Mardi Gras Indians Research Paper

The Mardi Gras Indians have been a tradition that has lived on in new orleans for many years, the secrecy of the indians is what has made the mardi gras indian such an event, the mardi gras indians do not plan parade times or even publish any documentation. The Mardi gras indians do not take order from no one, and it because they believe in such belief due to years of harassment and it empowered them as much as their ancestor did back in the days of enslavement, I became interested in the Mardi gras Indians because of how elegant and colorful their costume were, the amount of time and energy to create a costumes and how they do not get any sort of profit and solely create them because of tradition and because of many of the old resident trying

The Mardi Gras Indians are a homage to the american indians that helped many of slaves in 1740’s and 1750’s, many of the slaves were located at The Place of negres which was later renamed Congo Square. With the Congo Square growing upward to 2,000 in population, many of the slaves were escaping through the swamps and bayous of the delta, these swamps were connected into cypress swamps, here many of the native and slave would hunt for there foods. The native americans were in the same situation as the slaves, settlers began to take the lands and bring upon changes that would later wipe out much of the native american culture. I believe that many of the Mardi Gras characteristics comes from Native Americans, they have always been a group of people that believe in selflessness and companionship. It does not surprise me that the Mardi Gras Indians have embody some of these qualities and have dedicated the tradition be a tribute to the culture of native

The way I view the Mardi Gras Indians is that they are craft artists and some of the best in the world, I saw several close up photograph of the suits, and the amount of detail and symmetry is unmatched. The outfits we see today have come a long way since the first outfits in the early twentieth century, the mardi gras suit were simple and not as complex, they consisted of a crown, long pants, sleeveless vest, and apron. The designs for the outfits were heavily influenced by the geometric designs of the Natives, and they incorporated beads, feathers from the natives. The Mardi Gras Indians did tend to reuse the same materials due how little financial support many of them had, It wa said that some used to collect materials from old gowns, turkey feather from a local grocer and even use bottle caps and shells as decorations. One of the thing I found interesting was that they did a blood sacrifice will working on the suit, this would make the suit come alive. Many of the Mardi gras Indians would not wear the suit more than twice, the reason for that is that they believe that the spirits needed to be