For the last two weeks since Cyril “Big Chief Iron Horse” Green passed away at the young age of 46, Mardi Gras Indians have been gathering nightly to perform the ancient rituals and remember the chief. Yesterday, April 2, 2013, over 30 Indians in suits and hundreds of mourners gathered to celebrate his life.
The setting was the historic Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church in the St. Roch neighborhood. The hearse and a limousine were parked out front. Each vehicle had a poster on the back celebrating the chief’s life. Dozens of friends and members of the extended Indian community gathered on the steps and across the street. The church itself was filled to overflowing.
Around the corner and on various side streets, members of numerous tribes including the Fi Fi Yi, the Hard Head Hunters, the Young Cheyenne, the Red Hawk Hunters and Green’s gang, the Black Seminole, donned their massive suits.
They assembled on the steps awaiting the end of the service, and the pallbearers carrying the deceased.
The Indians formed a gauntlet from the top step down to the street and the waiting hearse. Photographers and others not in costume were cleared multiple times to allow the Indians to complete the beginning of the death ritual. Flag Boy Slim cried over and over, “Open it up, open it up!” He swung his decorated rifle in wide circles to make room for the pallbearers and the body.
After a long delay, most of the Indians waited silently with somber visages, a single cry went up, decorated sticks and flags were raised, and a hundred voices cried out. After the various shouts and war cries, the assembled Indians began chanting a slow version of the traditional prayer, “Indian Red.”
The Déjà Vu Brass Band struck up a dirge, and the cortege headed into the streets. Some of the Indians stayed with the band, and others formed an honor guard.
Eight Indians, four on each side, symbolically guided the hearse with their white-gloved hands; others brought up the rear.
The procession didn’t stay somber for long. Within a block, the brass band began playing the up-tempo “Didn’t He Ramble,” and the Indians whooped and hollered for their fallen chief. The huge group marched on the back streets to Green’s home on N. Rocheblave Street between Music and Arts (thanks Dr. Ike for the location) amid destroyed houses and tons of detritus in the still mostly ruined post-Katrina neighborhood.
The coffin was removed once more at Green’s home. The Indians made an incredible racket as voices, tambourines, rattles and drums rang out, and they lifted the coffin over their heads in a final tribute. Three youths climbed on the porch of a neighboring house, and danced with abandon. However, times have changed—one had a video camera.
The Indians split into two separate sections and followed the hearse back to his burial-place in the historic St. Roch Cemetery. Big Chief Kevin Goodman (center in above photo) of the Flaming Arrows, Green’s cousin, and the man who introduced him to the ancient rituals led one group which included members of the Young Cheyenne, Black Seminole, and the Yellow Pocahontas.
They started a new chant that will likely be repeated over and over again in honor of the big chief. They sang, “Ride up, ride up, ride up Iron Horse.”
Photos: Jay Mazza
