Christmas — when the chores were done, the summer’s harvest stored, and the winter’s land prepared for planting in the spring — masters allowed slaves to visit with friends and family.
The slaves chose to celebrate the day with a parade of musicians and dancers that went from house to house. The celebration lasted all day, and sometimes, as the slaves sang and danced with the masters looking on, they petitioned their masters to drop a coin in their tin cups. The masters then shook hands with the slaves after giving their gifts.
After the Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves in 1863, Jonkonnu continued for 40 years. It faded in the 1890s and early 1900s, likely because of the rise of Jim Crow laws.
New Bern remains one of the few places you can still experience Jonkonnu. Simon Spalding, a former manager of Tryon Palace’s living-history programs, recreated the tradition here around 2000. He wanted the Christmas celebration to reflect the entire population of Colonial New Bern, which was about half African-American.
Today, the show lasts about an hour. As performers sing, spectators join in. And the Jonkonnu performers are happy to see them share in the tradition — people of all colors dancing together, the way their ancestors always dreamed.
Christmas Candlelight
Saturday, December 10, 5 p.m.-9 p.m.
Adults $20. Students $10.
Tryon Palace
529 South Front Street
New Bern, N.C. 28562
(252) 639-3500
tryonpalace.org
Brandon Sneed is a writer in Wilmington. His most recent story for Our State was “Tarboro Tradition” (March 2011).
