(C) Verite News New Orleans This story was originally published by Verite News New Orleans and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . Q&A: For one Big Queen, Carnival 2025 prep has already begun [1] ['Josie Abugov', 'More Josie Abugov', 'Verite News'] Date: 2024-02-14 After a five-year break from masking, Big Queen Gina Montana of the Yellow Pocahontas Black masking Indian tribe will return to Carnival 2025. Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of when Montana began masking in 1995 under the guidance of her second cousin, Big Chief Allison “Tootie” Montana. With the end of this year’s Carnival season, crafting for next year’s 30th anniversary has already begun. In the past few years, personal issues have prevented Montana from showing out and practicing the masking tradition, including the loss of her mother in 2021. “Traumatic doesn’t even how we felt in our family, all of my siblings and her grandbabies,” she told Verite News. “But coming back and recovering from going through all of that is going to be a moment of healing for me, a moment of resilience, a moment of keeping the integrity of my position as a Big Queen in my community.” When she returns to the tradition next year, she’ll mask alongside her daughter, Jahia Montana, 35. Verite News sat down with Montana on Feb. 9 to discuss her artistry, her break from masking and her plan for next year’s Carnival. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity. Verite: Can you tell me a bit about your experience as a Black masking Indian? I know that’s a huge question, but what drew you to the practice initially? Montana: My first memory of seeing a Mardi Gras Indian was actually Tootie’s brother who was the Second Chief of the Yellow Pocahontas, Edward Montana. … I probably was like five or six years old. So I grew up immersed in the culture. My mom always brought me out to the Mardi Gras. I have four sisters and a brother. She would always bring us in and as soon as I was old enough as a teenager to start going to Carnival by myself, I would always go looking for Yellow Pocahontas. My parents were divorced. So I would go find Chief Tootie and his brother Edward, the Big Chief and the Second Chief. I was all the way in my 30s, a single mom, I had my one daughter, when I started going over to [Tootie and his wife Joyce’s house on North Villere St.]. And that’s when Tootie, in 1994, he started teaching me how to sew. And that was the foundation of how I started masking Big Queen. It wasn’t like he said, ‘I want you to be the queen of the tribe.’ His emphasis was, ‘I’m going to teach you how to sew, how to make the suit.’ And it was so brilliant how he taught me how to sew, one technique at a time, and then the very first year that I made it where I finished the suit was Carnival 1995, which if I’m counting, next year will be 30 years … and my daughter will also be masking with me. Verite: Could you explain a bit more why you decided not to mask this year? Montana: My job situation changed and dealing with my housing and making sure I don’t get displaced — it was a lot. Now there was a lot of changes in my tribe with the current Big Chief [Tootie Montana’s son] Darryl Montana. I want to refrain from talking about his leadership and what’s going on in the tribe because I don’t want to speak on his behalf. Verite: What has this break been like for you? Montana: It reminds me that for the way I mask and the kind of suits that I create and the level of sewing that I do, I’ve been very blessed and thankful to have help. This year, I did not have the help of a Big Chief or one of my historic Second Chiefs, the kind of Indians who would help me with the design of the suit. So it’s given me a moment just to reflect on, you know, how do I respond to changes within the tribe? How do I respond to changes within my community of artists who have the time to help me? At this point, my daughter and I, we’ve made a very mindful decision to design our own suits and sew our own suits. We have already purchased a lot of the materials other than the feathers, and we have our colors decided. … We just have to be more self-reliant within our own creative space. Verite: Can you tell me more about your masking style? Montana: My style of masking is very rooted in the history and the architectural design of Yellow Pocahontas. My suits are abstract, three-dimensional. I make sure that I have full coverage in my suit, that I have a crown, that I have a chest piece, that I have two armbands, that I’m going to wear cuffs. I’ll make a belt, I wear an apron, or sometimes a back apron also, and then I’ll have boots and shoe pieces. So my style of masking is really — I can’t even say inspired by — it’s just a continuation of the way Tootie Montana would design a suit, but on a much smaller scale. Obviously, what a Big Queen would wear in comparison to what a Big Chief wears, I would just wear a smaller version of some of his designs and scale down. … So my style of masking is traditional 7th Ward. It’s really from out the neighborhood where I grew up in the 7th Ward. And it’s also the abstract, three-dimensional style that originated from the Yellow Pocahontas and really from Big Chief Tootie Montana. Verite: Can you talk a bit about you and your daughter gathering some of the material and what’s going to happen right on Wednesday (Feb 14), essentially? Montana: Starting the week after Carnival, we’re going to start drawing out our patterns for the designs and deciding or fine-tuning the color scheme. We have our main color that we will be masking in, but what colors will complement and go, you know, as far as the beads. Verite: Can you share what color it is? Montana: No. That’s a big part of the tradition is that you keep your color within the tribe and within your own position until Carnival, until Mardi Gras day, sometimes back in the day, we just say Carnival, you know, but we do say Mardi Gras also. And so on Carnival that’s when my community will see what color I’m coming out, and I don’t reveal my color prior to the Mardi Gras. But that’s a good question, you’re asking some good questions. Verite: Thank you so much for making the time to talk with me. Is there anything else you wanted to share? Montana: I think what else I wanted to share is the importance of the other Big Queens in our community and the queens who mask Indian. I know one of the Big Queens of the Wild Magnolias, Rita Dollis, Bo Dollis’ wife, she had started an organization called the Queens of the Nation. There is such a beauty when all the queens get together, we know each other, we respect each other’s work, and that is the beauty of of masking…One of them one of my most treasured moments of masking Indian when I meet another queen, it’s almost like it’s a ritual. It’s a tradition, I should say, when two tribes [meet] and I’ll see the other tribes’ queen and [the] other tribe’s queens see me and we know how to respectfully — what we call we meet each other. Because when you mask Indian, you gotta meet somebody. You do the parades and processions, but on Carnival or on St. Joseph’s Night — those are the traditional days where the tribes would historically meet. For me to see another queen and meet that queen is a highlight of masking. Related Stories Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. [END] --- [1] Url: https://veritenews.org/2024/02/14/qa-for-one-big-queen-carnival-2025-prep-has-already-begun/ Published and (C) by Verite News New Orleans Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 US. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/veritenews/