Two events happen in New Orleans in March that most visitors don’t know about and the ones who do find transformative. St. Joseph’s Day on March 19 brings neighborhood altars to front lawns and community centers throughout the city. Super Sunday — typically the third Sunday in March, though the date can shift — is when Mardi Gras Indian tribes process through their neighborhoods in their full handmade suits.
Neither event is organized for tourists. Neither has a central stage or a ticket booth. Both are living cultural traditions that belong to the communities that maintain them. For a large group planning to be in New Orleans around these dates, understanding what’s happening and how to engage with it appropriately is the difference between witnessing something genuinely rare and being the kind of group that makes locals wish you weren’t there.
This guide is direct about the distinction.
Quick Checklist
- Confirm the exact date of Super Sunday for your travel year — it is typically the third Sunday of March but can shift; the Black Men of Labor organization and local cultural media confirm the date each year
- Know that St. Joseph’s Day is March 19 every year
- Dress appropriately for both events: comfortable, colorful if you want, not costumed in a way that imitates Mardi Gras Indian suits or traditional dress
- Bring cash — vendors and food trucks at both events operate on cash
- Keep the group together in transit but dispersed and non-obstructive during the events themselves
- Brief the group on respectful engagement before you leave the villa: what to do, what not to do
- Have a clear meet-up plan — both events involve outdoor movement through neighborhoods without fixed stages
- Plan for afternoon recovery time — both events are long, outdoor, and often in unpredictable March weather
St. Joseph’s Day: March 19
What It Is
St. Joseph’s Day is a Catholic feast day honoring St. Joseph, patron saint of workers and families. In New Orleans, it has a specific local character shaped by the Italian-Sicilian immigrant community that settled in the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The tradition of building altars to St. Joseph and opening them to the community on March 19 has been carried forward by families, churches, and neighborhood organizations throughout the city.
An altar is a tiered structure — often elaborate, floor-to-ceiling — covered with flowers, candles, statues of St. Joseph, and food. The food is blessed and then distributed to the public. Bread in the shape of crosses, fava beans, and traditional pastry are common. The altars are typically displayed in church halls, community centers, private homes, and occasionally in storefronts, and they are open for public viewing.
Where to Find Altars
There is no single location. Altars are distributed across the city — in churches, in shotgun houses with their front rooms converted for the day, in community halls in neighborhoods ranging from Mid-City to Metairie to the lower parts of the city.
Local media publishes a map of public altars each year in the weeks leading up to March 19. The Times-Picayune and local Catholic organizations typically compile lists. Search for the current year’s altar guide as part of pre-trip planning.
What Happens at an Altar
You arrive. You look at the altar — which is often genuinely impressive in scale and craftsmanship. If the altar host or the organization is distributing blessed food, they offer it to visitors. You accept it, you say thank you, and you move on. If there’s a small donation box for the altar host or the associated organization, leaving something is appropriate.
The atmosphere is warm. Families who have maintained altar traditions for generations are genuinely proud to share them. But this is their home or their community space, not a tourist stop. Behave accordingly: speak quietly, don’t push through to get photos, don’t treat the altar as a backdrop for content while the family watches.
For a Large Group
A large group at a single altar is a challenge. Twenty people filing through a private home’s front room is overwhelming. The right approach: send two or three representatives from the group to each altar, or break into small sub-groups and visit different altars in the same neighborhood before reconvening.
Plan for a morning-into-afternoon structure. Multiple altars, an unhurried pace, a walk through the neighborhood between stops, lunch at a nearby restaurant. The day works best as a neighborhood experience rather than a checklist.
Super Sunday: The Third Sunday of March
What It Is
Super Sunday is not related to football. It is the day when Mardi Gras Indian tribes from across New Orleans — Uptown tribes and Downtown tribes — process through their home neighborhoods in their full handmade suits.
Mardi Gras Indians are African American social and cultural organizations that have maintained a tradition of creating elaborate beaded and feathered suits for over a century. The suits are made by hand over the course of a year, are extraordinarily intricate, and are displayed publicly on Mardi Gras morning and on Super Sunday. The tradition has complex roots in cultural exchange between African American and Native American communities in New Orleans, and it represents one of the most sustained and distinctive art forms in the country.
Super Sunday is when you can actually see the suits. On Mardi Gras morning itself, the tribes process early in specific neighborhoods and the event is less accessible to people who don’t know exactly where to be. Super Sunday is more organized and more visible, with processions happening in two main areas: Uptown (starting in the afternoon near A.L. Davis Park) and Downtown (in the Tremé or Seventh Ward, timing confirmed each year by local media and cultural organizations).
What the Processions Are
The tribe chief leads the procession in the most elaborate suit. Other tribe members — the Spy Boy, the Flag Boy, the Wild Man — process in their own suits according to a specific cultural hierarchy. The tribe chants and sings. Brass bands accompany some processions. The street fills with community members who have come out to see the suits, to cheer specific tribes, and to participate in the cultural life of the neighborhood.
This is not a performance put on for visitors. The tribes are processing for themselves, for their community, for the continuation of a tradition that has survived generations of effort and sacrifice to maintain. Visitors are welcome to observe. They are not the audience for whom the event exists.
How to Engage as a Large Group
Where to be: Find out the Uptown or Downtown route for your travel year from local media or cultural organizations. Get to the area before the procession starts — typically mid-afternoon for Uptown Super Sunday. Position the group on the sidewalk or edge of the street, not in the center.
What to do: Watch. Listen. If the tribe processes toward you and a member makes eye contact or engages with the crowd in your direction, that’s an invitation to appreciate what you’re seeing. Call out appreciation verbally. Don’t reach out to touch the suits. Don’t grab for photos from inches away.
Photography: Photography is broadly acceptable — people document these events extensively. The etiquette is the same as any cultural event: photograph from a respectful distance, don’t push to the front of a crowd for a better angle, don’t photograph community members who are clearly not part of the procession without their acknowledgment.
For a large group specifically: Break into smaller groups of 4-6 along the route rather than moving as a unit of 20. A wall of 20 people on one section of sidewalk creates problems for community members who live there and are trying to watch their neighbors process. Disperse and reconvene after.
What to Wear
Colorful. Comfortable. Not a costume that references or imitates the Indian suits. Wearing elaborate feathered or beaded clothing to Super Sunday as a visitor is not appropriate — it’s a confusion of the hierarchy that the tradition is built on. Bright colors and festive clothing without imitation are the right call.
St. Joseph’s Day vs. Super Sunday at a Glance
| St. Joseph’s Day | Super Sunday | |
|---|---|---|
| Date | March 19 (fixed) | Third Sunday of March (confirm each year) |
| What it is | Italian-Catholic altar tradition | Mardi Gras Indian procession day |
| Location | Distributed across neighborhoods | Uptown (A.L. Davis Park area) and Downtown (Tremé/7th Ward) |
| Duration | All day, most altars open afternoon into evening | Processions typically start mid-afternoon |
| Structure | Self-paced visiting, no central event | Mobile procession through neighborhood streets |
| Cost | Free (donation at altars if offered) | Free (no tickets, no gates) |
| Group logistics | Small sub-groups to individual altars | Disperse along the route, reconvene after |
| Dress code | Casual, respectful | Colorful but not imitative |
| Best for | Groups interested in food culture and community life | Groups interested in art, music, and cultural traditions |
The Cultural Context Worth Understanding
Both St. Joseph’s Day and Super Sunday are traditions that have survived by being maintained by communities that chose to maintain them, often against economic pressure and without institutional support. The altar families have passed down recipes and decorative techniques for generations. The Mardi Gras Indian chiefs have sewn suits for decades and trained the people who come after them.
Understanding this is not just background information. It changes how you show up. A group that knows what it’s looking at — that the suit in front of them took a year to make by hand, that the tradition it represents is older than most of the people watching — interacts with the event differently than a group that stumbled into something colorful on their way to brunch.
The Backstreet Cultural Museum in the Tremé is the best single resource for understanding the Mardi Gras Indian tradition before a Super Sunday visit. It’s a small museum with a large impact; a 45-minute visit the day before Super Sunday will change what your group sees on Sunday.
Food and Drink Along the Way
Both events happen outdoors, often over several hours, in unpredictable March weather (New Orleans in March ranges from 60°F and perfect to 80°F and humid to genuinely cold and rainy).
For St. Joseph’s Day: The blessed food at altars is traditional — fava beans, bread, pastry — but not a full meal. Have lunch sorted before or after the altar visits. The Mid-City neighborhood where many altars are concentrated has good restaurant options for a group lunch; make a reservation in advance for groups larger than 10.
For Super Sunday: Food trucks and vendors typically set up near the main procession areas. Cash is essential. The food is good — you’re in New Orleans, the neighborhood food trucks are operating at a high standard. Budget for a $10-15 street food lunch per person.
Water. Bring water for the group. Outdoor events in New Orleans in March can be warmer than expected, and standing on a street for two hours while watching a procession depletes hydration faster than it feels like it should.
Pairing Both Events in One March Trip
If your group is in New Orleans in mid-to-late March, you may be able to attend both. This depends on the Super Sunday date for your year.
A possible structure:
- March 18 (Saturday): afternoon altar preview if any are open early; dinner in the neighborhood
- March 19 (Sunday, St. Joseph’s Day): morning and afternoon altar visits, neighborhood walk, lunch
- Third Sunday of March (if different from March 19): Super Sunday processions in the afternoon
When the dates fall close together or overlap, this is one of the richest cultural weekends New Orleans offers. When they’re a week apart, choose the event that fits your travel dates and engage with that one fully.
Pro Tips
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Confirm Super Sunday’s exact date before booking travel. The third Sunday of March sounds fixed but the specific date shifts each year. Local cultural organizations, the Times-Picayune, and WWOZ (the city’s community radio station) all confirm it in advance. Book your trip around the confirmed date, not the assumed one.
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The Backstreet Cultural Museum is essential pre-game for Super Sunday. It’s in the Tremé, it’s small, and a guided walk-through from one of the staff will give your group more context than any online reading. Go the day before if possible.
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Arrive early to Super Sunday. The procession doesn’t have a published start time, and community events in New Orleans don’t run on exact clocks. Being in position an hour before the expected start means you see the buildup — the gathering of tribe members, the energy before the procession begins — which is often as interesting as the procession itself.
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St. Joseph’s Day altars in churches are different from private home altars. Church altars tend to be more formal and more accessible to larger groups. Private home altars are more intimate and require more careful group management. Both are worth seeing.
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Don’t plan anything time-sensitive immediately after Super Sunday. The procession ends when it ends. It can run longer than expected, the route can shift, and the crowd dispersal is unpredictable. Leave two hours of buffer after the procession before any dinner reservation or transportation commitment.
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Brief the group specifically on the suits. Tell people before you leave what Mardi Gras Indians are, why the suits matter, what the tradition represents. This is basic respect and it changes the group’s engagement with what they see.
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WWOZ 90.7 FM is the soundtrack for both events. The station covers both in real time, updates route information, and generally operates as a community information hub for New Orleans cultural events. Have it on in the group chat or on someone’s phone during the day.
Large Group Accommodation in March
March is a shoulder month in New Orleans — off the Mardi Gras peak but still busy, especially when Super Sunday draws visitors who know what it is. Book accommodation early if your dates align with either event.
Castleday Retreats
Three private villas in the Bywater — The Herald, The Cocodrie, and The Florentine — each with 12 bedrooms, 17 real beds, and 8 baths, accommodating 14 to 30 guests. The Bywater is adjacent to the Tremé and the Seventh Ward, which puts the group within easy distance of Downtown Super Sunday.
The Florentine is ADA-accessible. 4.98 average rating across 99 reviews. For a trip built around cultural events that require early positioning and flexible pacing, the privacy of a standalone villa beats a hotel block.
The Syd
Multiple villas in the Lower Garden District, up to 22 guests per villa, with a shared heated pool, hot tub, sauna, outdoor kitchen, and artist-designed rooms. One block from the St. Charles Streetcar.
The Syd’s Garden District location puts it within easy reach of the Uptown Super Sunday procession. The outdoor kitchen and common areas are the right place to debrief after a long outdoor day — set out food, get off your feet, talk through what you saw.
See Where to Stay
See where to stay for large groups →
March in New Orleans rewards groups who plan specifically. If you can be here for St. Joseph’s Day or Super Sunday, build your trip around it — these events are among the most genuinely extraordinary things you can witness in this city.