Jamaican Jonkanoo Visits Santa Monica’s 3rd Street Promenade

Santa Monica, CA, December 5, 2021 

International Eye LA celebrated a Jamaican Jonkanoo Christmas in tableau, music and movement on the iconic 3rd Street Promenade in Santa Monica, on Sunday, December 5, 2021.  

Directed by award-winning Jamaican producer/designer, Marie Kellier, the event supports the renaissance of Jamaican Jonkanoo practice and featured original costumes by Kellier, presented with new music by Grammy Award winning musician, Ricardo Wilson, M.D. of the group Mandrill. 

First documented in Jamaica as early as the 1700’s, the practice emerged as both celebration and resistance when enslaved Africans used their few days of freedom during the holidays to reinforce their humanity through creativity, performance and mimicry. The art form is steeped in African traditions but is highly influenced by parodying European lifestyle of the era, such as the grand masquerade balls held by French planters.  Forbidden to engage in these exclusive occasions, Jonkanoo performers spared no expenses in acquiring the finest fabrics and materials to create characters wearing elaborate costumes to celebrate their humanity, reinforce their culture and resist dehumanization the oppression imposed on them by Europeans planters. 

 The reasons are not fully understood, but except for the Queen and her ‘Set Girls,’  all characters were traditionally played by men.  The event in Santa Monica presented Queen, Devil, Pitchy-Patchy, Actor Boy, and Belly Woman. Other characters being reimagined by Kellier include Cow Head, Horsehead, Jack-in-the-Green, Policeman and Wild Indian.

Kellier’s interpretation retains the unique characters that identify Jamaican Jonkanoo but her elegant costumes reimagine and revive the grandeur of the 1800’s. Working with new music, she blends movement and images to introduce a more contemporary Jamaican Jonkanoo art form to the world. Kellier’s ongoing project, ‘Jamaican Jonkanoo: Resistance Behind the Masquerade, ‘ explores the history, artistry and practice of the tradition. It is supported in part by grants from the City of West Hollywood Arts Division, Alliance for California Traditional Arts (ACTA,) California Arts Council (CAC) and Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, among others.