The tradition of masking and the Mardi Gras Indians stretches back more than 130 years. Each year, Mardi Gras Indian groups, including the Guardians of the Flame, masquerade in suits they have skillfully and tirelessly hand-beaded over many months. Cherice feels that “masking” is not quite sufficient to explain what it is she and her group do each year. In her words, “I have taken what is in the deepest crevices of my soul, in the very marrow of my bones, and it has manifested itself as an original art, but its spiritual and it is me. It is the essence of me, and so I am not masking.”
Below is a video of Mardi Gras morning 2017:
Video by Christian Colletti.
To view the next piece of our three part project, featuring Markeith Tero and the Young Rollers Social Aid and Pleasure Club, click here.
Originally published on May 12, 2017
NOLAbeings Multimedia artist Claire Bangser created NOLAbeings as a portrait-based story project that marries... 
Voodoo in New Orleans: Reviving history: New Orleans fortune telling This article takes a deep dive into the history of Voodoo in New Orleans, its hybridization with Catholicism, and its present-day place in the city's culture. The author visits fortune-tellers in the French Quarter, using their guidance as a tool for introspection rather than a deterministic predictor of the future. Through her experiences in New Orleans, the author feels a mystical connection to both the past and the future. 
