The Coon Carnival is a yearly minstrel festival in Cape Town, South Africa. Up to 13,000 minstrels, from the Afrikaans speaking "coloured" (mixed-race) community, take to the streets. Minstrels are grouped into 'klopse' ('clubs' in Cape Dutch, precursor to Afrikaans). English speaking coloureds do not participate in the carnival as they constitute the Coloured middle class as the carnival's participants are from the lower class,are members of gangs and speak Afrikaans,which is an indication of social class in the Coloured community City motto: Spes Bona (Latin: Good Hope) Province Western Cape Mayor Nomaindia Mfeketo Area  - % water 1,644 km² 0. ... Afrikaans is a West Germanic language mainly spoken in South Africa and Namibia with smaller numbers of speakers in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zimbabwe and Zambia. ... In the South African and Namibian context, the term Coloured refers to a rather heterogenous group of people of mixed Khoisan and white European descent with some degree of Malay, Malagasy, Black (Bantu) and South Indian ancestry (especially in the Western Cape) together with some racially pure Khoisans with a... The term Cape Dutch was used to describe the Dutch, French, German, and other European descended inhabitants of the Western Cape who from the 17th century into the 19th century who remained loyal subjects of European (first Dutch then later British) powers while their pastoralist trekking cousins: the Trekboers were... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ...

Although it is still called the Coon Carnival by Cape Townians, local authorities have renamed the festival the Cape Town Minstrel Carnival, as tourists and some segments of the population finds the term derogatory (there is some debate about this). Also know as the Kaapse Klopse (Cape Clubs).

History

Minstrels from America first visited the Cape in 1848. This was 10 years after the then British colony had abolished slavery (but years before emancipation). The American minstrels were white, but they blackened their faces with burnt cork. This caught on with the local former slave population, and many songs were written specifically to mock their former masters. The Buxton Memorial Fountain, celebrating the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834, London. ...

The Carnival Today

The festival begins on New Year's Day and continues into January. Festivities include street parades with singing and dancing, costume competitions and marches through the streets. Since 2002 the carnival has been sponsored by local government and business - not without accompanying scandals.