Love Medicine

Love Medicine
Detail of beadwork from an Ojibwe medicine pouch

Wednesday, January 30, 2008

Mardi Gras Indians

The reading says that other tribes would act hostile or friendly toward other tribes. Why would they be hostile toward each other?

16 comments:

Jack Truett said...

for the same reasons that we are hostile to each other sometimes. Its just tension over land and stuff i guess

THA DENN-MISTER! said...

yeah but i think its more like gangs kind of like who's better or tougher and more impressive, maybe its related to like neighborhood violence , like tribe against tribe or whatever

bweaver said...

just because they were all native americans it did not stop them from being hostile to each other

Jordan Harry said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jordan Harry said...

they may have argued about who had the more elaborate headresses

seelige said...

yeah i agree with jordan. like it was probobly a competition between the two tribes about who had the more elaborant outfits on and there might have been tension between the two groups on who could make the better looking outfit.

Jessica Deckard said...

"Its just tension over land and stuff i guess" isn't too clear. What do you mean Jack? Neighborhood land, or are you thinking something else?

Ben - do the reading and listen in class - these are NOT Native Americans we're talking about. These are African-Americans who dress as Mardi Gras Indians. It's a totally different thing.

Jordan is right, but Steph is too. The violence was originally over neighborhood disputes, but then now there is less violence and the competion is to see who is "the prettiest."

nitsudd said...

i think it was for reputation. if one group had the better reputation then other group would be more hostile. i see it as a compition and the loser getting frustration.

glossi said...

i don't think it was like real hostility..i think about it like how we get when we play sports and stuff we act hostile towards other teams because it's a competition

Macie said...

i agree with gigi, i think they were competitive with each other in like who had the best suit and whose was more elaborate and detailed

brian said...

i would guess it is to prove that each tribe is supirior to the other ones

alex hump said...

yeah i agree with brian. i think it was just a power thing.

Laurie said...

A lot of the Mardi Gras Indians are hostile towards each other because each tribe wants their costumes to look the best. Like Ms. Deckard said, some tribes would try to spy on other tribes to find out what color they were using as their theme. They would then buy out all the decorations in that color so that their competitors would have trouble finishing their costumes.

bossier330 said...

i agree with what people are saying about gangs. i think the tribes give the indians a sense of unity, and the tension is high in the air after toiling away for a whole year to make your suit.

dirt dog said...

The "Mardi Gras Indians" article on Wikipedia says that there were violent conflicts between the tribes in the 19th century, but by the mid-20th century, the rivalries between tribes began to evolve into who had the more elaborate costumes.

Kmorel said...

same reason that there is still gang fighting...reputation and maybe because of land but probably respect and strength