“The Zulu parade of New Orleans’ black middle class and elite community, founded n 1909 as a reaction to white stereotypes of blacks as “savages,” is a Carnival activity rivaled in scope and visibility only by the Rex parade on Mardi Gras day. Zulu members dress in Mardi Grass skirts and “wooly wigs,” put on blackface, and throw rubber spears and decorated coconuts to the delighted crowds. Working class blacks . . . also invoke images of ‘wildness’ by masquerading proudly in sylized Plains Indians costumes.

The black “Mardi Gras Indians” are hierarchical groups of men with titles such as Big Chief, Spyboy, Wildman, and Lil’ Chief who dress in elaborate bead and feather costumes weighing up to a hundred pounds. The best-known costume makers say that their costume patterns come to them in dreams, and they take pride in never repeating a color or theme from year to year. After months of time and money invested in sewing costumes and practice sessions at local bars, a dozen or more “tribes” appear early on Mardis Gras day to sing, dance, and parade through back street neighborhoods.”

—Roger D. Abrahams, Blues for New Orleans: Mardis Gras and America’s Creole Soul, 2006.