Sitting in a car outside the 7th Ward Neighborhood Center, getting ready for Mardi Gras, four boys wiggled and wrestled. They rolled the windows up and down. They cranked up the volume when a favorite song came on the radio.
But once each of them grabbed hold of a needle and beads, they sat still for hours.
Last week, the four compared hands across the front seat of the car. They jockeyed to show off the calluses on their fingertips, formed by hours of sewing. They displayed the red spots where they had suffered needle punctures.
"All of us Indians, " said Nas Jackson, 11, proudly echoing the assessment made by generations of Mardi Gras Indians, who say you can tell a true Indian by inspecting his hands.
On Tuesday morning, the four boys, lifelong friends, will emerge from the neighborhood center in feathered suits they sewed. The four are able to make their debut as Indians because the Porch, a cultural organization housed in the 7th Ward Center, bought them the beads, sequins, stones, feathers, canvas and satin.
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