It is practiced most notably in The Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, and historically in North Carolina and Miami, where there are significant settlements of West Indian people during the post-emancipation era.

The festival may have originated several centuries ago when enslaved Africans or their descendants, on the plantations in Jamaica, celebrated holidays granted around Christmastime.

Junkanoo evolved far from simple origins to a formal, organized parade with intricate costumes, themed music, and official prizes within various categories.

[15] As scholar Jeroen Dewulf pointed out, the term may have had a religious dimension, relating to the Akan deity Nyankompong (in today's spelling), who was known in eighteenth-century English sources as John Company.

[13][18] Historian Stephen Nissenbaum described the festival as it was performed in 19th-century North Carolina: Essentially, it involved a band of black men—generally young—who dressed themselves in ornate and often bizarre costumes.

Each band was led by a man who was variously dressed in animal horns, elaborate rags, female disguise, whiteface (and wearing a gentleman's wig!

In return for this performance, they always demanded money (the leader generally carried "a small bowl or tin cup" for this purpose), though whiskey was an acceptable substitute.

[19]The Junkanoo parade has been featured in movies, such as the James Bond film Thunderball (erroneously described as a local Mardi Gras-type festival), After the Sunset, and Jaws The Revenge.

It was also in the season one episode, Calderone's Return (Part II), of the 1984 television series Miami Vice, taking place on the fictitious island of St. Andrews.

The post-Covid return to Junkanoo was briefly discussed across the two-part episodes 189 and 190 of Nicole Byer and Sasheer Zamata's podcast, Best Friends, documenting their trip to The Bahamas.