[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqBej1BzWs8[/youtube]

This morning, the New Orleans City Council read a resolution declaring tomorrow, the first day of the Carnival season, Allison “Big Chief Tootie” Montana Day in New Orleans. Montana, once Big Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas Mardi Gras Indian tribe, passed away in the summer of 2005 after speaking at a City Council hearing about NOPD’s mistreatment of Mardi Gras Indians.

Tomorrow there will be a wreath-laying ceremony for Big Chief Tootie Montana at the sculpture of his likeness in Armstrong Park at 4 p.m., followed by the screening of Mardi Gras Indian documentaries at the Golden Feather restaurant and gallery across from Armstrong Park on North Rampart Street from 5 to 7 p.m.

Above is footage from Montana’s funeral procession in 2005, and below is the trailer for Tootie’s Last Suit, a documentary about Montana and the Mardi Gras Indian tradition, featuring original footage of Montana masking in his younger days.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r8xCDW8YJXU[/youtube]