The Downtown Super Sunday parade of Mardi Gras Indians will be held on April 10 along Bayou St. John beginning at 12 p.m. In addition to numerous Mardi Gras Indians, the parade will include the New Creation Brass Band, Pigeon Town Steppers, The Original Black Seminole Baby Dolls, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, the Kids Nation and more.

The procession will start at Orleans Avenue and Moss Street, proceeding down Orleans Avenue and taking a left on Broad Street. The parade will turn right at St. Bernard Avenue and proceed to N. Dorgenois Street before and ending at Hardin Park, 2500 New Orleans Street.

Three Super Sunday Mardi Gras celebrations occur each year in New Orleans, based upon location in uptown, downtown and West Bank neighborhoods. Super Sunday is an annual gathering of Mardi Gras Indian tribes celebrating their heritage and culture in a magnificent display of hand-sewn suits, singing, dancing and chanting. The Black masking Indians congregate on picturesque Bayou St. John before the start of the parade and suits are displayed for photos and public viewing.

Read more about this tradition in a subscriber-exclusive feature story by Geraldine Wyckoff from the March 2022 digital edition of OffBeat.

“The question of when the Indians began masking on St. Joseph’s night remains a mystery,” writes Wyckoff. “The late Mardi Gras Indian Council ‘Chief of Chiefs’ Robbe (Robert Lee) once recalled that there were Black Indians out on the holiday when he first started masking in 1929. He said he also knew Black Indians who hit the streets on St. Joseph’s night before World War I.”

Prior to 1969, Mardi Gras Indians celebrated by coming out at night to meet and greet other tribes. In 1969, the first parade was created and rolled through city at night. In 1970, the procession became a day parade on Sunday afternoon, and has continued in that tradition to this day.