NEW ORLEANS, BLACK INDIANS & HAITI

New Orleans is home to a unique cultural fusion of African and Native-American traditions - in the form of its so-called Black Masking Indians, who perform every year in the city’s Mardi Gras, wearing some of the most stunning costumes you’ll ever see. The exact origins of the Black Indians and their colourful rituals - full of rhythms and dance - are unclear, but one popular theory is that it began with the friendship that formed between two oppressed peoples, when Native Indians offered Black, on-the-run slaves shelter. New Orleans, of course, is also the city that saw a huge wave of arrivals from Haiti after its revolution, and this too has had its influence. African Stream’s Sefu Sanni takes a deep dive into a cultural mix like no other.