On Mardi Gras, the North Side Skull and Bone Gang dresses in black Long Johns decorated with painted-on bones. Members’ heads are covered with large skull masks made from wire covered with cheese cloth and painted white.
Before daylight, they walk throughout Treme “wielding bloody bones and rousing their neighbors with calls of ‘You next,’” the Historic New Orleans Collection states.
According to Chief Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes, who became a skeleton in 1999 and chief in 2010, the merchant marine brought the tradition to the city in 1819.
“Skeletons are part of the transatlantic culture of the African diaspora, with representations in West African rituals, Caribbean Vodou practices and Latin American Day of the Dead celebrations,” the Historic New Orleans Collection states. “For two centuries, the North Side Skull and Bone Gang has signaled the start of Mardi Gras Day, waking the spirits and serving as a reminder to live well before death.”
According to Mardi Gras Traditions, the gang is a reminder that “Carnival, like death, is a great equalizer.
“It was an inexpensive way for Black men to participate in Carnival at a time when people of their race were not welcomed in the ‘official’ celebration,” the website states. “Anyone can join in the fun and be king or queen for a day, but none, in the end, can escape the grasping reaper.”
Interest in the tradition began to wane in the 1990s, and by the end of the decade, it was almost extinct. Then a 2003 PBS documentary, “All on a Mardi Gras Day,” spurred new interest.
The tradition continues.
“At 5 a.m.,” New Orleans Tourism states, “the North Side Skull and Bone Gang goes door to door, house to house, waking up the neighborhood and spreading a message of peace.”
For more tales from New Orleans history, visit the Back in the Day archives.
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