NEW ORLEANS — Far off the St. Charles Parade route, before the sun rises on Mardi Gras day, Treme is awake.
The Northside Skull and Bone Gang has been waking up the neighborhood on Mardi Gras morning for more than 200 years now. A tradition started by enslaved Africans in 1819 and carried on proudly by Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes.
“We don’t have a set route,” Barnes said. “We’re not a parade it’s a procession so we just let the spirit guide the day, but we will wake up this neighborhood and the rest of the world to a Carnival morning.”
Dressed as skeletons, the Skull and Bone Gang honor the dead while celebrating how precious life is. They sing and chant as they move through the neighborhood, warning people to live right or they could be next.
“You better get your, your life together, when you see us, it’s too late to cry,” one song goes.
“Most of the songs that we sing and chant now are songs that just came to me in dreams really,” Barnes said. “We speak out about mortality in general because you only get one life in this form and it’s to be respected.”
Around the corner, The Original Black Seminole Baby Dolls take to the street.
Formed in 2020, this is their first chance to second line on Mardi Gras day after Carnival was called off in 2021 due to COVID-19. Even though the club is new, the tradition goes back more than a century.
“This tradition started in 1912 and I always tell everyone that in those times, people of color, we could not participate in Mardi Gras. So, we created our own Mardi Gras.” Joell “Baby Joe” Lee, the club's founder, said. “So that’s why you have the Black Masking Indians and why you have the Baby Dolls.
Today, you can Baby Dolls and Black Masking Indians on the parade route, but these groups stay in the Treme to remember and honor their ancestors that weren’t allowed to celebrate Carnival in New Orleans because of the color of their skin.
“I’m honored to be able to keep up the tradition,” Lee said. “I’m hoping that the next generation, those that follow us, will keep up the tradition as well.”
They’re living New Orleans history, dancing down the street and inviting you to join.
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