Junkanoo is a festival that originated during the period of African chattel slavery in British American colonies. It is practiced most notably today in the Bahamas, Jamaica and Belize, and historically in North Carolina and Miami, where there have been significant settlements of West Indian people during the post-emancipation era. In the present day, there are considerable variations in performance and spelling of the festival, but the shared elements of masquerade, drumming, dance, and parading continue.