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Mardi Gras Indians
| Article
# : |
15628 |
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Section : |
CULTURE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1989 |
4,810 Words |
| Author
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Maurice M. Martinez
Maurice M. Martinez, a Creole native son of New Orleans, is a
professor at Hunter College in New York City and the producer
of the award-winning documentary film, "The Black Indians of
New Orleans." |
To be born in New Orleans is to be reincarnated: The past is always present; an enduring sense of self-identity interconnects and sorts out individuals. The mere mention of a nickname or family surname can ignite detailed descriptions of times past. New Orleans is a paradise of oral history. The spoken word contains implicit meanings nurtured by centuries of a cross-fertilization of cultures.
Profound philosophical messages lie hidden in the colloquial pronouncements of ordinary folk who may, for example, summarize a vivid experience with such delightful expressions as: "Did you heard what I say?" "Yeaaaaaah, you right!" "I'm talkin' a lil' pass what I'm thinkin'"; "For true?" "I mean what I say, yeah"; "Chere tee bey-bey!"
A melting-pot unmelting--New Orleans--the Big Easy, the Birthplace of Jazz, the Crescent City, is a citadel of cultural expressions. To drink from its many watering holes is to depart from the Sahara of mainstream-USA media-borne detritus. In this ancient American city one can experience a potpourri of artistic pleasures--a kind of quenching of the inner stressful burnout with the cooling energies of a good belly laugh.
If fun is the sad-glad father of New Orleans culture, spontaneity is its mother. Celebrations of every kind take place in homes, backyards, corner bars, and, more often, the streets. A street parade is an institution. It is in the unpaved dirt streets or New Orleans that one finds the most original expressions of elan vital (the creative force). Across town, the paved, narrow streets of the Vieux Carre and other older sections of the city are walled in by Paris-like buildings that can "carry a
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