Mardi Gras Indians – Super Sunday 2023

Super Sunday is one of my favorite days of the year – especially for photos. Some of New Orleans’ 50+ Mardi Gras Indian tribes gather around A.L. Davis Park to show off their incredible suits of feathers, beads, ribbons and treasures. We arrived early to choose from the many food trucks and pop-ups serving everything from red beans and rice to adult beverages served in hollowed-out pineapples. Neighbors and friends gathered in yards and empty lots and around the occasional Rolls Royce, Bentley, or tricked out vintage car.

Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday 2015

This was my 6th Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday and it still shocks my senses. Music swirls with the smell of grilled meats as everyone gathers at A.L. Davis Park to see the Indians’ elaborately crafted suits which weigh up to 150 pounds, cost up to $5000 (though I’ve heard $9000 once) and can take up to a year to design, construct and bead. When I moved here in 2009, the tribes were still fighting  for their right to a permitted parade. This year, I spotted Mayor Mitch Landrieu shaking hands with police parade escorts before things got rolling.

Mardi Gras Indians 2014

After a 2 week rain delay, the Mardi Gras Indians finally celebrated Super Sunday in full regalia. Festivities began in A.L. Davis Park with music, dancing and plenty of food. Our ribs hot-off-the-grill were delicious and the Lady Buckjumpers had gorgeous cupcakes for $1. We had some first-timers with us so we took in the tribes arriving and laying out their suits as well as instruction and storytelling from Spy Boy Dow of the Mohawk Hunters Tribe. I enjoyed sharing some of the history and traditions as well as the legendary story of Chief of Chiefs “Tootie” Montana.

Uncle Lionel’s Funeral and Second Line

Last Friday, after 2 weeks of daily second lines in his memory, Treme Brass Band‘s bass drummer, Uncle Lionel Batiste, was to be laid to rest. To say it was raining doesn’t begin to cover it. Waiting for a streetcar to take me into town, I stood in the neutral ground wearing a plastic hoodie sack and rubber sandals and gripping an umbrella against water coming from all sides. When no streetcar appeared, I jumped onto a bus and we all stared out the windows at the flooding in the streets. It was pouring when the ride came to its final stop. Bourbon Street was a canal with water coming up over the sidewalks and into the shops’ open doors. By the time I crossed Rampart heading into Armstrong Park, the water was nearly knee high.

Mardi Gras Indians 2011

Since moving here in 2009, I’ve attended at least 60 parades, seen hundreds of costumes, heard SO many bands and experienced many versions of New Orleans culture, but nothing has impacted me like the beauty of the Mardi Gras Indians. After nearly a straight month of Mardi Gras and St. Patrick’s parades, the season crescendoed for me with the incredible sights and sounds of the plumed Indians and their attending bands. We’re deep into “you had to be there” territory, but I’ll do my best to capture it.