Indian Red, Indian Red...

Super Sunday - Amy Loewy, 2013

"He won't bow down

Down on the ground

Oh, how I love to hear

Him call Indian Red"

My Indian Red by Danny Barker

I so wish I could say I'm an authority on the Mardi Gras Indians...but alas I am not.  I do however know the community in which the Mardi Gras Indians live, is one steeped in an incredible history.  One in which I know, just on the surface. 

Super Sunday - Amy Loewy, 2013

The Mardi Gras Indians hand bead (tiny seed beads) the incredible patches covering their suits, taking between 6-8 months to plan and create.  The suits could cost thousands of dollars and may weigh as much as 100 pounds.  Each Indian designs and creates his own suit; elaborate bead patches depict meaningful and symbolic scenes.^[3] Beads, feathers, and sequins are integral parts of a Mardi Gras Indian suit. Uptown New Orleans tribes tend to have more sculptural and abstract African-inspired suits; downtown tribes have more pictorial suits with heavy Native American influences.^[4] Their are approximately 38 tribes and are loosely organized as the Uptown Indians and the Downtown Indians. 

In the early days of the Indians, Mardi Gras was a day of both partying and bloodshed. “Masking” and parading was a time to settle grudges.^[5]  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, Tootie Montana, "Chief of Chiefs", fought to end violence between the Mardi Gras Indian Tribes.^[6] He said, “I was going to make them stop fighting with the gun and the knife and start fighting with the needle and thread.”^[7] Today, the Mardi Gras Indians are largely unplagued by violence; instead they base their fights over the “prettiness” of their suits.^[5]



Super Sunday - Amy Loewy, 2013

In the 15 years I've lived in New Orleans, I've taken a  couple thousand photographs, primarily on Super Sunday.  Which is always the closest Sunday to March 19th, which is St. Joseph's Day.

Mardi Gras Indians have been parading in New Orleans at least since the mid-19th century and possibly before. The history of the Mardi Gras Indians is shrouded in mystery and folklore.

According to Wikipedia: In 1740, New Orleans’ Congo Square was a cultural center for African music and dance. New Orleans was more liberal than many southern cities, and on Sundays African slaves gathered to sing folk songs, play traditional music, and dance.  ^[1]   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 to the present movement." [2]    The idea of letting loose and embracing traditional African music and dance is a backbone of the Mardi Gras Indians practice.

Super Sunday - Amy Loewy, 2013

It has been said, on Mardi Gras in 1885, fifty to sixty Plains Indians marched in native dress on the ^[1]
streets of New Orleans. Later that year, the first Mardi Gras Indian gang was formed; the tribe was named “The Creole Wild West” and was most likely composed of members of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.


Super Sunday - Amy Loewy, 2013

As usual, on Super Sunday I spent 5 hours in the amazing presence of the Mardi Gras Indians. As usual, I ran into my friend Ali and we discussed the fact that the Indians is one of our favorite Mardi Gras traditions. A sunburn and a couple hundred photographs later I went home exhausted. 



Brian Harrison Nelson, Big Chief - Amy Loewy, 2013

This year on St. Joseph's Day, Brian Harrison Nelson, Big Chief of The Guardians of the Flame (who is one of my neighbors) "came out the door" for the residents of Blue Plate Artist Lofts.   The Guardians of the Flame continue to mask in a tradition that rivals a spiritual utopia.  As a performing group, the Guardians of the Flame have attended the biggest pow-wow in North American, the Gathering of Nations. In 1993, the group was the pow-wow's first Mardi Gras Indian guests. The Guardians have also traveled to Miami, New Mexico, and Texas. In 1993, fourteen performers, ages 5 to 60, graced the stage at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.


St. Joseph's Day - Amy Loewy, 2013

As far as the Mardi Gras Indians go...this my friend is the tip of the iceberg.  Y'all need to be here to be amazed and awed by the incredible art, music, and tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians.

 Compliments of Big Chief Brian Harrison Nelson

 

 

From Wikipedia:
[1] Smith, Michael, and Alan Govenar. Mardi Gras Indians. Gretna: Pelican Pub. Co. 1994. Print.
[2] Flint, Timothy. Recollections of the Last Ten Years. Boston: Cummings, Hilliard, and Company, 1826.
[3] Bragg, Rick. "Another Battle of New Orleans: Mardi Gras," New York Times (Feb. 19, 1995).
[4] Moser, Margaret. "My Gang Don't Bow Down: Mardi Gras Indian Chief Kevin Goodman leads his tribe to Texas," Austin Chronicle (May 5, 2006).
[5] Gaudet, Marcia, and James McDonald. Mardi Gras, gumbo, and zydeco: Readings in Louisiana Culture. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi. 2003. Print.
[6] Salaam, Kalamu. “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. 1997. Print.
[7] Baum, Dan. Nine Lives. Spiegal Paperbacks. New York: 2010. Print.