Gallery
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
 |  |
%20EMCM%20-%20computer%20lab%203.JPG "mardi gras indian beading") |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
 |  |
Big Chief Demond Melancon hand beading a part of his Mardi Gras Indian suit. (C)2019 GILES CLEMENT/DEMOND MELANCON. In 2008, after Hurricane Katrina’s devastation, Melancon returned to masking. Blood, sweat and tears are poured into every Mardi Gras Indians Suit Big Chief Andrew Justin builds. The material, each bead, each image, each stone is carefully selected and added to the Indian Suit with not only precision the Mardi Gras tradition in mind. Mardi Gras Indians use beading to create intricate panels on their suits. Mardi Gras Indian - Mardi Gras Indians are African American men, women, and children in New Orleans who are part of tribes (also referred to as gangs) that mask in elaborately hand-beaded and feathered suits inspired by Indigenous and West African ceremonial dress. Mardi Gras Indian suits are truly a labor of love and tradition. Justen Williams, NOTMC Learning to hand-bead with the Young Maasai Hunters at Mardi Gras Indians Sip and Sew Just as other elements vary by tribe, suits are no exception. Ricky Gettridge, former Spy Boy of the Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indian gang. A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE INDIANS. Since it’s beginnings, masking as a Mardi Gras Indian has developed into an elaborate art form. The beadwork, held to increasingly high standards by the tribes, has been recognized by national institutions. Mardi Gras Indians at Algiers Riverfest New Orleans 2009 showing their beadwork. The Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians or Black Maskers) [a] are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, known for their elaborate suits and participation in Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras Indians at Algiers Riverfest New Orleans 2009 showing their beadwork. The Mardi Gras Indians (also known as Black Masking Indians or Black Maskers) [a] are African American carnival revelers in New Orleans, Louisiana, known for their elaborate suits and participation in Mardi Gras. The Mardi Gras Indians tradition is a homage to the indigenous people who helped the enslaved people reclaim their freedom. Today, Mardi Gras Indians are known for the larger-than-life, hand-beaded suits, which incorporate beads, rhinestones, and ostrich feathers. Individuals create a brand new suit each year and reveal it on Mardi Gras Day The last time I saw a Mardi Gras Indian was last March, on St. Joseph’s night, when the gangs and thousands of spectators annually pack the streets of Central City for intimate neighborhood rituals far from the wide prying eyes and intrusive cell phones of visitors and tourists. 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. Big Chief costumes take up to a year to make, cost thousands of dollars, and can weigh more than 100 pounds. The 38 or so individual tribes that participate in the Mardi Gras are loosely confederated as either Uptown or Downtown Indians, each of which wear costumes with slightly different design features. NEW ORLEANS — Since he was a teenager, Monk Boudreaux has been donning a Technicolor suit of beads and feathers and taking to the streets as a Mardi Gras Indian, shaking a tambourine and singing Walter Sandifer is the Big Chief of the Beautiful Creole Apache Mardi Gras Indians, a flag boy for the Red, White, and Blue Mardi Gras Indians, was a member a the Creole Wild West and is a native New Orleanian. He is a co-founder of Keep It In The Culture Cooperative and will be celebrating his 30th consecutive year as a Mardi Gras Indian in 2024. A Mardi Gras Indian at a New Orleans jazz festival in 2011 Tulane Public Relations via Wikimedia Commons under CC BY 2.0 beadwork and other aspects of the tradition stem from West African The Mardi Gras Indian tradition is rooted in a legacy of resistance. Enslaved Africans, escaping the dehumanizing violence of the plantation, found hospice with Native Americans. The Mardi Gras Indian tribes are noted for their exquisite costumes, public performances at Carnival, and their musical contributions.
Articles and news, personal stories, interviews with experts.
Photos from events, contest for the best costume, videos from master classes.
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |
| |