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Instead, African American communities celebrated Mardi Gras by incorporating West African rhythms, drumming, dance, and masking traditions into their own festivities, and masked as Indians to tell stories of enslaved people escaping slavery and finding refuge in Native American communities. Batiste and other early Mardi Gras Indians could trace branches of their family trees to local Native American tribes, writes Wagner in The Wild Tchoupitoulas. But the scholar believes the music The Mardi Gras Indians symbolize a unique connection between African and Indigenous heritage in the Crescent City. Albumen silver prints, Mounts: 10.8 x 17.8 cm (4 1/4 x 7 in.), Photographs *The Mardi Gras Indians are celebrated on this date (Fat Tuesday) in 1732. These African Americans participate as a cultural foundation of New Orleans and Mardi gras history. The Mardi Gras Indians are as much a part of that secret society as any other carnival organization. The heritage of the Mardi Gras Indians is an African based long and hard road, starting in late 1600's with the Indian Uptown Indians tend to use more rhinestones and feathers, and are known for flat beaded designs, pulling from more Native American influences, whereas Downtown Indians often build three-dimensional structures as part of their designs, and use sequins and feathers inspired from more African Influences. Mardi Gras Indian Music The origins of Mardi Gras Indians have been passed down orally through generations. One common belief is that local Native American tribes sheltered runaway slaves, and the two cultures merged. The Mardi Gras Indians named themselves after native Indians to pay them respect for their assistance in escaping the tyranny of slavery. It was often local Indians who accepted slaves into their society when they made a break for freedom. They have never forgotten this support. Long ago, Mardi Gras was a violent day for many Mardi Gras Indians. According to Darensbourg, the Native Americans in the New Orleans/Bienville area (Bulbancha) have more to do with the influence of music, specifically blues, than they do with the Mardi Gras Indians. The long, wailing notes that are a staple of blues music finds roots in the songs and musical traditions of the Native Americans, says Darensbourg. The Mardi Gras Indians take their costume design cues from both Native American and West African traditions, with a distinctly local twist. Thousands of hours, thousands of dollars and thousands of beads and feathers go into each suit, many of which tell stories of African and African-American history in their designs. Mardi Gras Indian culture is a rich tapestry of African American traditions, Indigenous American symbolism, and contemporary artistic expression. It is a vibrant celebration of identity, history, and the power of community. The Significance of Costumes. The elaborate costumes of Mardi Gras Indians are the centerpiece of their cultural expression. African-Americans in the city have paraded in spectacular regalia inspired by Native American motifs for more than a century. The song of the Mardi Gras Indians exudes joy, defiance — and mystery. Once shrouded in secrecy, with little interest in sharing their traditions with the outside world, Black Masking Indians, also known as Mardi Gras Indians, have become celebrated icons whose music draws Grammy nominations and whose history and folkways command serious attention from scholars and media outlets, documentary filmmakers and major cultural institutions. Carnival Day for Mardi Gras Indians. Mardi Gras Indians Celebrating Carnival Day. Photo: Vincent Simmons. Meg: It’s Carnival morning. Walk me through your day. Cherice: Well, it’s a lot of chaos that morning. Chances are you did not go to sleep or if you did you went to sleep for two or three hours. In masking, they paid respect and homage to the Native American by using their identity and making a social statement that despite the odds, they’re not going to stop. Ronald Lewis, former Council Chief of the Choctaw Hunters, a Mardi Gras Indian tribe he helped to start. THE MAKING OF A MARDI GRAS INDIAN SUIT In the documentary short—filmed in advance of the 2018 Mardi Gras season—Melancon recites the origin story of the Black Indians. The camera pans to a dream sequence set along a riverbank in a The Mardi Gras Indians have become a central part of the city's celebrations, but there was a time when residents found them mysterious and outsiders even considered them dangerous. Samuel Kinser that the dances of the Mardi Gras Indians were "long in gestation" and by Reid Mitchell that the tradition "must have been cultivated within the black community long before."8 If the performances of the Mardi Gras Indians do indeed build' on a long tradition, it seems likely that they developed out of the dances at Congo Square. The 9th Ward Seminoles Black Masking Indian tribe Big Chief Keitoe Jones and his great niece Little Queen Zia Brumfield, 9, walk on Claiborne Avenue on Mardi Gras Day in New Orleans in 2024. The Mardi Gras Indians orange, and purple suit depicting fierce battles between rival Native American tribes, complete with matching shield, spear, There is strong evidence that the costumes of modern day Mardi Gras Indians are a cross between Africa ritual costumes and that of the Native American. This is likely because of the fact that the slaves sold here were mostly from the west African nations that captured and sold slaves to the white traders that frequented the coasts at that time
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