Mardi Gras Indians

Home-grown and spirit-raised


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Readers' comments



The fate of the Mardi Gras Indian parades - like so much else that is unique about New Orleans - was uncertain after Katrina. It's heartwarming to know that it has survived and prospered.

Thanks for this excellent article, well-written by someone who clearly appreciates the culture of New Orleans. For those of you who've never visited the Crescent City, do yourself a favor and go. There's so much more than Bourbon Street!


Pretty funny that it's A-OK for blacks to parade around in stereotypical Indian costumes that aren't even historically accurate. God knows what would happen if some other race decided to have a minstrel show parade in blackface.

Secondly, I like how the author insinuates that racism is the underlying reason that the police have historically looked down on these events even though the author had already written about how the parades are/were comprised of "gangs" which would historically do battle in the streets.

PK628 in reply to RationalLibertarian

Perhaps it the context with which it is done that makes it a-ok? It is done as an homage, as opposed to just an arbitrary use of the Native American symbols and customs. As someone who has lived much of her life in the New Orleans area, this custom makes perfect sense to me. The New Orleans area is a true melting pot city. Unlike other metropolitan cities, which have their pocket ethnic communities, New Orleans is a big old gumbo. Everybody mixed in with each other. It took over 300 years to get the roux right, and I'm glad to see Katrina didn't completely ruin the it. Most blacks and whites in the South have Native American blood coursing through their veins. But, let's face it, few whites needed sanctuary during the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries.


An excellent article overall. It's especially interesting how the article links the tradition of the Mardi Gras Indians with the long contact that existed between the African slaves and free African-Americans (the "free people of colour") and the Native Americans living near what is now New Orleans.

As a comparison, it's interesting to look at other examples of the interactions between the Africans and Native Americans in the Americas, such as the Black Seminoles in Florida (and later in Oklahoma and Mexico); the Garifunas of Belize, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua; and the Miskito Sambu of coastal Nicaragua and Honduras.

Connect The Dots

Normally I would consider the man in red costume in the photo, psychotic.

Some types of psychosis are tolerated.....others aren't.

And it is healthy (and necessary)to question sanity of fellow humans.

What a useless comment. "Normally?" Well thank heavens we caught you in a charitable mood.

Why don't you go down there and witness it for yourself before passing judgment? Masking is an honored lifestyle in New Orleans, a personal sacrifice in the name of culture.

Devils Advocate_1 in reply to tocharian

And you have no Rohinya Y-chromosome in you.[tocharianin reply to Connect The 29th, 00:39

If I may connect the dots, I have to assume that you have no Native American or African-American ancestors.]

And you have no Rohingya Y-chromosome in you.



This is history that needs to be written down before it gets lost to the salesmen who market everything-black and Indian history has been lost to a huge extent - the invention of a method of recording music plus the camera has saved some of it - but it is sad to imagine all that has been lost.


Why doesn't this article mention the HBO production Treme?

I would have better understood the conflict between the cops and the Indians in the show if I had read this article first.


Thank you for this article. The Indians, their suits, and their parades are an important part of my life. There is a man on my walking route who, when the weather is nice and the light is right, sits on his porch to sew his suit. When I hit the inevitable rough patches of life, I think of him sewing his story with those tiny beads.



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