OPEN THREAD: Happy Mardi Gras 2012! Show us your pics!

The Cheyenne gang. So pretty!!
Photo by @pbraniffsr. Posted originally as http://twitpic.com/8mvme4

Congo Nation Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr outside Backstreet Museum.
Photo by @Magpieluvsyou posted originally as http://twitpic.com/8mwn60

Who Dat Indian?
Photo by @iTWEET_REALish9 posted originally as
pic.twitter.com/ay0lmTzW

Mardi Gras Indians are all over social media channels this Mardi Gras 2012

Thanks to all the photographers, professional and amateur!

Share links to your favorite photos and videos from this holiday
in the comments section of this post (somewhat limited utility)
or
post to the wall of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame Facebook page

HAPPY MARDI GRAS!

UPDATE: Louisiana Weekly Profile of Yellow Jackets Big Chief Thomas Sparks, Senior (Was: Volunteer Seamstress or Tailor Needed ASAP)

65 years of new suits for 80-year-old Mardi Gras Indian

20th February 2012  By Geraldine Wyckoff
The Louisiana Weekly

Thomas Sparks Sr., the Big Chief of the Yellow Jacket Mardi Gras Indian gang, marks two momentous milestones this month. On February 17, 2012, he celebrated his 80th birthday and Carnival Day stands as the 65th anniversary of when he began masking Indian. He again has needle and thread in his calloused hand, sewing his suit for his appearance this Mardi Gras. When the Big Chief steps out with the Yellow Jackets, which he’s led since 1955, he’ll be the oldest Black Indian on the streets.

Read the whole article on the Louisiana Weekly website

•••••

Thanks to those who helped spread the word and who offered assistance. 

Yellow Jackets Big Chief Thomas Sparks requests the volunteer assistance of a local seamstress or tailor to sew his jumpsuit ASAP.

The Chief requires an all-in-one jumpsuit out of velvet. The Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame has a pattern, but it was cut to fit a small Indian; the Chief is 6'1".

At 80 years old, Big Chief Sparks is the oldest known Mardi Gras Indian still masking.

Please get in touch with Cherice Harrison-Nelson at xxx-xxx-xxxx if you can help.

UPDATE: Jockomo-fee-nahnay: A forum on Mardi Gras Indian history

The Music Industry Studies Program at Loyola University – New Orleans presents “Jockomo-fee-nahnay,” a forum about the history of the Mardi Gras Indians, at 5:00 pm on Monday, February 13, 2012 in Nunemaker Auditorium in Monroe Hall. Convened by Jim Gabour, professor of video technology, the forum will feature never-before-seen footage of some of New Orleans’ most legendary Indian tribes. The event is free and open to the public.

Jim Gabour is an award-winning film producer and director whose work focuses on music and the diversity of cultures. He began shooting interviews with and action footage of Mardi Gras Indians in the late 1970s.

In celebration of the Mardi Gras season, Gabour will screen and discuss clips including a 1986 interview on beading and suit-making with Bo Dollis, Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias; a “meeting of the tribes” at Tipitina’s in 1985 with the Big Chiefs of the Wild Magnolia, Golden Eagle, and Creole Wild West; and the Wild Magnolias performing with the Neville Brothers at the 1984 World’s Fair jazz and gospel tent.The forum will also feature footage of street runs, performances and interviews with three different chiefs of Wild Tchoupitoulas between 1978 and 1984, including Big Chief Jolly, the late George Landry.

Jim Gabour has made some of his vintage Indian video available via his YouTube Channel


More information about the forum via the Loyola University Newsroom

UPDATE: Indians and NOPD reach a Peace – New Orleans City Council meets Feburary 6, 2012 to address issue of New Orleans Police Department protocol for ritual ceremonies of Mardi Gras Indians

Uploaded by diagrams22 on Feb 21, 2010

Second and Dryades: Mardi Gras 2010 meetings of Mardi Gras Indians. This is part 2 of a 4-part 30-minute video. After the typical police interference, we see the arrival of the Golden Eagles with Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Big Queen Mary, the Golden Eagles to Second and Dryades. With them are 101 Runners: the Uptown Bone Gang, Baby Dolls, Moss Men, various costumed Musicians. At the end is a touching meeting with Bo Dollis and Big Queen Rita.

Exclusive Video of Police Harassment of Mardi Gras Indians (March 10, 2010)
via Justice Roars, the Louisiana Justice Institute Blog

Big Chief Tootie Montana honored at the January 5, 2012 New Orleans City Council Meeting
Video from January 5, 2012 Council meeting featuring discussion of issues on the agenda of the February 6, 2012 meeting


Members and supporters of the Mardi Gras Indian community are invited to gather at 10:00 am on Monday, February 6, 2012 in the New Orleans City Council Chambers for a Governmental Affairs meeting convened to discuss New Orleans Police Department protocol for the ritual ceremonies carried out by the Mardi Gras Indian community on Mardi Gras, St. Joseph's Night, and during funerals. This meeting is a follow-up to the June 2005 meeting at which Big Chief Tootie Montana became an ancestor while standing up for the rights of Mardi Gras Indians.


UPDATE: Gambit Weekly livetweeted the meeting and posted this summary

NOPD, Mardi Gras Indians meet with City Council

Posted by Charles Maldonado on Mon, Feb 6, 2012 at 3:20 PM

The New Orleans Police Department says it will allow Mardi Gras Indian tribes to parade relatively unimpeded during Mardi Gras season and St. Joseph's Day this year, top police officials said at a meeting of City Council's Governmental Affairs Committee held today to discuss the relationship between the department and the Indians.

Representing the police at the meeting were Bouyelas, Criminal Justice Commissioner James Carter and all eight district commanders. NOPD Superintendent Ronal Serpas was unable to attend the meeting because he was in Indianapolis preparing for next year's Super Bowl in New Orleans, Councilwoman Susan Guidry said. Mardi Gras Indian representatives included Yellow Pocahontas Chief Darryl Montana, Sabrina Mays Montana (son and daughter-in-law, respectively, of legendary late Chief Allison "Tootie" Montana), Guardians of the Flame Big Queen Cherice Harrison Nelson, Creole Osceolas Chief Clarence Dalcour and longtime civil rights leader Jerome Smith.

Department leaders have agreed to end several long-held practices — most controversially, the practice of ordering Indians off the street at 6 p.m. on Mardi Gras day — that have led to a traditionally strained relationship between tribes and the department.

"There is no 6 p.m. law, no 6 p.m. rule," said NOPD Deputy Chief Kirk Bouyelas. Council Member Susan Guidry responded by polling the tribe members present as to whether they had either been subjected to or had witnessed others subjected to the practice. All responded in the affirmative.

"I give up 5,000 hours of my life per year [in preparation for Mardi Gras season and St. Joseph's day] only to be told to get off the streets," Darryl Montana said.
Creole Osceolas Chief Clarence Dalcour asked that police simply treat Indians like they do Mardi Gras parade krewes and late-night revelers.

"We look at this as something we do for the community," Dalcour said. "We are all paying tribute to the holiday in our own way ... I don't understand how it closes when the sun goes down for some people and not others."

Asked for a commitment not to enforce a 6 p.m. curfew on Mardi Gras Indians, Bouyelas at first balked, saying there needed to be further discussion before Mardi Gras and mentioning "permit issues." Bouyelas mention of permits drew an angry response from chiefs who pointed out that permits, which would necessitate tribes sticking to a specific, pre-determined route, undermined the very point of the tradition.

"There will be no permit There's never been a permit," Guidry said. Asked later by Councilwoman Kristin Gisleson-Palmer if police would commit to promising that "they won't be shut down at 6 p.m.," all present police officials agreed.

Bouyelas said NOPD had also agreed to stop following and corralling the tribes with their cars and not to flash their lights or sound their sirens at Mardi Gras Indians, allowing chiefs more autonomy to police their own tribes, welcome news to many present.

"We're working to make sure everyone has a great day ... We're one big family," Darryl Montana said.

Bouyelas also promised to identify and give out contact information for someone in the department who will act as "point person" for complaints about NOPD harassment of Indians on Mardi Gras and St. Joseph's Day.

Sixth District Commander Robert Bardy, whose Central City district was held up as the model for drastically improved relations between police and Mardi Gras Indians, said overall communication and cooperation had improved.

"We have gone incident-free in the past two years of this administration," Bardy said. "We have had no incidents in Central City."

Still, Bardy and others conceded that there is still room for improvement, which is why NOPD will soon be bringing chiefs in to help train incoming officers in the academy, Carter and Bouyelas said.

"We want to make sure that our officers are aware of the culture, that they're sensitive to it," Bouyelas said.

 

UPDATE: FOX 8 coverage of the meeting: "Mardi Gras Indians Resolve Concerns with NOPD". Evening broadcast, Feburary 6, 2012

 

UPDATE: New Orleans Times-Picayune coverage: "Mardi Gras Indian tribes, New Orleans police establish peace pact" by Katy Reckdahl. Published Monday, February 06, 2012 at 7:12 PM 

 

UPDATE: WWL-TV coverage: "Indians, NOPD work to improve relationship during Carnival." Posted February 6, 2012 at 8:32 PM

 

UPDATE: WDSU-TV coverage: "Mardi Gras Indians Concerned About NOPD Relations." Posted February 6, 2012 at 11:20 PM

 

UPDATE: AP Wire story: "Police, Indian groups reach Mardi Gras agreement." Posted Feb. 7, 2012, 6:09 PM CST

UPDATE: Watch City of New Orleans video of the entire February 6, 2012 meeting via the Big Red Cotton YouTube channel

  

Spotlight on the Red Flame Hunters

All good wishes to our young brothers and sisters of the Red Flame Hunters as they finish up their new suits! Thanks to them for showing leadership and initiative in educating about the culture and building community via their Kickstarter and social media campaign.


UPDATE:  "Young Mardi Gras Indians, Red Flame Hunters, work on their suits" by Annette Sisco for The Times-Picayune. Published: Thursday, February 09, 2012, 11:11 AM