For many years I have been fascinated with the Mardi Gras
Indians. They are one of the things that made me fall in love with New Orleans.
Usually, my love for a culture happens because there is something much more
special about it than I know about at first.
Photos by Roy Guste
My first Mardi Gras in New Orleans, after moving there, I
made it a priority to seek out the Indians on Mardi Gras Day.
Being a costume artist myself, I wanted to see them up close.
But I also wanted to hear the music that was their culture…and to experience
what Mardi Gras was like for them. It
did not matter that I was a white girl in a chartreuse and fuchsia costume that
completely stood out in a crowd where I was obviously an outsider. I just
wanted to be close to the beauty and wonder of these New Orleans legends.
I made my way down to Claiborne Avenue and despite the
warnings that I might get into trouble, I had no problems. I always went where
my heart led me anyway. No one cared that I was there and I seemed to blend
in. But I soon learned that to catch
them at all, I had needed to be out by the early morning. Most of the Indians
had left for the Zulu parade hours earlier.
Seeing them up close would have to come later.
It appears that the Mardi Gras Indians first came about in
the late 1880s. Scholars have differing opinions on exactly how but some say
that they emerged after a visit from the Buffalo Bill Wild West Show when a
group of Native Americans in finely dressed hand crafted attire performed as a
part of the exhibition and inspiring locals. “Others believe that a connection between blacks and Native Americans was
forged when New Orleans escaped slaves found asylum with Louisiana tribes”.
Photo by Bob Compton
In the early days, the Indians would fight on Mardi Gras day,
to establish territory, sometimes to the death. Big Chief Tootie Montana helped put an end to that by
getting the tribes to learn to respect each other. He knew African Americans
had been put through enough and wanted to see the community bonding rather
than rivals. He was one of the first
to begin to costume extravagantly and today Mardi Gras Day is a competition for
who is the prettiest Indian.
Photo by Christopher Porsche West
Chief Tootie is also known for his innovations with
designing the Indians suits. He developed the
full-length trail crown that spread out horizontally from side to side instead
of lengthwise sticking out behind the chief. In Tootie’s words “"Every piece was put on there one at a time. You pick up a sequin, you pick up a bead;
even the beads around a stone are threaded and you hook them up one at a time.
I use glue after my pieces are put together. I make my pieces like a puzzle."
But costuming is not all that the tradition is about. A deep
almost ancestral influence exists where an Indian dances in full regalia on
Mardi Gras Day, and can be a means for connecting with spirit. Almost like when
a practitioner goes into trance during a voodoo ceremony, the Mardi Gras Indian
becomes aware only of that deep connection that is occurring between himself
and spirit and less aware of any pain or of being tired from dancing so long.
Chief Tootie did so much to improve the lives of Mardi Gras
Indians and create fellowship among African Americans in New Orleans throughout
his own life till his dying day. He died a martyr. Standing up for the rights
of musicians to perform in Jackson Square while at a City Council meeting in
New Orleans City Hall on June 27, 2005, when a heart attack struck him down. Who
could’ve made more of an impression for the Indians and Musicians' rights than a
legend like this man?
Photo by Cathy Anderson
No comments:
Post a Comment