Overview
Do you remember watching your children or yourself, for that matter, transform when a Halloween costume was put on? The costumes with masks made you totally uninhibited. Being able to choose between a superhero or a monster or your own alter-ego, costumes transform the wearer. If you are an actor, costuming is a part of your life. It helps to transcend the here and now, brings you to another place or helps you become another entity. For the Mardi Gras Indians of New Orleans, masking, the wearing of Mardi Gras Indian suits, enables them to connect with ancestors long gone and enter the spirit world, an act vital to their heritage and culture. It is also a way to stay connected to each other and share with others. Mardi Gras Indians are African Americans from New Orleans who dress up for Carnival (celebration leading up to Lent) in elaborate handmade costumes. Their traditions are rooted in Caribbean and African folk art. With their costumes they are honoring the Native Americans who harbored their ancestors, many whom were fleeing slaves. It is an art form worthy of and finally gaining attention around the world.This unit is about the costumes, craft and understanding of the Mardi Gras Indians.
By focusing on Costume Design, this will be an interesting unit for design students, cultural studies, American history, art and practical math calculations. Our costume unit will cover the use of technical sewing skills as well as story telling through bead work and the effectiveness of color in the three dimensional costumes. We will look at how a tangible can represent an intangible and what makes it so. What is worthy of the designation: "Living Treasure"? We will explore New Orleans and the factors that make something eligible to be designated an intangible heritage site following UNESCO (United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization) protocol. Many years of research undertaken by UNESCO on the function and values of cultural expressions and practices have opened the door to new approaches to the understanding, protection and respect of the cultural heritage of humanity. This living legacy, known as intangible heritage, provides each bearer of such expressions a sense of identity and continuity, in so far as he or she takes ownership of them and constantly recreates them. As a driving force of cultural diversity, living heritage is very fragile. In recent years, it has received international recognition and its safeguarding has become one of the priorities of international cooperation thanks to UNESCO's leading role in the adoption of the Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. (UNESCO.org)
As we discuss the intangible heritage and culture of New Orleans, we learn the intangible heritage of Native Americans and their right to keep ceremony and traditions confidential for tribal preservation.We will look at the economy behind heritage and see how tourism has had an impact. We will discuss whether Mardi Gras Indian suits should be copyrighted, whether they are works of art and whether "selling" them degrades that art. Determining the link or differences between fashion and art, in legal terms is an issue currently being explored. Counterfeit Chic founded by Susan Scafidi, Fordham Law Professor specializing in Fashion Law, is bringing to light the legalities of copyright and copying and I believe this will ultimately raise the issue of this type of scenario. At his last Jazz festival before his death prominent MGI Tootie Montana spoke in an interview about the resentment of others using photographs of him and publishing them for profit.
The parade that New Orleans is most noted for is separate from that which I am discussing here. When you look at advertising of New Orleans the historic structures of the French Quarter, the festive colorful party of the Mardi Gras parades and the Mardi Gras Indians are all there.The history of the parading and the real significance of the Black Indians can't be learned in brochures. These people have held this tradition and art form for hundreds of years.
To understand costumes, costuming, masking, carnival, parades, Mardi Gras, Sunday's, feathers, beads and color I am exploring the culture of a diverse group of people, rich in tradition. In an interview by Leslie King Hammond, she states that "craft is the center of all things", "in African American tradition, embracing the craft is an American story; how America was built. 1 It's reclaiming these things that made this country what it was, the crafts and traditions." But, most importantly that "all of the stories of the people reflect back to the ancestral traditions of all of the global cultures", and I couldn't agree more. Of the craft, Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Big Queen of the Guardians of the Flame tribe and founder of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame, says, "When you participate in any indigenous tradition, it's almost like a spiritual calling. So you do it from a place somewhere deep in your soil and spirit. There's a spiritual need to do it, so you find a way to do it out of no way." "Harrison-Nelson cautions that it's not enough to simply learn the skills of beading or sewing an Indian suit. You have to become immersed in the community. 'To be a Mardi Gras Indian is a way of life'." 2
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