New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians, photos from last Mardi Gras

I don't post many photos unaccompanied by articles, but seeing the Wild Magnolias last year on Fat Tuesday, Mardi Gras day, in Central City New Orleans was beautiful behold. The Mardi Gras Indians work all year to hand sewing their customs. They don't march in the traditional Mardi Gras parades but instead they have their own routes, times, and traditions. When they meet in the street sometimes they'll have a dance off... Some of the Mardi Grass Indian chiefs are world class musicians, but their roots started here. They say back in the day when a Mardi Gras Indian crew bumped into another crew on Mardi Gras day they would occasionally fight it out. But what we experienced was nothing but love, and a distant cry from the inebriated madness that takes place in the French Quarter for the rest of the day.

New Orleans is a city that lives in the imagination of people all over the world. I've been fortunate to spend a large part of my adult life there. On this rainy night in Mexico City, I know what it means to miss New Orleans. These photos help bring me back.

(Member of the Wild Magnolias)

(Wild Magnolia Spy Boy)

(Wild Magnolia Big Chief)

(New Orleans when it's purple and orange in the mornin' time.)

(Maribel w/ a Mardi Gras Indian)

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