National Geographic
Words by Chelsea Brasted
Photography by L. Kasimu Harris
Sundays are for sewing. That much, at least, has not changed for Bo Dollis Jr.
During Memorial Day weekend, after New Orleans officials relaxed social distancing rules, the Big Chief of the Wild Magnolias Mardi Gras Indians got his tribe together for the first time since everything came unglued. About 15 people came, and they sat together on folding chairs, laughing, joking, and sewing. Each had an open toolbox stuffed with small plastic bags of beads at their feet and a stretched canvas across their laps. They shared advice and suggestions as easily as they passed around needles threaded with waxed dental floss, with which they attached beads and rhinestones to the canvas in the shape of bears, horses, and native people.