Slave Festivals

http://books.google.com/books?id=DhlT0z9DX3cC&pg=PA8&lpg=PA8&dq=
slave+festivals&source=web&ots
=sP4Sq9y-Rw&sig=ghDoHVVV0Rvzcwl9OYQya8ZFg4s

Never heard of slave festivals before... Just popped in my head while cleaning the kitchen to look for them, so I typed it in Google and the above↑ is one of the links that came up... Google book/The Sounds of Slavery by Graham J. White and Stephen White.

So on the page of the link it is talking about The Pinkster Festival... A Slave Holiday originally Dutch/New Jersey-New York...

"black people gathered on a plain outside town, divided up into groups according to their different
Nations and danced to the hollow sound of a drum made from a hollow tree trunk. The grating rattling noise of pebbles or shells in a small basket and the sound of many bangers (banjos), while other blacks accompanied the dancers in song."

Hmmm... pretty interesting. From the book, these celebrations occurred from around the 1790's through the late 1800's. I don't know how to copy and paste from Google Books (and I guess it would make sense if you can't), but there is more to read there.

-King Charles, African born (en)slaved "whose authority is absolute & will is law during the festivals"

-Guinea Dance

-Jonkunnu (my note: Junkanoo in the Bahamas, were my mother's side is from) North Carolina; gumba boxes (related to goombay summer?)

-Corn Shucking Festival (pg. 10) nice part about after festival would take their enslaver and through him up in the air and carry him into the house, place him in his chair, comb his hair and cross his legs, then leave him be. Hmmm... this sounds like some type of rite... I wonder what it meant?

-Highlight of Corn Shucking Festival; singing

This book seems to be full of lots of information, previously unbeknownst to me. I will be reading this more in the future.