I’m not talking about Super Bowl. I’m talking about (yet another) unique, only-in-New-Orleans tradition called Super Sunday. This is a yearly event / gathering / dance off of Mardi Gras Indians.
Mardi Gras Indians?
Let me back up and fill you in. Because if you’re not from New Orleans, chances are you’ve never heard of Mardi Gras Indians.These are “tribes” of African Americans who spend all year designing and painstakingly hand-beading elaborate costumes to don and display only a few times a year. The tradition dates back to, I don’t know when exactly. Many believe African Americans have a tradition of masking during Mardi Gras because, historically, they were not permitted to openly celebrate in the streets. But why mask as Indians? A common theory is that the custom derived from slavery when Native Americans would shelter and harbor escaped slaves. As a homage to that history, and perhaps to that ancestry, the Mardi Gras Indians were born.
It’s carnival in a distinctly American way. And it’s so cool.
The biggest gathering is around A.L. Davis Park. Tribal members meet up and then parade through the neighboring streets, challenging one another to a friendly competition to see who’s “the prettiest.”
As you would expect no less in New Orleans, it’s a party in the streets with DJs, food trucks, and pop-up bars. Enterprising Americans line the streets selling everything from Shoofly pie to booze from U-Haul trucks. Backyard BBQs are stapped to truck beds, turning out grilled meat. Another “food truck” offered turkey necks for sale. I even saw one guy hawking random dolls from the bed of his Chevy Silverado. An only-in-New-Orleans scene.
The Indians come out a few times a year in spring: Mardi Gras Day, Jazz Fest, and Super Sunday, held in March on the Sunday closest to St. Joseph’s Day. It’s a short season before they have to start planning and making their costumes for next year.
Incidentally, St. Joseph’s Day is yet another only-in-New-Orleans tradition. Dating back to the 1800s, Italian Catholics have honored St. Joseph for relieving famine in Sicily by parading and building elaborate altars.
Since Sicilian immigrants were permitted to worship in the Black Catholic Church (St. Augustine Church in Treme), the traditions have become intertwined.
Talk about a melting pot. No wonder Gumbo is the official state cuisine.
The beaded gourd is called a “shekere”. It’s used in Afro-Cuban music (and other music) as a percussion instrument and comes from Yoruba. The bead colors represent the colors associated with “Orishas” which are spirits that play a key role in the Yoruba religion of West Africa.