Mardi Gras Indians 2

There is debate over the origins of the Mardi Gras Indians, but some research can bring to light the probable evolution of the tradition.  When I initially asked about it, few people had answers, or the ones they gave me were conflicting.  I wondered why, when the participants are largely African American, why they are obviously referencing Native American (Indian) culture?

 After reading about the origins I found that the beginnings of the Krewes date back to the 1830's.  Because the government forbade African Americans (or people of color whether slaves or freed) from parading on Mardi Gras, they rebelled by forming their own parades.  Unfortunately, for many years competing Krewes did use violence in their effort to gain territory over their parade routes, although this has not been the case for a very long time.

 In order to skirt the law they would keep parade times and routes secret often beginning early in the day and changing the routes as they went, sending out "Spy Boys" to see where other Krewes might cross their path. This is a "Flag Boy", but you can see how they identify themselves with their signage in matching beads and sequins.

According to these sources, black slaves began to socialize with the Native Americans in the area at the time (evidenced by many people's ethnic heritage here) and began to adopt some of their traditions for these costumes.  At a certain point in history, though, when the government began to move the Native Americans to Reservations in the West, local African Americans distanced themselves from the culture in order to avoid being relocated.  the traditions remained however, and in the way that is so very "New Orleans" they took the melange of cultures and evolved it into its own incarnation.

Here you can see how this tradition is a multi-generational family affair.  One that is passed on from generation to generation.  Each Krewe has a Chief, a Queen, a Flag Boy, a Spy Boy and others as well as the children who march alongside. 

Here is another in my series of Mardi Gras Indians parading and dancing.  You may also go straight to the YouTube link here.

Mardi Gras Indians 1

Although they have a violent past, the Mardi Gras Indians have evolved into more of a symbolic form of competition.  One in which Krewes challenge each other through costume and dance, rather than actual violence.  

As yet another secret society they do not announce the location of their parades and don't even apply for permits, so the only way to find them on parade days is word of mouth, or locals who where the elders live and their likely paths.

The costumes are one of the most important elements of the competition and participants spend all year carefully (and secretly) creating them.  

Each year a new suit is created although the bead patches are often recycled into new costumes.  The beaded patches often depict battle scenes reminiscent of American Indian illustrations.  As they dance they hide the patches and reveal them first when challenging an opponent.

Here is the first of several videos of the Mardi Gras Indians dancing on Super Sunday.  Link to my YouTube channel here.

More Mardi Gras Indians and Mardi Gras coverage to follow.

One Man Band Bike of the St. Ann's Parade

I'll catch up with my Beijing posts soon.  But for now a little snapshot of New Orleans.  The week leading up to Mardi Gras includes numerous parades, and on Mardi Gras day several parades weave through the city.  The St. Ann's Parade includes hundreds of artists and musicians in handmade costumes who march from the Marigny / Bywater neighborhoods into the French Quarter. We watched for a bit, then joined them near the end and came across this man.

He played haunting music on his bike/instrument, constructed of found metal objects, including the colander he wears on his head.  As he rode past bubbles floated down from the balconies and people danced by in their bizarre costumes.  I love this city.  Here is a link to the video or you can scroll down to watch.

Lighting Incense at the Buddha Llamasary in Beijing

At the Buddha Llamasary, like many temples, you can purchase incense to burn as an offering.  Here I joined numerous people who knelt in prayer to the Buddha.

Lighting the incense was tricky, as was trying to get the flame down to just smoke.  It was like one of those trick birthday candles that won't blow out! Below is the video of me trying to stay serious as my incense keeps reigniting. Watching it now I laugh through the whole thing because of that! So much for a serene and pious moment, I guess ;)

Tiananmen Square (4): The 1989 Protests and Massacre

Let's not leave Tiananmen Square without paying respects to the thousands of people who protested and died here in 1989.  Like many things in China, information about this event is censored.  They do not teach it in the schools so, much like the memory of the American internment of the Japanese-Americans in the US during WWII (which my family experienced), which was  swept under the rug, there is fear that future generations will not be aware of this important event in history.  

I remember this event and the world-wide news coverage playing on television and my very politically aware friends in outrage.  Although I was young and couldn't understand the full details of the event there were several things that stuck in my memory.  The fact that these were the people of China standing up to their own government.  A government that chose to fire openly onto crowds of unarmed civilians.  News cameras showed ambulances blocked from entering the are to help the injured and a few of the ambulance drivers were also shot by the government. Of the many people killed or injured that day many were innocent bystanders, not even involved in the protests, which you can see in this BBC video from 1989. Probably the most memorable image from this time was a man they called "Tank Man".  News cameras documented him standing alone in front of rows of tanks preparing to roll into Tianamen Square. 

(Photo by Jeff Widener)

The Chinese government does not acknowledge whether this man was killed either at the scene or as punishment for his offenses, nor do they confirm the exact amount of people killed.  The record from the Chinese Government listed 241 dead and 7,000 wounded, while their own Chinese Red Cross listed 2,600 dead by the next morning.  NATO listed 7,000 dead and the Soviet Union claimed 10,000 were killed.  Despite the discrepancies in the head count, the fact remains it was a cruel and unnecessary tragedy.  Tiananmen Square contains many important landmarks, has been host to numerous important historical events and is sure to be the the center of many more to come, but hopefully none that end in this kind of tragedy. You can read more about the Tiananmen Square protests and massacre here.

Tiananmen Square (3): Mausoleum of Mao Zedong

The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall, or the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong, as it is also known, stands on the previous site of the Gate of China that was demolished in 1954.

Although Mao requested to be cremated, he was embalmed after his death in 1976.  His body is displayed in a crystal coffin and people line up every day to view his body and pay tribute.

People from all over China contributed to the design of the Mausoleum as well as to the materials themselves including granite from Sichuan, pebbles from Nanjing and rock samples from Mount Everest.

The sculptures in front of the museum, sometimes called the Workers' Revolutionary Statues, are part of a group of four "teams", two in front and two in back of the building.  Altogether there are 62 figures measuring 3.5m.  

 





















The entire group of sculptures took 5 months to complete by over 100 sculptors from 18 different provinces in China. 

Tiananmen Square (2): The Architecture and History

Tiananmen Square holds a lot of cultural significance due the political events that have occurred there, particularly the Tiananmen Square Protests in 1989, the proclamation of The People's Republic of China by Mao Zedong in 1949 and the May Fourth Movement in 1919. And that's just the last 100 years. (Pictured above: The Monument to the People's Heroes and the Great Hall of the People).

While the Tainanmen (Qianmen) Gate to the Forbidden City was built in 1417, the Square itself was not built until 1651.  In the 1950's it was enlarged to four times its original size, becoming the largest public square in the world (440,000 m² - 880m by 500m) and can accommodate up to 600,000 people.  

The Square lies between the Tian'anmen North Gate and the Zhengyangmen (Qianmen) South Gate which leads into the Forbidden city.  

Pictured here: The Monument to the People's Heroes.

On the west side of the Square is the Great Hall of the People (above) and the Monument to the People's Heroes  and on the east side is the National Museum of China (below), which focuses on Chinese history before the May Fourth Movement in 1919).

Another sign of China's continued control over monitoring the activities of its citizens can be seen here.  The lamposts here sport video cameras and policemen in uniforms and plainclothes patrol the area.  

Hmmm... I guess not so different from some Chicago neighborhoods, eh?

Tiananmen Square (1): Qianmen, The South Gate

Qianmen is the colloquial name for Zhengyangmen, which is the South Gate of Tiananmen Square. It once guarded the entry to the inner city and, after the walls were destroyed in the 60's, only the gatehouse and the archery tower remain.

It was originally built in 1419, during the Ming Dynasty and, after the Communist victory in 1949, it was occupied by the People's Liberation Army.  Since it was vacated in 1980, it has become a tourist attraction and the architecture is extremely well preserved.

As a military structure, its fascinating how much care was taken in designing the decorative details as well as the practical aspects.

Street Scenes - Beijing: Literally... in the street

I'm not sure what these folks are playing, cards, mah jong or checkers, but there is most likely some gambling going on.  More shocking than gambling in the street, is that they are literally "in the street".  Chinese love their fresh air and living in close quarters with one another necessitates sitting outside, especially in the summer.  But these folks took it one step further taking over a little corner of a median strip in the center of a busy four lane street.

From the looks of it, this is their regular spot.  They've got their little stools, shirts off, dogs leashed to the lamp post.  Even grandma is having her "settin' time"... while tempting fate in the incoming traffic.

Location: Near the Pearl Market, Beijing, China 

Street Scenes - Beijing: Bamboo Baby Bjorn

How much did you spend on that Baby Bjorn? Seriously.  Because this kid looks pretty content and I think I could make this for you out of Lincoln Logs.

Location: Temple of Heaven, Beijing.

City Lights: Night View from the Park Hyatt, Beijing

When in Chicago, I often take out-of-town guests to view the city lights at night from the restaurant and lounge in the Hancock Tower.  Not because its a great restaurant (sorry), but more for the view.  So I was excited to learn about this restaurant, The China Grill at the Park Hyatt, Beijing.

The China Grill at the Park Hyatt in Beijing is a similar to the Signature Room, in that you mainly come for the view because the food is only "good enough".  It wasn't bad, just about on par with a nice restaurant in any major city.  Although D noted that many of the restaurants on Beijing, even the nice ones, seem to be lacking in consistency of service and no one seemed to be able to understand how to time the arrival of dishes to the table. The saving grace for me were these two dishes:  the spicy/crispy calamari and a glass of citrus sorbet layered with frozen citrus slices, which served well to cut the oiliness of the rest of the meal.  

The view, however, is spectacular.  My pictures here cannot do adequate justice to the beauty of the city lights of Beijing at night.  Here is a video of this view, which I captured as best I could with my Flip Video.  Click here for the YouTube link.

Located on the 66th floor, its not as high at the Signature Lounge at the Hancock, but the China Grill is the highest restaurant in the city and has 360 degree views of Beijing. And the views couldn't be more different.  The lights in Beijing are much more colorful on the buildings as well as the signage and the streets curve in rings, rather than the grids of more modern cities.  Beautiful.

These pictures look like code from the Matrix, but if you look closely you can see that these are the windows of some of the smaller residential buildings and their reflections along with the brightly lit Chinese characters in the commercial signage.  Its like a painting.

Here are a few images of the interiors.  One of the stairs leading from the elevators near the lounge and one of the lobby interiors.

More to come ...

Donghua Men "Snack Street" (3): Food Challenge #2... Scorpions!

After the snake skin I wanted to try something a bit more challenging. But there are so many choices.  The starfish looked impressive, but I heard they can be a bit tough.  There is sea urchin, but I can get that in the states.  That offering to the right is, I think, some animal "maleness", if you know what I mean ...

Those are cicadas up above, but I've heard mixed reviews about those as well.  Maybe too much guts for my first bug. The crickets look appropriately intimidating, but maybe I want something a bit more sinister.  Like Scorpions!  

Yikes!  Do you have anything a little smaller?

That's better!  These look like just the right balance of scary and manageable!  One stick costs about 15 Yuan or a little over $2 USD.  Once ordered they are dropped into hot oil and salted, which can make almost anything palatable! How do they taste?

Surprisingly good!  I'd eat more right now if I could!  They taste salty and crunchy on the outside and meaty and a little nutty on the inside.  Not stingy at all ;)

Here is the video of me eating them and talking to some people in the crowd.  

Click here for the YouTube link.

Donghua Men "Snack Street" (2): Food Challenge #1... Snake Skin!

Sure, its a bit strange that in a place filled with ancient culture and historic treasures I am fixated on my food challenges, but I blame it on all the travel/food shows where they challenge the host to eat crazy stuff.  But I think that, if the local culture eats it, I'll give it a try.  Especially if it gives me a chance to shock the audience a bit ;)

The hardest part was choosing.  Here are some of the more tame offerings...

This looks a little more interesting.  Squid,  and ... are those crayfish? 

Beautiful and probably very tasty, but I had to choose carefully, since I only had a limited time here (my BF was not having as much fun with this as I was and it was very crowded).  But finally I saw my first choice...

Snake skin!  Aside from making creepy western wear, they can apparently be a good snack.  

Honestly, it wasn't great, but it wasn't bad.  It was very oily and a bit ... scaly, but overall not bad.  I figured I eat eel, so why not snake?

Here's how they cook it on the grill.  They press it under a hot iron, fanning it with a paper fan:

Posing with my snake skin kebab... and trusty Flip Video camera, on which I recorded this video of me eating the snake skin!

Click here for the YouTube video.