Mardi Gras Indians

Mardi Gras Indians strut their stuff in big style...with elaborate feathers, beaded and sequined costumes, these very secretive tribes are colorful with ever present second liners, followers and devotees. Each Indian creates and makes his own costume, some weighing in at one hundred pounds! Dancing, singing, drum beating and keeping rhythm with tambourines, their route on Mardi Gras is always secret.

I will quote Larry Bannock, President of New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council..."Mardi Gras Indians-the parade most white people don't see. The ceremonial procession is loose, the parade is not scheduled for a particular time or route."

To explain it better, again I quote Larry Bannock...."The Spy Boy is the first in the front, he is the baddest of all the Indians... he is ahead looking for trouble. Only a chosen few can be Spy Boy. It's his job to send a signal to First Flag Boy when he sees other Indians. First Flag signals back down the line to Big Chief. Big Chief has a stick that controls the Indians. When he hits the ground with the stick, they better get down and bow to the chief."

Hail to Big Chief! A true grand symbol of Mardi Gras.

"The thing about performance, even if it's only an illusion, is that it is a celebration of the fact that we do contain within ourselves infinite possibilities." Sydney Smith...English clergyman and essayist 1771-1845