Before the slaves were brought here to the Bahamas, the costumes
that they normally wore and used in Africa, were fashioned from
mud from the ground. They also used paint to paint their faces
and bodies.
 Here
in the Bahamas, the slaves would gather any type of material
that they could find in order to make their costumes. In fact,
the materials mainly used were shrubs, leaves, stones, bottles
and paper. They generally made their masks from these materials.
It should be noted that after Emancipation, the slaves continued
with their Junkanoo parades using these same materials, with
most costumes portraying Neptune and Amphitrite.
 However,
the 1930’s saw the introduction of sponge costumes, as
sponging was our number industry at thetime. During the 1950’s,
the costumes were made from cloth and fringed tissue paper.
In the 1960’s, the Valley Boys abandoned the shirt and
trousers costumes and introduced shoulder pieces andskirts,
made out of cardboard and fringed crepe paper.
The Vikings Junkanoo group started to use chicken coop wire,
which allowed for some movement of the costume. But these first
generation large costumes had to leaned against a wall,as they
were unable to stand by themselves. In fact, Peter “Gold”
Turnquest was the first person to construct a frame that allowed
the costume to stand by itself.
 In
1966 the ruses governing theJunkanoo parade dictated that all
participants must be costumed, in order totake part in the parade
on Bay Street. Construction techniques evolved to such adegree,
that during the 1970’s the very large costumes were now
being built fromcardboard and fringed crepe paper. Today, we
construct our costumesfrom six (6) major materials, Cardboard,
Crepe Paper, Aluminum Rods, Tie Wire, Contact Cement, and Glue.
 When
constructing a costume, the first thing we do is build a frame
using the aluminum rods. The design for the costume is then
drawn outby hand onto the corrugated cardboard. The excess cardboard
is subsequently removed form the frame by cutting it off with
shears or paper cutter. Tire wires are then pushed throughout
thegrooves of the cardboard to achieve the distinctive form
and shape of theselocal artistic masterpieces. Contactcement
is liberally applied to the cardboard pieces to stick and hold
them together. The cardboard pieces are then attached to the
frame by tie wires.
The
cardboard structure is afterwards painted with white paint to
camouflage the drab brown hue of the corrugated cardboardpieces
and strips. The next step invokes the real passion of the Bahamian
junkanooer, even though it is a very demanding and time-consuming
process. The half complete costume now has to be fringed with
crepe paper, which is mostly imported from Vienna, Austira.
The edges of the crepe paper are fringed with a pinkling shears
or barber machine, and cut into horizontal half-inch stips.
The strips of crepe paper are then painstakingly applied to
the cardboard one stripa at a time with Elmer’s glue.
We estimate that the average costume requires approximately
three (3,000) to five(5,000) thousand strips of this multi-coloured
crepe paper for competition andentry into the Junkanoo Parade.
 Years
ago, the faces and hands of the bigger and more colorful costumes
were fashioned from the ubiquitous cardboard. Nowadays, our
avid and artistic junkanooers carve them outof Styrofoam, and
airbrush or utilize water paint on the costume faces and hands.
We have also implemented the useof ethofoam, which is generally
used for carving and making circularobjects. The final touches
to one ofthese radiant costumes calls for it’s decoration
with glitter, stone , studs anddecorative beads. From time to
time, asmall amount of cloth is also incorporated in the construction
of a mid-size orlarge costume.
The individual costumes wornby a dancer, drummer or cowbeller
are likewise made from the same basic materials. Tradition calls
for the absolute minimal use of cloth to makecostumes, as this
is reflected in the Junkanoo Committee’s rule that allows
for a maximum of four (4) paraders to be attired in this materials.
However, there is a category in the parade that allows for individual
costumes or pieces that are not part of an organized, official
Junkanoo group to be placed on wheels. These bigger individual
costumes are judged and awarded separate prizesfrom those that
belong to the organized Junkanoogroup.
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