Mardi Gras Indians

Matt Sakakeeny
LEH KnowLA
July 2009

Mardi Gras Indians are African Americans who form “tribes” or “gangs” that hold
weekly practices in bars throughout New Orleans and then march through the streets on
Mardi Gras day and other recurring dates. In these public ceremonies, Indians dress in
elaborate hand-sewn costumes, or “suits,” and sing chants as they travel in search of rival
tribes. When two tribes meet, the chiefs compete with one another by shouting boasts and
insults and by displaying their feathered and beaded suits. The fierce Mardi Gras Indian,
his suits, and his songs have all become recognizable symbols of New Orleans’ unique
local culture, and yet they have remained more closely tied to communities and
neighborhoods than other, more accessible, local traditions such as jazz and Creole
cuisine.
The precise origins of Mardi Gras Indians are not known and remain hotly
contested. Some Indians and researchers claim that the history begins with the
intermixture of blacks and American Indians during slavery times, when many escaped
slaves sought shelter with Houma, Chitimacha, and other Indian tribes living in the
swamplands surrounding the city (Martinez 1989; Lewis and Breunlin 2009). Others have
linked the first accounts of blacks masking as Indians to the visit of Buffalo Bill’s West
Show to New Orleans in 1884-5 (Smith 1994). It is also unclear whether there is a direct
relationship between the Mardi Gras Indian tradition and other ceremonial and musical
masquerading traditions among African diasporic communities, such as the junkanoo
parades throughout the Caribbean. However Mardi Gras Indians emerged, the
significance of the Indian warrior fighting domination clearly had a powerful resonance
among former slaves and their descendents who were subject to Jim Crow law.
Membership in a Mardi Gras Indian tribe is voluntary and based on social
networking rather than birthright. Tribes are organized with very specific roles for each
member, following a system begun by early tribes such as the Creole Wild West and
Yellow Pocahontas. The big chief is the tribal leader, often assisted by second chiefs and
queens. The spy boy marches several blocks in front of the chiefs and queens, seeking out
other gangs. He relays directions to the flag boy, who notifies the presence of another
tribe to the chief by waving a flag or stick. When tribes meet, the wild man clears a path
among the onlookers so the chiefs can face-off. Though these positions are frequently
refilled according to the changing membership of a tribe, the hierarchy of the tribal
organization – akin to a military unit – is strictly adhered to, and matters of any
significance fall under the authority of the chief.
Mardi Gras Indian culture is characterized by fraternity within the tribe and
competitiveness with other tribes. The Indian embodies fierceness, and a particularly
masculine representation of fierceness that has historically relegated women to
supporting roles; there are few queens and the other ranks are virtually always filled by
men. In this way, the big chief and other tribe members correspond both to the figure of
the American Indian who “won’t bow, won’t kneel” in the face of adversity, as well as
the protagonists of African-American songs and stories of “big men” such as John Henry
and “bad men” such as Stagger Lee.
 Historically, the fierceness of the Mardi Gras Indian was tested through violent
encounters between rival tribes from the uptown and downtown districts at a location
referred to as “the battlefield.” These clashes, called “humbugs,” dissipated greatly
during the latter half of the twentieth century, partly because of increasing pressure by
local police and partly because certain chiefs, most notably Allison “Tootie” Montana of
the Yellow Pocahontas, redirected the competitive nature of Indian showdowns away
from violent confrontation and towards pageantry (i.e. the suits, language, and songs of
the Indians).
The suits of the Mardi Gras Indians are the most celebrated aspect of the culture.
Every Indian sews a new suit to be unveiled on Mardi Gras morning, which requires a
staggering investment of time and money, as well as the creative ability to sew feathers
and beads in unique patterns and distinctive color schemes in a way that expresses the
individuality of the chief and his tribe. As Indian suits have become increasingly
elaborate, they have also become identifiable according to two dominant styles: the
uptown style uses beaded panels to tell a story with images (such as an Indian using a
tomahawk to break a slave’s chains) while the downtown style uses three-dimensional
geometric designs (such as the headdress of an Egyptian pharaoh). [PHOTOS]. These and
other styles are prevalent among tribes located throughout the city; they are not bound to
strict rules because the central aspect of the tradition is to reinvent itself in the form of a
new and innovative suit every year.
The language of the Mardi Gras Indians is the most elusive and mysterious aspect
of the culture. Made up of English and French as well as invented words, the speaking
and singing of the Indians is a form of verbal art that resists precise translation but is
widely understood by Indians. In many Indian songs, “hoo na nae” is substituted with the
phrase “let’s go get ‘em” while “tuway pockyway” is heard so frequently that it’s
meaning is entirely dependent on the situation.
The songs of the Mardi Gras Indians are the most popular and accessible aspect of
the culture. At Indian gatherings, songs are arranged in call-and-response fashion, with
the chief improvising a solo vocal and the gang responding with a repeated chant
(“shallow water oh mama!”; “big chief got a golden crown!”). A “second line” of
percussionists accompanies the chants with tambourines, cowbells, and “found objects”
such as beer bottles. Popular chants have also become the basis for rhythm & blues, soul,
funk, and hip-hop recordings, including James “Sugarboy” Crawford’s 1954 rhythm &
blues recording of “Jock-A-Mo,” which became a national hit as “Iko Iko” eleven years
later in a girl-group arrangement by the Dixie Cups. The music and spectacle of the
Indians has also spawned tribute songs, such as Earl King’s “Big Chief,” popularized by
pianist Professor Longhair in a 1964 recording.
In 1971, Bo Dollis and the Wild Magnolias were the first Indians to make a
commercial recording of their own music, using a group of funk musicians to arrange
Dollis’ “Handa Wanda.” Under the musical direction of pianist, composer, and arranger
Wilson Turbinton (“Willie Tee”), the Wild Magnolias recorded two LPs in the early
1970s and toured the U.S. and France. Indian funk was given a sizeable boost in 1976,
when the Wild Tchoupitoulas tribe recorded an album with arrangements by the city’s
most acclaimed funk group, The Meters. On the record and in performance at the New
Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, lead vocalist Joseph Landry (“Chief Jolly”) was
accompanied by his nephews the Neville Brothers (Art, Charles, Aaron, and Cyril) who,
like Willie Tee, had grown up following the Indians on Mardi Gras day. Music composed
for these recordings, such as the Magnolias’ “New Suit” (1975) and the Tchoupitoulas’
“Meet De Boys on the Battlefront” (1976), now reside alongside “Big Chief” and “Iko,
Iko” as the most prominent and durable signs of the Mardi Gras Indian tradition.
Musical recordings and staged performances brought extraordinary recognition to
what had been a relatively obscure and even secretive community practice, alerting a
much larger public to the tradition of masking and chanting. The increased attendance of
Indian parades on Mardi Gras day and especially the proliferation of official cultural
exhibitions – museum shows of costumes, Indian parades at local festivals, concert
performances of traditional chanting, etc. – owe much to the ongoing popularity of Indian
music.
Mardi Gras Indians are a prominent and vital thread in the tapestry of local
culture. Once only seen on Mardi Gras day and St. Joseph’s night by a select few, today
the Indian has become a fixture at events all over the city and throughout the year. Super
Sunday has become a popular springtime outing for a diverse crowd of spectators who
come to see the tribes in three neighborhoods, uptown, downtown, and the West Bank. At
the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, tribes are hired to parade through the
fairgrounds and appear onstage. Chiefs such as musician Donald Harrison Jr. and the late
plasterer Tootie Montana became respected public figures and voices of the community
through their Indian-related activities. And new tribes have continued to form even after
the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, demonstrating the fierceness and vitality of this
cherished local tradition.

Bibliography
Lewis, Ronald W. and Rachel Breunlin. 2009. The House of Dance and Feathers: A
Museum by Ronald W. Lewis. New Orleans: UNO Press/Neighborhood Story
Project.

Martinez, Maurice M. 1989. ‘Mardi Gras Indians.’ World & I 4(2): 666-77.

Smith, Michael P. with forward by Alan Govenar. 1994. Mardi Gras Indians. Gretna,
La,: Pelican Publishing Company.