Join Us to Celebration and Experience World Wide Afrocentric Culture in Toronto!
Welcome to The International Junkanoo Festival of Tourism and Culture, where the heart of African Culture beats in the heart of Toronto! On July 4th-8th, 2024 get ready to immerse yourself in a journey of African culture, heritage, music, dance, and art. The Junkanoo festival originated in Africa, depicting Slaves hiding their faces under a flour paste during its celebration.
About the IJFTC
Festival History: Share the origins of the event, the purpose behind its creation, and how it has evolved over the years.
The event is built on traditions 1700s passed on from Slavery to the New Worlds of the Caribbean and Southern America. The masquerades, drumming, and dancing were all cultural forms that were taken from mainland Africa to the Southern United States, Bahamas, Jamaica, Belize, etc.
Myths have it that, the slaves went to beg for a special day of celebration and they were given Boxing Day, the 26th of December for this celebration.
The African slaves then used the event to mimic their slave masters by assigning characters and dress forms. Aside from this, it was the only day in the year when the slaves would not be forced to work.
MISSION & VISION
The mission of this event is to consolidate the gains made by the other Afro, Caribbean, and Afro Caribbean Festivals and add a significant historic perspective.
The Event will be aimed at giving intellectual platform to the academia and researchers to display and present their years of research in Areas like Heritage Tourism, Culture, Afro descendants, multiculralism and also Tourism development between Africa and the Caribbean.
The event will also offer people in the tourism sector, tourism operators, industry players and tourism administrative formulators to align with the Tourism Development Agenda of Canada specially building ties for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026.