{"id":11349,"date":"2025-03-04T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-03-04T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11349"},"modified":"2026-01-04T13:17:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T18:17:48","slug":"big-chief-wears-a-golden-crown-take-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11349","title":{"rendered":"“Big Chief Wears a Golden Crown”–Take 2"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Masking<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

In 2018, Princeton University\u2019s Lewis Center for the Arts<\/a> hosted a panel discussion with two leaders in the tradition of New Orleans Black Masking Indians. Darryl Montana<\/a>, great-grandson of one of the tradition\u2019s founders, and Demond Melancon<\/a>, whom Montana calls the \u201cworld\u2019s best beader\u201d described masking\u2019s origins and modern significance. This is a post I wrote a few days after the event, reprinting it now, as so timely\u2014and colorful!\u2014for Mardi Gras.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Masking\u2014familiar to viewers of the television series Treme<\/em>, (to my regret, only four seasons long!) in which Clarke Peters played Big Chief Albert Lambreaux\u2014is a nearly two-hundred-year-old tradition that has various origin stories<\/a>. In part it may have begun as resistance to early rules prohibiting negroes from wearing feathers, in part as a shout-out to the Native Americans who helped runaway slaves, and in part as a strong expression of individuality and pride in an era of repression.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chiefs of New Orleans\u2019s nearly 40 black masking tribes make one suit a year. Each suit has multiple parts, can weigh up to 150 pounds, and takes about 5000 hours to construct. Because masking is a \u201ccompetitive sport,\u201d Montana said, the costumes are generally made in secret, their design and significance revealed only when the Indians come out on Carnival Day (Mardi Gras).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In recognition of Melancon\u2019s artistic skills, in 2012, the elders of the Mardi Gras Indian community dubbed him Chief Demond Melancon of the Young Seminole Hunters, with his very own tribe in the Lower Ninth Ward. Increasingly, the creation of suits is considered a significant contemporary art form, and its best practitioners keep pushing the envelope of creative possibility. Melancon\u2019s suit on display at the Lewis Center tells the story of an enslaved Ghanian prince brought to New Orleans in the 1830\u2019s. He lost an arm after a dispute with police, and was thereafter called Bras Coup\u00e9<\/a>. Every beaded element of this stunning suit carries symbolic significance.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Montana is the Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas Hunters Black Masking Indian Tribe and made the lavish lavender suit pictured. Completion often involves family members and select friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Montana explained that he does not want \u201cto take what I learned from the Chief to the grave with me,\u201d and now makes a concerted effort to engage the next generation in the masking tradition. \u201cYou have to keep (young people) busy,\u201d he said, and he believes that through the intensity of the suit-making process, the time commitment, and the camaraderie of working on a culturally meaningful project, he\u2019s found a way to do that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cocktail Party Conversation Stopper<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In case this slipped by you, the Big Chief mentioned the massive amount of Mardi Gras beads deviling New Orleans\u2019s storm drains. Last fall 93,000 pounds-worth were excavated from merely a five-block stretch of St. Charles Avenue! Of course, they were wet, which must have contributed to the weight!.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Intrigued? Here\u2019s More + Pictures!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The House of Dance and Feathers: A Museum by Ronald Lewis<\/em><\/a>Mardi Gras Indians<\/em><\/a> by Michael Smith
From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square: Kongo Dances and the Origins of the Mardi Gras Indians<\/em><\/a> \u2013 Joroen Dewulf’s new theory about the origins of the black masking Indian tradition
For a short story about the Indians and their costumes, see this post from yesterday: https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/?p=11344<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In 2018, Princeton University\u2019s Lewis Center for the Arts hosted a panel discussion with two leaders in the tradition of New Orleans Black Masking Indians. Darryl Montana, great-grandson of one of the tradition\u2019s founders, and Demond Melancon, whom Montana calls … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1288,104],"tags":[2264,1289,382],"class_list":["post-11349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-the-morgue","tag-mardi-gras","tag-masking-indians","tag-new-orleans"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2NkiT-2X3","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11349"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11350,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11349\/revisions\/11350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vweisfeld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}