This isn’t your average craft night — it’s a living, breathing piece of New Orleans history. On November 18 from 5-8 pm, Austin clothing store Blackfeather Vintage Works will host a beading and cultural workshop led by Big Chief Shaka Zulu, a leader of a Black Masking group whose Carnival suits are fine art.
Chief Shaka Zulu is an artist from the legendary Golden Feather Hunters, plus a National Endowment for the Arts Folk Heritage Fellow, a master suit maker, and a cultural historian dedicated to preserving one of America’s most profound living traditions: the Indigenous Masking Societies of New Orleans.
The Indigenous Masking tradition, sometimes referred to as “Mardi Gras Indian” culture, was born when African Americans were excluded from European Mardi Gras parades in the 1800s. Some Africans who had escaped slavery were taken in by Indigenous tribes, eventually resulting in mixed heritages. Being excluded from mainstream Carnival forced them to create their own celebration, rooted in African and Indigenous heritage in different parts of town.
The tradition includes three parts, says Zulu: Masking, which is putting on the mask and becoming "the entity of what it is you're masking"; procession, the marching and dancing through the streets of the neighborhood; and then ritual, the year-long process to create a whole new suit and do it all again.
"We want to be very clear that we're not making mockery of the beautiful tradition of native Americans ... and we're also paying homage to those indigenous folks of New Orleans — or Louisiana, I should say — that were of African descent" says Zulu.
Participants at a previous "Sip and Sew" beading event. Photo courtesy of Jenny Dubin
Zulu is also a second-generation stilt dancer. It's a tradition, he says, that many in America call "stilt walking," but in Africa, "It's a secret society, a masking tradition. You're the medium between the heavens and the earth, so you're not really a person; you're an entity when you're in a mask."
At this Austin “Sip and Sew” workshop, guests will sew, chant, have drinks, and bead alongside the Chief, while learning about the hundreds-year-old tradition that has shaped the soul of New Orleans Carnival. Each participant will create their own small beaded artwork to take home: a symbol of the masking suits that take New Orleans artisans a full year to complete.
Chief Shaka Zulu in one of his hand-sewn suits, Mardi Gras Day 2024. Photo courtesy of Jenny Dubin
Through events like “Sip and Sew,” Zulu shares all of this history and much more with audiences across the country. And now he's bringing this workshop to Austin for the first time.
"I have been trying to get in the Austin market, because it's so similar, from what I understand, to New Orleans," Zulu says.
The event also supports the Better Family Life Feather Fund, a nonprofit initiative that helps Mardi Gras Indian elders and youth afford the elaborate feathers and beadwork that define their hand-sewn suits.
"We started doing fundraisers [and workshops] to raise money to buy feathers for them, because that's the most expensive part of the suit," says Zulu. "We've been doing that for nine years."
Tickets for this November 18 workshop are $75, with all proceeds benefiting Better Family Life Feather Fund. Space for this special evening is limited. Black Feather Vintage is located at 979 Springdale Rd., Ste. 98.
