New Orleans traditions go back a long way. Yearly, in the weeks after Mardi Gras the amazing Indian tribes come out and parade through the local central city neighborhoods. They work all year on these costumes, some with beadwork that rivals the best costume makers. 

 

Each year on St Josephs night the tribes come out after dusk and each tribe walks the 30+ square blocks of Central City with full bands, chanters, drummers and a cadre of supportive followers. When two tribes meet on the street they stage a mock battle for who will be allowed to proceed. War drums boom and the tribal chiefs face off against each other in the mock battle before coming together, embracing and calling a truce and moving on past each other until they encounter the next tribe. 

 

Its ritualistic, its beautiful and its a tradition I hope this city never loses.