Mardi Gras Indians
The Mardi Gras Indians subculture emerged during the era of slavery from West African, Afro-Caribbean and Native American cultural practices.
[12][13] Mardi Gras Indians' suits (regalia) and performances provide commentary on social justice issues, political liberation, and transformation.
[b] The West-Central African ethnic groups taken to Louisiana during the transatlantic slave trade were Bambara, Gambian, Akan, Fon, Yoruba,[21] and Kongolese peoples.
French slaveholders allowed enslaved and free Black people to congregate on Sunday afternoons at Congo Square, where they performed music and religious practices.
African culture thrived in maroon communities, and Native Americans often helped them by providing food and weapons to defend themselves from whites and slave catchers.
Archival records documented the first enslaved Africans apparently dressing as Indigenous people in a celebratory dance called Mardi Gras in 1746.
"[35][49] Author and photographer Michael P. Smith quotes Brassea and stating: "By 1781, under Spanish rule, the attorney general warned the City Commission of problems arising from 'a great number of free negroes and slaves who, with the pretext of the Carnival season, mask and mix in bands passing through the streets looking for the dance-halls.
[49] In the late 18th century, Spanish officials increased immigration and trade in the lower Mississippi valley by granting French merchants permission to import enslaved people from Saint-Domingue and other Caribbean islands.
[60] Experts generally agree that Mardi Gras Indian culture is a combination of African, Caribbean, Indigenous, and European influences, which underwent a process of creolization and syncretism in New Orleans.
[61] The masking of the Mardi Gras Indians resembles West African masquerade ceremonies and warrior dances, but also draws on Indigenous motifs.
[72][73][74] Scholars Fehintola Mosadomi and Joyce M. Jackson noted similar ceremonial practices of the Yoruba Egungun and Mardi Gras Indians—both are performed in the streets with music and folk rituals, have elaborate colorful costumes, and are male-dominated.
[84][85] 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 of the present moment.
[96] Mardi Gras Indian musicians include the funk band Cha Wa, singer and "Big Chief" Monk Boudreau, and The Wild Tchoupitoulas.
[108][109][110] Mardi Gras Indians attend Spiritual churches because of a shared interest in the history of Native American resistance and spirit possession.
In the 1980s, James Anderson wore the suit of deceased tribal member Big Chief Jolley to a Black Hawk ceremony at Infant Jesus of Prague Spiritual Church.
[114] One church minister reportedly dressed as a Mardi Gras Indian to summon the spirits of Black Hawk and Reverend Adams, resulting in a "séance".
[70][145] Author Raphael Njoku says: "While masquerading is reminiscent of the communal sociopolitical structures in precolonial Africa, the African Diaspora masked carnivals challenged the political powers and interests of the dominant White elite.
[171][172] From 1884 to 1885, Buffalo Bill's Wild West show wintered in New Orleans, and had a multicultural cast and crew of Black, Chinese, Mexican, European and Indigenous people.
[84]: 95–96 [170] Michael P. Smith suggests that, given the racial conditions in New Orleans at the time, these shows would have galvanized local Black audiences to identify with the plight of the Native Americans and see a shared enemy in white supremacy.
[1] Though the New Orleans traditions of Black masking predate Buffalo Bill's show, Smith suggests the name of Batiste's tribe may have been an intentional response to it.
[n] Mardi Gras Indians design and create their own suits; elaborate bead patches depict meaningful and symbolic scenes.
Author Cynthia Becker states the Mardi Gras Indian suits "express people's religious beliefs, historical pride, and racial heritage".
[190][191] Maskers have adopted a range of visual styles over the centuries, such as those in 1781 who were banned for "exhibitions against the public quietness" or those from the 1823 carnival who wore crowns of gold oblong boxes stacked on their heads.
[170] In 1804 and 1813, a German American and Swiss traveler saw Black men in "oriental and Indian dress" wearing different colored Turkish turbans.
[190][191] West African cultural elements include cowrie shells, kente cloth, raffia, and traditional face masks and shields.
Demond Melancon incorporates Rasta colors (red, green, and gold) into his suit, and beads into his regalia historical people associated with the movement, such as the Ethiopian Emperor and his wife, Empress Menen Asfaw.
Curator Loren Brown says of the process: These suits are not just pretty costumes; as many practitioners have stated, they also hold a deeper spiritual significance, and so we must consider a respectful way to care for them.
[3] Such motifs also appear in the suits and regalia of Mardi Gras Indians, although most of the costumes and music used derive from Caribbean traditions, with older West and Central African roots.
There has also been debate about the use of "war paint" and feathered headdresses, and whether these are based on negative stereotypes of Indigenous people or Afro-Caribbean traditions brought by Haitian and Dominican slaves.
[226][147][227][228] The activist Adrienne Keene (Cherokee Nation) says she is unsure if the Mardi Gras Indian tradition is cultural appropriation, but that it makes many Native Americans uncomfortable.
