Moko jumbie

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St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands

.

A Moko Jumbie (also known as "Moko Jumbi" or "Mocko Jumbie") is a

tradition brought to the Caribbean.

A Moko Jumbie character may wear colorful garb and carnival masks. Traditionally, a Moko Jumbie's face is completely covered, obscuring their human identity, even if they do not wear a mask. They also frequent festivals and celebrations such as Trinidad and Tobago Carnival.

While the god Moko is from the Kongo (or Congo) and Nigeria, from the Maasai people, Trinidad and Tobago has added their own touch to him. Moko, in the traditional sense, is a god. He watches over his village, and due to his towering height, is able to foresee danger and evil. His name, Moko, literally means the “diviner”, and he is represented by men on towering stilts and performs acts unexplainable to the human eye. In one remote tribe, the Moko rises from a regular man's height to the skies fluidly with no help and descends similarly to leave others to wonder how he performed such an act.

The Moko originated in Trinidad as a man "walking all the way across the Atlantic Ocean from the West coast of Africa, laden with many, many centuries of experience, and, in spite of all inhuman attacks and encounters, yet still walks tall, tall, tall." The idea of the Moko survived by living in the hearts of African descendants during slavery and colonial life to eventually walk the streets of Trinidad in a celebration of freedom, Carnival. While this figure was rooted in African heritage, Trinidad adapted the figure, notably by adding "Jumbie" ("ghost") to the name. By the early 1900s Moko Jumbies had become an element of Trinidad's Carnival. They walked the streets of Port of Spain and other cities, protecting revelers from evil. As part of his role in Carnival the Moko Jumbie accepted donations from onlookers in upper floors of buildings. But his notable figure slowly faded until a sudden revival.

By the early 1990s, Moko Jumbies were nearly nonexistent in Carnival, until two men brought this tradition back: Moose and Dragon, who created a new kind of Moko Jumbie. There are two main Moko Jumbie bands in Trinidad, Watusi and Kilimanjaro, and several smaller ones. So while the idea of the Moko came from Africa, Trinidad has made it its own.

Farther north, in St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, the tradition of Moko Jumbies has persisted and become a vibrant part of local culture,^[1] even being taught through after-school clubs to young performers, ensuring the traditions are passed along.

In popular culture

In 2009 the U.S. Department of Tourism of the U.S. Virgin Islands adopted the moko jumbie as a symbol of the islands.^[2]

In the late 2000s, the Nick Jr. Channel released an animated music video, "Papa Moco Jumbie", in which a little boy wants to dance like his father, a moko jumbie, in the carnival.

References