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McQueeney, Kevin. “Zulu: a transnational history of a New Orleans Mardi Gras krewe.” Safundi: The Journal of South African and American Studies 19, no. 2 (2018): 139-163. DOI: 10.1080/17533171.2018.1407083 . Melancon, Trimiko. “The Complicated History of Race and Mardi Gras.” Black Perspectives, February 9, 2018. Accessed February 21, 2022. Moreover, that there are 2018 Mardi Gras beads commemorating the removed statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee (an image of the statue appears with the inscription “Forever Lee Circle”) speaks to the divisive nature and history of race entangled in Mardi Gras. Institutionalized racism, along with reminders and symbols of a complicated *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 This year, Mardi Gras falls on Tuesday, Feb. 13. As recorded by the Library of Congress, Mardi Gras began in 1703 at 27 Mile Bluff in Mobile by way of French colonizers who brought the tradition The Mardi Gras Indians subculture emerged during the era of slavery from West African, Afro-Caribbean and Native American cultural practices. [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ] The Mardi Gras Indians' tradition is considered part of the African diasporan decorative aesthetic, and is an African-American art form. Much of the tradition and history of Mardi Gras is rooted in New Orleans’ rich African American culture. In this month’s Affinity newsletter we share the story of how during times of slavery and segregation, the city’s Black communities built a carnival culture that lives on in New Orleans today. When Mardi Gras Indians parade down the streets of New Orleans during the city’s annual Carnival celebrations, onlookers experience a whirlwind of sensory stimulation.Dressed in handcrafted Flaming torches carried by slaves illuminated Mardi Gras parades of old. Carrying these “flambeaux” soon became a performance art, with bearers prancing and twirling their torches alongside the floats and collecting pennies from the crowd. Today, flambeaux carriers still accompany night-time parades, and even accept the odd coin from onlookers. New Orleans has been celebrating Mardi Gras since the 1730s, but it took a hundred years before we began to see street processions. The first processions included carriages and maskers on horseback. The first floats appeared in 1856 with the formation of the first Mardi Gras krewe: the Mistick Krewe of Comus. Mardi Gras has an extensive background riddled with religious nuances. The name Mardi Gras is derived from the French words, meaning “Fat Tuesday.” Part of Fat Tuesday’s cultural makeup was introduced by French settlers in the early 1700s. Leisure activities came in the form of balls and masked parties. Mardi Gras is a Christian holiday and popular cultural phenomenon that dates back thousands of years to pagan spring and fertility rites. It's most famously celebrated with parades in New Orleans Mardi Gras on Bourbon Street is known for booze, flashing and bead-throwing, while parades elsewhere in the city feature floats, doubloon coins and Moon Pies. In 1699, Pierre Le Moyne', declares his camp "Pointe du Mardi Gras", (Mardi Gras Point), as Louisiana's first European settler's entered the Mississippi Delta Gulf Coast Region, and in 1711, a mere two years later, Native Indians were first taken as slaves. Taken to exploit the cheap source of labor, to clear the area to be used as a port, and The Mardi Gras Indians are comprised, in large part, of the African-American communities of New Orleans's inner city. While these Indians have paraded for well over a century, their parade is perhaps the least recognized Mardi Gras tradition. "Mardi Gras Indians--the parade most white people don't see. Enjoy live music every weekend, including New Orleans-based bands, with a massive Mardi Gras party Saturday, March 1. The annual MidCity Mardi Gras Paw Parade will be Sunday, March 2. Feb 1: The good times will roll again at the 2nd annual Mardi Gras on Main Golf Cart Parade & Royal Ball in downtown Enterprise. The event begins with a golf cart There is no pinpointing the origins of the celebration known today as Carnival or Mardi Gras. Indeed, because its most elemental characteristics — drinking and feasting, dancing and music, masks and costumes — extend back into the mists of time, there’s no tidy way to connect the dots between prehistoric cave paintings of dancing stick-like figures wearing animal masks and the modern pre Flambeaux: It’s a Mardi Gras tradition that has become revered as an art form today, having blossomed well beyond the practical purpose it first served. Over the past century and a half, city infrastructure has evolved, and Mardi Gras parades incorporate more high-tech LED lighting. However, the story of the Mardi Gras Indians started long before the first Carnival with a friendship between the Lousianna Native Americans and the African American slaves. The forty Mardi Gras Indian Tribes with names such as the Congo Nation, Guardians of the Flame, Yellow Pocahontas and Wild Magnolias are a hard sight to miss when attending specialization are Iberian and Dutch colonial and religious history and the transatlantic slave trade. 1Quoted in Joseph Roach, "Mardi Gras Indians and Others: Genealogies of American Performance," Theatre Journal, 44 (1992): 461-483. 2Henry Rightor, ed., Standard History of New Orleans, Louisiana: Giving a Description of the Natural Advantages New Orleans Mardi Gras History 101. Beginning on Epiphany (aka Three Kings Day or Twelfth Night) and ending on Fat Tuesday (aka Shrove Tuesday or Mardi Gras Day) is the season known as Carnival. Mardi Gras, French for “Fat Tuesday”, is the celebrated method of indulgence and debauchery before the fasting of Lent.
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