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 2016

Between Mardi Gras Indians’ Super Sunday, Congo Square Festival, the Class Got Brass battle of the bands, the Pelicans game and the live filming of Tyler Perry’s The Passion, they was plenty to do today but, for once, the choice was easy. The Indians’ elaborately hand-beaded and feathered suits, weighing up to 150 pounds, costing $3000 or more and taking up to a year to design, construct and bead are the most beautiful suits in the world. (For more about the history and traditions of the Indians, click HERE). The parade opened with the Hot 8 Brass Band and the Lady Buck Jumpers then became a stream of rich plumes and intricately beaded stories of the soul.