Super Sunday is easily one of my favorite days of the years. The magnificent Mardi Gras Indians show off the plumed and embellished suits they spent the year carefully designing and crafting. Elaborately beaded panels often portray tales of fighting and loss. One family told the story of the wife’s battle with illness and her husband carrying her through the fight. One of the children in the Red Flag Hunters was adorned with sparkly images of Goofy, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck and friends.
As always, the Original N. O. Lady Buckjumpers led the parade along with Young Men Olympian’s Social Aid and Pleasure Club and Hot 8 Brass Band. Though we love the music and dancing, it’s the stunning, vibrantly-colored visuals that rule the day. Knowing what I do about crafting and sewing, I am always gobsmacked by the works of art these “regular joe’s” create and execute in painstaking detail. Ribbon, sequins, feathers and imagination are incorporated in their dazzling suits. I’ve compared them to rare flowers that bloom once a year and I’ve written about the origins of the Mardi Gras Indians and the battle for their right to parade. But words fail to capture the beauty of it. Photos help.
Some of the many tribes who wowed us were the Choctaw Nation, Wild Magnolias, Algiers Warriors 1.5, Creole Wild West, Mohawk Hunters, Golden Blades and the always amazing Fi Ya Ya, known for their use of natural items like shells and raffia. Trouble Nation stunned with a 3-D warriors in chariots suit and the most elaborate suit of the day – a spired, beaded castle with a fierce dragon popping out.
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- love story – wife’s suit
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- love story – husband’s suit
L.A. to N.O.LA 
Beautiful photos. Mardi Gras Indians weren’t part of our St Joseph’s weekend; as we went from altar to altar and stood in awe at the creativity of the bakers’ and candy makers’ edible works of art that reflected their Sicilian traditions. Mardi Gras Indians and St Joseph’s Altars, two
great examples of why NOLA is the best rear view mirror in the world.
There are often far too many amazing experiences to choose from!
Beautifully said, by the way.