ROUSES.COM
35
A
nyone who has ever seen my meat
case knows that I like to strut my
stuff. I’ve been in Social Aid &
Pleasure Clubs, and I can strut, wave, jump,
and high step with the best of them. Social
Aid & Pleasure Clubs like Zulu organize
the Second Line parades that take place on
Sundays in New Orleans. The club members
and brass band that plays a parade are called
the first line; the people that join in behind
the processions are called the second line.
Normally, I don’t like a line. We have a lot
butchers at Rouses, so there’s never a line. But
as part of a parade, that’s different!
I’m very involved with my culture. Social Aid
& Pleasure Clubs are a local tradition that
goes back to the 19
th
century. They grew out
of the African American benevolent societies
that did such great charity work and social
work around the city. I’m proud of that.
These days, I’m not in a Social Aid &
Pleasure Club, but I do the decorations
for maybe 15 of them. The suits and
hats, colors and decorations change every
year, and I make fans, umbrellas, all sorts
of decorations; whatever a club wants, I
make happen. And since clubs parades on
different Sundays, I’m pretty much always
working on something. That includes my
own Mardi Gras Indian costume. I’m in
an 8-man tribe, the Apache Indians. On
Mardi Gras Day, we gather at LaSalle and
Washington. We don’t go downtown Fat
Tuesday, but we do on Super Sunday (that’s
the Sunday after St. Joseph’s Day, which is
March 19
th
).
I’m creative. I’m always thinking. What
would make a great sausage for my meat
case (chicken is popular now)?
What’s a new recipe for pot
roast? What’s my next costume
going to be? I start a new
costume every Ash Wednesday.
My son does the drawings for
the designs; I do the sewing.
Different Indians taught me
how to sew, and I’ve developed
my own great technique for
my beadwork. A Mardi Gras
Indian costume comes together
in pieces. Or patches, actually. I
make the collar patch that goes
around my neck, a patch for the
apron that goes down the front
of my costume, back patches,
and twin patches for my arms
and legs.
And then there are the plumes.
Uptown tribes like mine tend
to use plumes; downtown they
use feathers. I order my plumes
from New York.
Beads. Patches. Plumes. I work
hard all year to look good when I
Suit, hat, screamer and fans on full display at a Second Line parade.
mask. When we challenge the other krewes
on Mardi Gras Day or Super Sunday, I
smile and say, “don’t take it personally that
I look so much better than you.” If I ran
into a butcher from one of our competitors,
I’d tell him the same thing: “It’s nothing
personal, but I’m Rouses, and I’m the best.”
Second Line
by
Chris Noel, Rouses Butcher +
photos by
Frank Aymami
Parading with the Original Pinettes Brass Band
through the Rouses Market on Carrollton in Mid City.
