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Mardi Gras Indians

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Mardi Gras Indians at Algiers Riverfest New Orleans 2009 showing their bead work

Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians) are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, who dress up for Mardi Gras in suits influenced by the cultural practices of Native Americans, West Africans, and Afro-Caribbeans. The music, dance, and regalia from these cultures created the Mardi Gras Indian tradition during the era of slavery in Louisiana that continues today. It is a part of the African and African diaspora decorative aesthetic.[1][2]

Participants call their krewes "tribes" (another name used are "gangs" for Indian tribes in similar attire)[3][4] which should not be confused with actual Native American tribes. As Mardi Gras New Orleans states, "Their "tribes" are named for imaginary Indian tribes according to the streets of their ward or gang."[5] These are African Americans who "mask" as Native Americans.[4]

There are more than 40 active "tribes"[4] which range in size from half a dozen to several dozen members. The groups are largely independent, but a pair of umbrella organizations loosely coordinates the Uptown Indians and the Downtown Indians.

In addition to Mardi Gras Day, many of the "tribes" also parade on Saint Joseph's Day (March 19) and the Sunday nearest to Saint Joseph's Day ("Super Sunday"). Traditionally, these were the only times Mardi Gras Indians were seen in public in full regalia. The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival began the practice of hiring "tribes" to appear at the Festival as well. In recent years it has become more common to see Mardi Gras Indians at other festivals and parades in the city.

Notwithstanding the popularity of such activities for tourists and residents alike, the phenomenon of the Mardi Gras Indians is said to reflect both a vital musical history and an equally vital attempt to express internal social dynamics.[6]

History

[edit]
New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, 1915

Mardi Gras Indians have been practicing their traditions in New Orleans at least since the 18th century. An article from the Smithsonian Magazine explains a brief history of the Mardi Gras Indians: "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 Chitimacha Tribe. 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. While Africans made up the majority of enslaved people in Louisiana, research conducted by Leila K. Blackbird, a historian at the University of Chicago, found that Native and mixed-race people of Black and Native heritage constituted 20 percent of the state’s enslaved population during the antebellum period."[7][8]

Indigenous peoples of Louisiana helped to free some of the Africans from slavery and hid them in their villages and taught them how to survive off the land where the freedom seekers lived in maroon camps. New Orleans was surrounded by swamps, bayous, and rivers resulting in a number of maroon settlements. These maroon camps attacked whites, stole cattle from nearby farms for food, and freed nearby enslaved people, and freedom seekers escaped and lived with other maroons. The maroons lived in huts and grew their own food of corn, squash, rice, and herbs. African culture thrived in maroon communities, and some were located near Native American villages. Native Americans helped maroons and freedom seekers by providing food and weapons to defend themselves from whites and slave catchers. In colonial Louisiana, there was a settlement known as Natanapalle of armed freedom seekers and Indigenous people. According to authors, enslaved runaways adapted some of the culture of Native Americans.[9][10][11] Whites in Louisiana feared an alliance of Africans and Indigenous people growing in the swamps and bayous. In 1729, 280 enslaved Africans joined forces with Natchez people during the "Natchez Revolt." The revolt was carried out to prevent French colonists from taking Natchez land for tobacco production. During the revolt, the Natchez killed almost all of the 150 Frenchmen at Fort Rosalie, and only about 20 managed to escape, some fleeing to New Orleans.[12][13] The Natchez sparred the enslaved Africans, many were locked inside a house on the bluff, guarded by several warriors, from where they could see the events.[14] Some scholars argue that the Natchez spared the enslaved Africans due to a general sense of affinity between the Natchez and the Africans; some slaves even joined the Natchez, while others took the chance to escape to freedom.[12][15]

"A Band of Mardi Gras Indians" - New Orleans 1903

The first recorded slave dances on plantations in Louisiana were recorded by the French in 1732. Archival records documented the first enslaved Africans dressing as Indigenous people in celebatory dance called Mardi Gras in 1746.[16][17] In 1771, free men of color held Mardi Gras in maroon camps and in the city's back areas. Some of the Mardi Gras Indians wore their masks to balls: "...the Spanish administration of the city at the Cabildo granted a prohibition of black persons from being masked, wearing feathers, and attending nightballs. This forced them to dress and roam only in the black neighborhoods and Congo Square." An article by historian Michael P. Smith quotes author Brassea and explains: "As early as 1781 in Spanish-ruled New Orleans, the attorney general warned the City Commission of problems arising from 'a great number of free negroes and slaves who, with the pretext of the Carnival season, mask and mix in bands passing through the streets looking for the dance-halls.'"[18] Other examples scene were in 1804 and 1813 where a German American and Swiss traveler saw Black men dressed in oriental and Native American attire wearing Turkish turbans of various colors.[19] The history of Mardi Gras Indians has its beginnings in Louisiana's maroon communities, where enslaved Africans hid in the villages of Native Americans. According to Smith, Mardi Gras Indians preserve their traditional African dance culture and music that blended with Native American culture. Congo Square was where enslaved Africans and Native Americans gathered during their free time and was where West-Central African culture blended with Native American culture.[20][21][22]

Indigenous cultural influences

[edit]
Indigenous people, enslaved Africans, and free creoles of color had their festivals at Congo Square. Enslaved Africans incorporated elements from Native American culture.[23]

Scholars at Tulane University created an online exhibit that explains a brief history about Mardi Gras Indians and how Natchez people's culture influenced the cultural practices of enslaved Africans. The American Gulf Coast Indigenous Nations are the Chitimacha, Natchez, Houma, Atakapa, and Tunica. The Underground Railroad went through Native American communities and a number of enslaved Africans escaped slavery and sought freedom and refuge in Native American villages. Enslaved Africans adopted some elements of Native culture that blended with West African and Afro-Caribbean song and dances. Natchez people use ornamental feathers for ceremonial purposes. The Chitimacha were the first to make a public musical procession in New Orleans called Marche du Calumet de Paix. "Members of the Chitimacha tribe marched through the city conducting a Calumet Ceremony, or a Peace Pipe Ceremony. They sang, danced, made speeches, and touched each other while sharing a pipe to celebrate peace amongst each other. A similar celebration was adopted by slaves who famously met at Congo Square." "The African American communities adopted aspects of Native culture such as their dancing techniques and their innate feather designs. They incorporated these elements into already existent parts of their culture- predominately their West African and Afro-Caribbean song and dance." The first Mardi Gras Indians suited up and paraded the streets of New Orleans during the Reconstruction era.[24]

Congo Square

[edit]
The image demonstrates the Angolan culture and the way of dressing. According to historian Jeroen Dewulf, Kongolese Central African dress and music influenced the Mardi Gras Indians.[25][26]

In 1740, New Orleans' Congo Square was a cultural center for African music and dance; the city was also a major southern trade port that became a cultural melting pot.[27] New Orleans was more open-minded than many Southern cities, and on Sundays enslaved African people gathered to sing folk songs, play traditional music, and dance.[27] The lively parties were recounted by a Northern observer as being "indescribable... Never will you see gayer countenances, demonstrations of more forgetfulness of the past and the future, and more entire abandonment to the joyous existence of the present moment."[28] The idea of letting loose and embracing traditional African music and dance is a backbone of the Mardi Gras Indians practice.[27] The music of Mardi Gras Indians played at Congo square contributed to the creation of jazz. Their music is derived from African polyrhythms and syncopated beats combined with African and Creole languages, and French and European musical influences.[29]

The origins of the Mardi Gras Indians have also been traced to mock-war performances by warriors called sangamento from the Kingdom of Kongo. Kikongo people in Central Africa performed this dance decorated in African feather headdress and wearing belts with jingle bells. Sangamento performers dance using leaps, contortions, and gyrations; this style of dancing influenced the dance styles of Mardi Gras Indians. During the transatlantic slave trade, Bantu people were enslaved in the Americas and influenced carnival culture in the Black diaspora and Mardi Gras Indian performances in Louisiana.[30][31] Scholars at Duke University found that Kikongo peoples' culture influenced African diaspora religions, Afro-American music, and the dance and musical styles of Mardi Gras Indians.[32]

Other Native American and African American encounters

[edit]
Buffalo Bills Wild West show of the 1890s may have influenced the Mardi Gras Indian tradition.

During the late 1740s and 1750s, many enslaved Africans fled to the bayous of Louisiana where they encountered Native Americans. Years later, after the Civil War, hundreds of freed slaves joined the U.S. Ninth Cavalry Regiment, also known as Buffalo Soldiers.[27] The Buffalo Soldiers fought, killed, forced, and aided the mass removal and relocation of the Plains Indians on the Western Frontier. After returning to New Orleans, many ex-soldiers joined popular Wild West shows, most notably Buffalo Bill's Wild West.[27] The show wintered in New Orleans from 1884 to 1885 and was hailed by the Daily Picayune as "the people's choice". There was at least one black cowboy in the show, and there were numerous black cowhands.[33]

On Mardi Gras in 1885, 50 to 60 Plains Indians marched in native dress on the streets of New Orleans. Later that year, it is believed the first Mardi Gras Indian gang was formed; the krewe was named "The Creole Wild West" and was most likely composed of members of Buffalo Bill's Wild West show.[27] However, the "Indian gangs" might predate their appearance in the City. A source from 1849 refers to black performers on Congo Square fully covered in "the plumes of the peacock.”[34]

Similar Pan-American carnival celebrations

[edit]
Carnival in Grenada, 1965 - Mardi Gras Indians share similar practices of celebration by wearing regalia with feathers and bright colors

Scholars noted the similar musical, dance, and regalia practices of Black people in the African diaspora.[35] An article from Tulane University explains: "It is generally agreed that the Mardi Gras Indian tradition has strong Afro-Caribbean folk roots. Many observers and scholars perceive specific parallels with costumes and music of the junkanoo parades of the Bahamas, and some street celebrations in Haiti. In a broader sense the Mardi Gras Indians represent one of many reflections of New Orleans’ on-going status as an epicenter of African cultural retention in America. The Indians utilize many shared traits of African and African-American music, include call-and-response, syncopation, polyrhythm with a unifying time-line, melisma, the encouragement of spontaneity, and the extremely porous boundary between performers and audiences."[36] During the Haitian Revolution, French slaveholders fled the island of Haiti and brought their slaves to New Orleans.[37] Enslaved Haitians influenced the culture of enslaved Black Americans in New Orleans that also contributed to the carnival culture of Mardi Gras Indians. Over the years, Haitian immigrants settled in Louisiana where some elements of rara festival culture blended with Black American carnivals.[38]

Historian Jeroen Dewulf noted other Black people in the diaspora dress as Indigenous people and wear feathered headdresses in Cuba, Peru, Trinidad, and Brazil. Wearing feathered headdresses is not unique to the Americas; Kikongo people in Central Africa also wear feathered headdresses. They are worn in ceremonies, festivals, worn by African chiefs, and dancers. According to Dewulf, this practice continued in the Americas where enslaved Africans and their descendants wear feather headdresses during carnivals. The designs of African headdresses blended with headdresses worn by Indigenous people creating unique and different styles across the diaspora.[39]

Mardi Gras Indians are a part of the carnival festival culture in the diaspora. Black people in the Americas create their own regalia using art and symbolism from West-Central African beadwork and colors that blends with Native American culture. The festivals performed tell a story about their ancestors escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad. An article from the New Yorker explains how a "tribe" of Mardi Gras Indians called, Young Seminole Hunters, sculpt elaborate suits to honor the roles the Seminole people and other Native American nations had on the Underground Railroad in liberating enslaved Black people. Mardi Gras Indians are informing the public about Black history through their regalia, music, and songs.[40][41]

A junkanoo costume worn by Black people in the Bahamas is similar to other carnival cultures in the Black diaspora.

Pan-American carnival cultural celebrations in the Black Diaspora that are similar to the performances and regalia of Mardi Gras Indians are:

  • Second Line Parades - New Orleans and Cuba
  • Ruberos groups – Cuba
  • Escolas de Samba, Capoeira – Brazil
  • Maracatu parades- Brazil[42]
  • Rara festival – Haiti
  • 19th Century Jametta Carnival – Trinidad
  • Jokonnu – West Indies
  • Sociedad de las Congas – Panama
  • L'agya – Martinique[27]

The regalia of Mardi Gras Indians has been defined by scholars as traditional African-American folk art; it is a combination of African "dress art" inspired by Native American regalia. The beadwork of their regalia has influences from West African beadwork with Native American influences.[43] Mardi Gras Indians are a part of the Black Arts tradition.[44]

Suits

[edit]
Chief and members of the "Yellow Pocahontas" "tribes" St. Joseph's Day, 1942

Mardi Gras Indian suits cost thousands of dollars in materials alone and can weigh upwards of one hundred pounds.[45] A suit usually takes between six and nine months to plan and complete. Each Indian designs and creates his own suit; elaborate bead patches depict meaningful and symbolic scenes.[46] Beads, feathers, and sequins are integral parts of a Mardi Gras Indian suit. Uptown New Orleans "tribes" tend to have more pictorial and African-inspired suits; downtown krewes have more 3D suits with heavy Native American influences.[47]

The suits are revealed on Super Sunday and rival professional costume designers. Even though men dominate the different , women can become Mardi Gras"tribes" Indian "Queens" who make their own costumes and masks. The suits incorporate volume, giving the clothing a sculptural sensibility. Darryl Montana, son of the Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas "Hunters" ,"tribes" states that the suits each year cost around $5,000 in materials that can include up to 300 yards of down feather trimming.[48] The suits can take up to a year to complete as each artist needs to order materials, design the layout, sew and bead. The beadwork is entirely done by hand and feature a combination of color and texture. Some of the suits are displayed in museums throughout the country.[49]

African and Native American culture

[edit]
A blending of cultures shown in regalia

Mardi Gras Indians' regalia incorporate elements from West Africa and Indigenous cultures in North America making their suits unique in African-American folk art. The West African cultural elements are cowrie shells, kente cloth, raffia, African face masks and shields. Native American cultural elements incorporated are the headdresses and feathers. An article by author Becker explains: "Mardi Gras Indian headdresses resembled the so-called war bonnets worn by Native American chiefs and warriors in the Plains region, among the Sioux, Crow, Blackfoot, Arapaho, Cheyenne, and Plains Cree. Despite the name, these headdresses were typically worn by Native Americans on ceremonial occasions rather than into battle. Plains Indian men wearing such "war bonnets" were the frequent subjects of late nineteenth century photographers and often appeared on postcards and other forms of widely circulating popular media, which came to represent the archetypal "classic" Native American. The fact that the headdresses worn by Black Indians clearly drew on those worn by Native American men from the northern Plains rather than from the southeastern United States, such as the Choctaw and the Houma, raises both historical and interpretive questions."[50]

Some of the Mardi Gras Black Indians' regalia is influenced on inaccurate representations of Native Americans and their cultures. Not all Native American nations wear war bonnets. The Indigenous people who helped enslaved Black Americans escape from slavery were from Southeastern Native American tribes. Southeastern Woodland people do not wear war bonnets.[51][52]

Over the years some Mardi Gras Indians began to incorporate designs from African and African diaspora cultures in their suits such as beadwork, conch shells, dried grass strands, and designs from Bahamian Junkanoo dancers. Victor Harris is a Black American in Louisiana and chooses to incorporate designs from Africa and the African diaspora because his DNA is African.[53]

Parade formation and protocol

[edit]
Uptown Mardi Gras Indians Encounter on Mardi Gras Day

The Mardi Gras Indians play various traditional roles. Many blocks ahead of the Indians are plain-clothed informants keeping an eye out for any danger. The procession begins with "spyboys," dressed in light "running suits" that allow them the freedom to move quickly in case of emergency.[27] Next comes the "first flag," an ornately dressed Indian carrying a token "tribal" flag.[27] Closest to the "Big Chief" is the "Wildman" who usually carries a symbolic weapon.[27] Finally, there is the "Big Chief." The "Big Chief" decides where to go and which krewes to meet (or ignore). The entire group is followed by percussionists and revelers.[27]

During the march, the Indians dance and sing traditional songs particular to their "tribes." They use hodgepodge languages loosely based on different African dialects.[33] The "Big Chief" decides where the group will parade; the parade route is different each time. When two "tribes" come across each other, they either pass by or meet for a symbolic fight. Each "tribes" lines up and the "Big Chiefs" taunt each other about their suits and their "tribes." The drum beats of the two "tribes" intertwine, and the face-off is complete. Both "tribes" continue on their way.[54]

Violence

[edit]
Mardi Gras Indian getting ready

In the early days of the Indians, Mardi Gras was a day of both reveling and bloodshed. "Masking" and parading was a time to settle grudges.[33] This part of Mardi Gras Indian history is immortalized in James Sugar Boy Crawford's song, "Jock O Mo" (better known and often covered as "Iko Iko"), based on their taunting chants. However, in the late 1960s, Allison Montana, "Chief of Chiefs", fought to end violence between the Mardi Gras Indian "Tribes".[55] He said, "I was going to make them stop fighting with the gun and the knife and start fighting with the needle and thread."[56] Today, the Mardi Gras Indians are not plagued by violence; instead, they base their fights over the "prettiness" of their suits.[33]

[edit]
  • The HBO series Treme features one krewe of Mardi Gras Indians, the Guardians of the Flame, in one of the major plot lines weaving through the series, featuring preparations, the parades, as well as strained relationships with the police department.
  • The song "Iko Iko" mentions two Mardi Gras Indian krewes.
  • Beyoncé's 2016 visual album Lemonade showcases a Mardi Gras Indian circling a dining table, paying homage to the New Orleans culture.[57]
  • In the Freeform series Cloak & Dagger, based on the eponymous Marvel Comics characters, Tyrone Johnson's father and brother were Mardi Gras Indians prior to the events of the show. When Tyrone discovers his signature cloak it is revealed his brother was working on it while training to be a spyboy.[58]

Cultural appropriation

[edit]

This practice has been criticized as being redface, that is, portraying stereotypical caricatures of Native Americans.[59] Some Native Americans regard the Mardi Gras Indians tradition as a form of cultural appropriation. The activist Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) has written that "The history of Mardi Gras Indians comes out of a history of shared oppression and marginality between the Black and Native residents" and therefore is unsure whether the tradition constitutes cultural appropriation, but says that the tradition makes her and other Native Americans uncomfortable. Donald Harrison Jr., a member of the Congo Nation group, has said that his group changed their name because "some Native Americans may be angry about it", choosing an African name because "we are an African-American tribe of New Orleans."[60]

"Tribes" of the Mardi Gras Indian Nation

[edit]
  • 7th Ward Creole Hunters
  • 7th Ward Hard Headers
  • 7th Ward Hunters
  • 9th Ward Hunters
  • Algiers Warriors 1.5
  • Apache Hunters
  • Black Cherokee
  • Black Eagles
  • Black Feather
  • Black Hatchet
  • Black Hawk Hunters
  • Black Mohawks
  • Black Seminoles
  • Burning Spears
  • Carrollton Hunters
  • Cheyenne Hunters
  • Chippewa Hunters
  • Choctaw Hunters
  • Comanche Hunters
  • Congo Nation
  • Creole Apache
  • Creole Osceola
  • Creole Wild West
  • Flaming Arrows
  • Geronimo Hunters
  • Golden Arrows
  • Golden Blades
  • Golden Comanche
  • Golden Eagles
  • Golden Feather Hunters
  • Golden Star Hunters
  • Guardians of the Flame
  • Hard Head Hunters
  • Louisiana Star Choctaw Nation
  • LoyalBreed Apache Warriors
  • Mandingo Warriors
  • Mohawk Hunters
  • Monogram Hunters
  • Morning Star Hunters
  • Northside Skull and Bones Gang
  • Red Hawk Hunters
  • Red Flame Hunters
  • Red White and Blue
  • Seminole Hunters
  • Seminole (Mardi Gras Indian Tribe)
  • Spirit of FiYiYi (aka Fi-Yi-Yi)
  • Timbuktu Warriors
  • Trouble Nation
  • Unified Nation
  • Uptown Warriors
  • Washitaw Nation
  • White Cloud Hunters
  • White Eagles
  • Wild Apache
  • Wild Bogacheeta
  • Wild Tchoupitoulas
  • Wild Magnolias
  • Wild Mohicans
  • Yellow Pocahontas
  • Yellow Jackets
  • Young Navaho
  • Young Brave Hunters
  • Young Monogram Hunters
  • Young Cheyenne[47]
  • Young Seminole Hunter

References

[edit]
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  54. ^ Gaudet, Marcia, and James McDonald. Mardi Gras, gumbo, and zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2003. Print.
  55. ^ Salaam, Kalamu (1997). "He's the Prettiest": A Tribute to Big Chief Allison "Tootie" Montana's 50 years of Mardi Gras Indian Suiting. New Orleans: New Orleans Museum of Art. Print.
  56. ^ Baum, Dan (2010). Nine Lives (Print ed.). New York: Spiegal Paperbacks.
  57. ^ Donnella, Leah. "The Mardi Gras Indian Of 'Lemonade'". South Carolina Public Radio NPR. Retrieved September 24, 2024.
  58. ^ "Cloak & Dagger Just Reinvented an Important Piece of Tyrone's Mythology". CBR. Retrieved June 22, 2018.
  59. ^ Morgan-Owens, Jessie (February 20, 2020). "Catch up, Choctaw krewe, 'redface' is racist". The Advocate. Retrieved September 21, 2024.
  60. ^ Donnella, Leah. "The Mardi Gras Indian Of 'Lemonade'". South Carolina Public Radio NPR. Retrieved September 24, 2024.

Further reading

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  • Mitchell, Reid (1995). "Mardi Gras Indians". All on a Mardi Gras Day: Episodes in the History of New Orleans Carnival. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press. pp. 113–130. ISBN 0-674-01623-8.
  • Dewulf, Jeroen (2017). From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square: Kongo Dances and the Origins of the Mardi Gras Indians. Lafayette, LA: University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. ISBN 9781935754961.
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