Super Sunday

Injuns Here Dey Come... Again.

The New Orleans Mardi Gras Indian Council is perhaps best recognized by the general population for presenting its spectacular Indian Super Sunday parade. It’s held annually Uptown on the third Sunday in March, which this year happens to fall on March 19th, coinciding with another significant date in the Black Indian tradition. St. Joseph’s Night is when, after sunset, the Mardi Gras Indians once again take to the streets to meet each other in a ritual of song, dance and beauty.

“The majority of the tribes will do both of them,” says Big Chief Howard Miller of the Creole Wild West, president of the Council.

The Council, which was chartered in 1985, boasts importance in the Mardi Gras Indian Nation, black communities and the whole of New Orleans beyond its fun festival and parade.

Chief of Chiefs Robert “Robbe” Lee, who came up under the legendary Brother Tillman, spoke to the organization’s founder and present director, Bertrand Butler, about the Indian gangs coming together in order, explains Miller, “so we could control our own destiny.”

Theodore Emile “Bo” Dollis was appointed as the Council’s first president. Presently, 18 tribes are represented in the Council, including some of those that first joined up like the Creole Wild West, White Cloud Hunters, Mohawk Hunters, Fi-Yi-Yi and more.