Cultural Identity & Festivals – Insights on Mardi Gras Indian Culture from a Standard Bearer

Description

People Are Culture’s curriculum brings to life the subjects of Geography, History, Social Studies, and World Cultures with engaging, thought-provoking, and inspiring stories of real people around the world. Our interviews and feature profiles reveal the meaning and relevance of traditions and customs, and demonstrate the real-life impact of historical events and social change. Students can see life through the eyes of real people around the world with lessons that are authoritative, first-person accounts of people describing their own cultures.

People Are Culture’s content aligns with all ten of the National Social Studies standards.

NO AI is used in creating our material. Each interview and article was made in collaboration with the individuals featured, who reviewed and approved the piece prior to publication.

Included in this People Are Culture Reading & Reflection Assignment Module are four elements:

• General Overview of Cultural Identity 
• Overview of Festival & Cultural Identity | Reflection Prompts 
• 36-page PDF interview with Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society 
• Reflection Assignment | Insights on the Culture of Mardi Gras Indians From a Standard-Bearer 

Each lesson is likely to take a student three hours to do the readings and complete the comprehension/reflection exercises.

In this interview with Cherice Harrison-Nelson, you will hear her personal account and insights through her experiences as the Queen of the Guardians of the Flame Maroon Society, including:

• An overview of Maroon history and how Mardi Gras Indian culture blends West African practices with Native American motifs 
• A description of the year-long process of creating suits that tell stories, from choosing themes and colors to hand-beading storytelling images and Adinkra symbols from Ghana 
• An overview of the community values that are transmitted by the Mardi Gras Indian traditions, which are important to preserving this culture 
• The military-like gang structure with specific roles, such as spy boy, flag boy, and scout, that operate through covert signals and ritual meetings on Carnival Day, St. Joseph’s Day, and funerals 
• Personal reflections on being Queen of the Guardians of the Flame as a spiritual calling and “way of life,” the protocols taught by Elder Queens about holding space and meeting with purpose, and the conflict against photographers monetizing their tradition 

Expected Learning Outcome: 

This lesson includes clear expected learning outcomes that support students in understanding cultural identity through first-person perspectives, while building intercultural awareness and connections between individual experience and global traditions. 

• Students will identify and describe key cultural practices and beliefs from the lesson’s focus community (i.e., Mardi Gras Indian culture). 
• Students will articulate insights into their own cultural identities and how those identities relate to what they learned. 
• Students will analyze how cultural expressions (like festivals) reflect values, history, and social traditions. 
• Students will compare perspectives across cultures while finding similarities and differences through human themes. 
• Students will make connections between cultural traditions and broader global contexts (slavery, emancipation, cultural preservation), showing critical thinking about identity and intercultural understanding.