Mardi Gras Indians – Super Sunday 2019

Super Sunday is easily one of my favorite days of the year as many of the Mardi Gras Indian tribes step out to show off their stunning suits of beads and feathers. I’m always humbled by the craftsmanship and dedication that goes into the staggeringly beautiful suits our neighbors spend the year carefully designing and crafting with elaborately beaded panels often portraying tales of battle and loss. Weighing up to 150 pounds and costing $3000 or more, the suits portray wildlife or a 3-D version of the Taj Mahal or even a tribute to things that “Ain’t dere no more” like the Jax brewery and the Saints “Dome patrol.”

The big surprise this year was the women. Queen Tahj of the Golden Eagles tribe created a gown rather than a suit. She worked her grandmothers earrings and brooches into her sequin top and her long skirt was beaded with the figures of women and children encircling her to represent her community

Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday

After postponing a week for weather, it was 80 and sunny for Super Sunday, one of my favorite days of the years. Staggeringly beautiful and steeped in culture and history, the Mardi Gras Indians fill the streets on Super Sunday wearing plumed and beaded suits they spent the year carefully designing and crafting, bead by bead. We wandered past Baby Dolls dancing and families helping their Indians dress before selecting a burger and sausage combo and following the proprietor to a nearby truck making giant adult sno-balls.

Mardi Gras Indians Super Sunday – Photos!

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.

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.