Friday: 7 p.m. parade from Heritage to Railroad; Saturday: 12:30 p.m. Children’s Area, 7 p.m. parade from Heritage to Railroad; Sunday: 12:45 p.m. Children’s Area

The Bahamian Junkanoo parade, featuring vibrant percussive music and elaborate costumes, is one of the most prominent symbols of South Florida’s Bahamian community, and one of the most exciting parade traditions in the Americas.

As Bahamians began to migrate to Florida, they brought with them Junkanoo. Over the past half-century, hundreds of thousands of people from the Caribbean have settled in Miami, transforming the city’s cultural life.

The Bahamas Junkanoo Revue is one of Miami’s most famous Junkanoo groups. It was created in 1993 as an offshoot of Miami’s first formally organized group, the legendary Sunshine Junkanoo Band, formed in 1957. Led by founder Langston Longley, the ensemble is a creative force whose innovative style has contributed to the flowering of the Junkanoo in the both United States and the Bahamas.

The Junkanoo is rooted in the Christmas season celebrations held in the Bahamas during the pre-emancipation era, in the 16th and 17th centuries. Some say the actual word “Junkanoo” was the name of a freed slave, John Canoe, while others say it is derived from the word “junk” – discarded tin cans and other trash materials transformed into musical instruments.

At Christmas, enslaved Africans were allowed to leave the plantations to be with their families and celebrate the holidays with traditional music, dance and costumes. Masked dancers and musicians, often on stilts, traveled from house to house. Once practiced in many areas of the Caribbean basin, the custom faded after slavery was abolished. The Bahamas is now the only Caribbean country to continue the tradition in a spectacular annual festival.

In South Florida’s Bahamian community, the “rushing” of the Junkanoo bands into the street highlight important holidays such as Boxing Day (the day after Christmas), New Year’s Day and Bahamian Independence Day (July 10). Parades often take at least two hours to pass a single spot, as the groups march, sing and dance their way through cheering crowds. The atmosphere is charged with excitement, alive with color and pulsing rhythms.

These highly spirited performances feature these rich, finely crafted costumes and dancelike body movements, accompanied by lively music including whistles, bells, and the goatskin-covered goombay drum, which is suspended around the neck and played with both hands. Brass instruments, including trumpets, trombones and sousaphones, recently have been added.

From its simple origins, Junkanoo has evolved into a highly organized parade tradition where groups compete for the prizes awarded in different categories. While earlier attire consisted of pants, shirts and hats decorated with fringed crepe paper, costumes began to incorporate elaborate skirts and shoulder pieces fashioned from cardboard and decorated with crepe paper, worn over the traditional pants and shirts. Later innovations included the use of paints and felt, satin, Mylar, beads and colored plastic jewels. Competition between Junkanoo troupes is fierce; costume designs are a closely guarded secret until they are unveiled at parade time.

The Bahamas Junkanoo Revue will lead parades and stage impromptu performances throughout the festival site at this year’s American Folk Festival.