Some of the most important New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions happen far from the floats: the North Side Skull and Bone Gang walking Treme before dawn, the Baby Dolls dancing through the streets in bonnets and short skirts, the Society of Saint Anne parading from the Bywater in costumes people spend all year on, and the Black Masking Indians coming out the same morning. They don't make the national news package. They're still the heart of the day for a lot of the city.
If your whole picture of Carnival is beads on St. Charles, this is the other half. And if you're a local who's been meaning to get up early one year, consider this your push.
A word before we start. These traditions belong to the communities that keep them. Go to watch, give people room, and ask before you take a photo. You're a guest.
The North Side Skull and Bone Gang
The Skull and Bone Gang is the first thing out on Mardi Gras morning in Treme. According to New Orleans & Company, the tradition dates to 1819, and the gang sets out at 5 a.m. from the Backstreet Cultural Museum.
They walk door to door in skeleton suits, knocking and waking the neighborhood. The Historic New Orleans Collection describes the costumes: skeleton suits, butcher aprons, papier-mâché skulls, and bones dripping with fake blood. The message they carry is "You next!" It's a reminder that death is coming for everybody, so you'd better live right while you're here.
That sounds grim. It doesn't feel grim. It feels like the most honest thing anyone will say to you all day, delivered at your front door before sunrise by someone in a giant papier-mâché skull.
HNOC connects the skeleton imagery to traditions across the African diaspora and the Americas, from West African ritual to Day of the Dead. New Orleans & Company notes that Chief Al Morris revived the gang in 2003. Today it's led by Big Chief Bruce "Sunpie" Barnes, who wears an antlered headpiece you won't forget.
The gang describes its role as the literal meaning of carnival: the shedding of flesh. You don't get a better summary of Mardi Gras than that.
If you go
Be there before 5 a.m., and be quiet until they start making noise. Stay out of the way of doors and porches. It's a neighborhood, and people are coming out of their own houses to see it.
The Baby Dolls
The Baby Dolls are one of the oldest women's masking traditions in New Orleans, and for a long time one of the least known.
According to 64 Parishes, the tradition is thought to have started around 1912 among Black women working in what was called Black Storyville, the Uptown red-light district bounded by Perdido, Gravier, Locust and Franklin streets. One early group, led by Beatrice Hill, Leona Tate and Althea Brown, called itself the Million-Dollar Baby Dolls.
They dressed in frilly bonnets and short skirts over bloomers. 64 Parishes notes that the women of that era reportedly kept fifty dollars in their garters. They sang ribald songs, smoked cigars, danced in the street and challenged rival groups. They threw money at the men watching.
It was a statement. Black women who had no place in the old-line krewes took over the street and made the day theirs.
After the city closed its vice districts in the late 1910s, the tradition spread through Black neighborhoods, especially Treme. It faded around midcentury. The Happy House Social and Pleasure Club, led by Miriam and Lionel Batiste, kept it going, and the Batistes taught a younger generation to make the costumes.
Today there are several groups masking again. 64 Parishes lists, among others, the Ernie K-Doe Baby Dolls, cofounded by Antoinette K-Doe; the Gold Digger Baby Dolls of Merline Kimble and Lois Nelson; and the Tremé Million-Dollar Baby Dolls, led by Reza "Cinnamon Black" Wilson-Bazile. The Baby Dolls also mask on St. Joseph's Night, March 19.
If you go
You'll most likely catch Baby Dolls on Mardi Gras morning in Treme and nearby, often moving with brass bands and other maskers. Same rules as any culture bearer: give them space, and ask before you photograph.
The Society of Saint Anne
The Society of Saint Anne is a walking krewe, and on Mardi Gras morning it's one of the most beautiful things in the city.
Founded in 1969 by residents of the French Quarter and nearby faubourgs, St. Anne gathers in the Bywater and walks through the Marigny and into the French Quarter, picking up costumed marchers at coffee shops and bars along the way. It continues to Canal Street to see Zulu and Rex, then turns back into the Quarter.
The costumes are the point. People work on them for months, and the results are gorgeous and sometimes very strange. Marchers carry beribboned hoops on long poles, and the Storyville Stompers brass band provides the music.
After the walk, members hold private rituals honoring those who died in the past year. It's a party that makes room for grief, which is a very New Orleans way to spend Fat Tuesday.
If you go
St. Anne doesn't have a grandstand. Find it in the Marigny or lower Quarter in the morning. If you're in costume, you'll blend right in. If you're not, you'll want to be next year.
Why These Traditions Matter
None of these groups ride floats or show up in the official parade guide, and none of them are performing for tourists. They're neighbors doing what their neighborhoods have done for generations.
That's the part of Carnival that's easiest to miss and hardest to forget. If you want to understand it, start with Treme, and with the street parades the Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs put on the rest of the year. Our explainer on what a second line is is a good place to begin, and A History of Masking covers the Black Masking Indians, who come out the same morning.
Support the People Who Keep It Going
The Backstreet Cultural Museum in Treme documents a lot of this culture, and it's where the Skull and Bone Gang starts its walk. Our Second Line 'Til You Drop shirt supports the museum.
For the bookshelf, Dancing in the Streets: Social Aid and Pleasure Clubs of New Orleans is a photographic look at the clubs behind the city's street culture.
New Orleans Mardi Gras Traditions: FAQ
What is the Skull and Bone Gang?
The North Side Skull and Bone Gang is a Treme masking tradition that, according to New Orleans & Company, dates to 1819. Members in skeleton costumes walk the neighborhood before dawn on Mardi Gras morning, waking residents with the warning "You next!"
Who are the Mardi Gras Baby Dolls?
The Baby Dolls are a masking tradition started around 1912 by Black women in New Orleans' Uptown red-light district, according to 64 Parishes. They wear bonnets and short skirts, and several groups mask today.
What is the Society of Saint Anne?
A walking krewe founded in 1969 that parades in elaborate costumes on Mardi Gras morning from the Bywater through the Marigny and French Quarter to Canal Street.
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