Kids receive cupcakes instead of an entire cake as their cake walk prize.
Cake walks have changed since they originated on slave plantations. Participants no long prance in a square formation but walk around in a circle. These cupcakes will be given to the child who is standing on the right number when the music stops. A lot of fun and sugar will be consumed at the church’s annual Easter egg hunt today.
I found the history of the cake walk fascinating. It was originally called the prize walk and slave owners judged the dancing. Couples stood with the men in the inside of the square and apparently imitated their white master’s movements. The men’s movements consisted of haughtily tipped heads and high prancing legs while the women were judged on their grace. The prize was an elaborately decorated cake and from what I read, the slave owners didn’t see themselves in the men’s movements.
In the late 1800’s, minstrel shows featured the cakewalk. The dancers were always men and even the black participants wore black face. The cake walk became so popular that in 1897 a national competition was held at New York’s Madison Square Gardens. It’s not surprising that music was affected by the cake walk movements and it is believed to have influenced ragtime music. Scott Joplin mentioned the cake walk in his song The Ragtime Dance. When minstrel shows lost popularity to vaudeville, the cake walks moved to carnivals.
I remember cake walks as a fund raiser when I was in school. Everyone was excited about winning a cake even if you had a mother who baked. I never won one but it was always fun. The history of the cake walk makes me appreciate the custom even more.