What You Should Know About the Mardi Gras Indians
For more than a century, New Orleans’ Black residents have donned Native-inspired attire to celebrate Carnival
"Scholars generally agree that the Mardi Gras Indian
tradition is linked to early encounters between the
region’s Native and Black communities.
Founded by the French in 1718, the city of New Orleans stands on land originally inhabited by the
As early as 1719, European colonizers brought
enslaved people from the western coast of Africa to the nascent port city, which eventually became a hub of
the United States slave trade."
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/what-you-should-know-mardi-gras-indians-new-orleans-180981663/?
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February 21, 2023
I know the New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian tradition quite well. I’ve been to New Orleans a couple of times for about two weeks each. I haven’t been there at Mardi Gras but I have been there at Halloween when they also have big parades. I’ve been a long-time big fan of New Orleans style blues and cajun music. The Indian Tribes are very well known there, and often perform outside Mardi Gras, so I've seen a few of them. The music is an incredible mix of blues, soul, gospel, RnB, folk, and cajun, usually played by a brass band with large vocal choruses. The costumes are really spectacular and have developed a style of their own, albeit derived from the the original Native American traditions.
ReplyDeleteNice to have a first hand eye witness account Ian, many thanks!
ReplyDeleteCoincidentally, there was an article about all this on Colossal this week. It includes a really wonderful doco about one of the young Big Chiefs. Here is the link:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thisiscolossal.com/2023/02/demond-melancon-documentary/
Here is the direct Youtube link:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-b7Gg_A3_XQ&t=8s