On a kitchen island in an Algiers home, there are many containers of beads and lots of materials to sew Mardi Gras Indian suits. The Mohawk Hunters are intensely working one bead at a time along with their chief, Big Chief Tyrone Casby.
He has been a chief since the 1980's but has been hooked since he was a little boy.
"I heard the drum beats, liked the sounds of the beats, followed them all over Algiers and the the beat just got to me, everytime I hear that beat, or Mardi Gras time or Indian practices as we call it then I get caught up and I get going," Casby said.
Each man in the house is sewing a different piece of art. Casby's design has Indians and Africans side by side. Other designs reveal Native Americans with animals, such as buffaloes or elephants. Each design has a meaning and tells a different story.
"It`s a tedious task. But it`s a task of pleasure. It`s a task of loyalty. It`s a task of wanting to do this. A lot of people want to mask Indian but they don`t want to sit here and sew one bead at a time," Casby said.
Spy Boy Dow Michael Edwards says he has has to sew.
"After Katrina the city of New Orleans was almost lost, and the city of New Orleans and people was giving up the city of New Orleans for dead, and said I really need to get back into the culture," Edwards said.
That's why he got involved with the Mohawk Hunters.
"I go in the courtroom in the daytime . I come home and sew at night. This is a beautiful thing and nothing more than to go out there and have the prettiest suit, and have the prettiest tribe and have the prettiest Big Chief when we go across that river," Edwards said.
There is much pride when several generations are involved in Mardi Gras Indian culture. There is also much pride to keep the culture going.
"To carry this journey on, this is our duty, this is our job and that`s our obligation, to make sure this tradition go on, not for us but for the future so we can have a story to tell about us," said Flag Boy Jamal Casby.
