“They do things in church, they sing and they dance and feel the spirit. That’s what church is all about. They praise the Lord.

With Mardi Gras Indians we do the same thing in a sense. We sing, we party, we dance, and we even have our prayer. We praise our past Indians when we sing “Indian Red.” It’s like an Indian national anthem.”

—Johnny “Kool” Stephenson, interviewed by Alan Govenar, from A Joyful Noise: A Celebration of New Orleans Music by Michael P. Smith, 1990.