Mummers' Plays (also known as
mumming) are seasonal
folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers (or by local names such as
rhymers,
pace-eggers,
soulers,
tipteerers,
galoshins and so on), originally in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales (see
wrenboys), but later in other parts of the world. They are sometimes performed in the street but more usually as house-to-house visits and in
public houses.
Although the term "mummers" has been used since medieval times, no play scripts or performance details survive from that era, and the term may have been used loosely to describe performers of several different kinds. Mumming may have precedents in German and French
carnival customs, with rare but close parallels also in late medieval England (
see below).
The earliest evidence of mummers' plays as they are known today (usually involving a magical cure by a
quack doctor) is from the mid to late 18th century. Mumming plays should not be confused with the earlier
mystery plays.
Mummers' and guisers' plays Although there are earlier hints (such as a fragmentary speech by St George from
Exeter, Devon, which may date from 1737, although published in 1770), the earliest complete text appears to be an undated
chapbook of
Alexander and the King of Egypt, published by J White in
Newcastle upon Tyne between 1746–1769.
The fullest early version of a mummers' play text is probably the 1779 "Morrice Dancers'" play from Revesby, Lincolnshire. The full text ("A petygree of the Plouboys or modes dancers songs") is available online
[1] and
[2]. Although performed at Christmas, this text is a forerunner of the local East Midlands variants usually performed on or around Plough Monday (
see below) and often known as Plough Plays.
A text from
Islip, Oxfordshire, dates back to 1780
[3].
A play text which had, until recently, been attributed to Mylor in Cornwall (much quoted in early studies of folk plays, such as
The Mummers Play by RJE Tiddy – published posthumously in 1923 – and
The English Folk-Play (1933) by EK Chambers) has now been shown, by genealogical and other research, to have originated in
Truro, Cornwall, around 1780 (
[4] and
[5]).
A play from an unknown locality in
Cheshire, close to the border with
Wales, dates from before 1788
[6].
Chapbook versions of
The Christmas Rhime or The Mummer's Own Book were published in
Belfast, c.1803-1818
[7]. A mummers' play from Ballybrennan,
County Wexford, Ireland, dating from around 1817-18, was published in 1863
[8].
Thomas Hardy's novel
The Return of the Native (1878) has a fictional depiction of a mummers' play on Edgon Heath. It was based on experience from his childhood.
Early examples Although the main season for mumming throughout Britain was around Christmas, some parts of England had plays performed around
All Souls' Day (known as
Souling or
soul-caking) or
Easter (
Pace-egging or
Peace-egging). In north-eastern England the plays are traditionally associated with
Sword dances or
Rapper dances.
In some parts of Britain and Ireland, the plays are traditionally performed on or near
Plough Monday and are therefore known as
Plough Plays. The performers were known by various names, according to area, such as
Plough-jags,
Plough-jacks,
Plough-bullocks,
Plough-stots or
Plough witches. The Plough Plays of the
East Midlands of England (principally
Lincolnshire and
Nottinghamshire) usually have a different plot from the Christmastime "St George" type of play and feature several different stock characters (including a Recruiting Sergeant, Tom Fool, Dame Jane and the "Lady bright and gay"). Tradition has it that plough boys would take their plays from house to house and perform in exchange for money or gifts, in a similar way to the
American custom of
Trick-or-treat; some teams pulled a plough and threatened to plough up people's front gardens or path if they did not pay up. Examples of the play have been found in Denmark since the late 1940s.
Other related customs There are other traditional English folk plays which do not involve a quack doctor. Around
Sheffield and in nearby parts of northern
Derbyshire and
Nottinghamshire a dramatised version of the well-known
Derby Ram folksong, known as the
Derby Tup ("tup" is another word for ram), has been performed, since at least 1895, by teams of boys. The brief play is usually introduced by two characters, an old man and an old woman ("Me and our owd lass"). The Tup was usually represented by a boy, bent over forwards, covered with a sack, and carrying a broomstick with a rough, wooden sheep's head attached. The Tup was killed by a Butcher, and sometimes another boy held a basin to catch the "blood".
The Derby Tup An
'Owd 'Oss play (Old Horse), another dramatised folksong, was also known from roughly the same area, in the late 19th
[9] and early 20th centuries
[10], around Christmas. The custom persisted until at least 1970, when it was performed in private houses and pubs in Dore on New Year's Day
[11]. A group of men accompanied a hobby horse (either a wooden head, with jaws operated by strings, or a real horse's skull, painted black and red, mounted on a wooden pole so that its snapping jaws could be operated by a man stooping under a cloth to represent the horse's body) and sang a version of
The Old Horse or
Poor Old Horse, which describes a decrepit horse that is close to death.
The Old Horse In 1831 Sir
Walter Scott published a rhyme which had been used as a prelude to the
sword dance in
Papa Stour,
Shetland in around 1788 . It features seven characters, Saint George, Saint James, Saint Dennis, Saint David, Saint Patrick, Saint Anthony and Saint Andrew, the
Seven Champions of Christendom. All the characters are introduced in turn by the Master, St George. There is no real interplay between the characters and no combat or cure, so it is more of a "calling-on song" than a play. Some of the characters dance solos as they are introduced, then all dance a longsword dance together, which climaxes with their swords being meshed together to form a "shield". They each dance with the shield upon their head, then it is laid on the floor and they withdraw their swords to finish the dance. St George makes a short speech to end the performance.
See also: Rapper sword and Long Sword dance. The Papa Stour Sword Dance The word
mummer is sometimes explained to derive from
Middle English mum ("silent") or
Greek mommo ("mask"), but is more likely to be associated with
Early New High German mummer ("disguised person", attested in
Johann Fischart) and
vermummen ("to wrap up, to disguise, to mask ones faces").
While the game
mum(en)schanz was played not only by masked persons, and not only during carnival, the German word
mummenschanz nevertheless took on the meaning "costume, masquerade" and, by the 18th century, had lost its association with gambling and dice.
The custom attested for early modern Germany and France seems to have parallels also in late medieval England. According to
History and the Morris Dance (2005) by John Cutting (page 81), there was a curious event in 1377, where 130 men on horseback went "mumming" to the Prince of Wales (later
Richard II). They threw some dice, which appear to have been loaded dice, and so lost several gold rings. The rings were effectively presents for the prince. In 1418 a law was passed forbidding "mumming, plays, interludes or any other disguisings with any feigned beards, painted visors, deformed or coloured visages in any wise, upon pain of imprisonment". In the first case the event was on February 2, nine days before
Ash Wednesday, and may well have been a carnival practice. In the second case, the law was applied to "the Feast of Christmas" (Cutting page 83), not related to the ordinary period of carnival preceding the Christian
fasting of
Lent, yet maybe related to Christmas fasting, which went ordinarily from November 11 to January 6.
It should be pointed out that there is no clear evidence linking these late medieval and early modern customs with English mummers' plays in the late 18th century, nor evidence for proving that the English words
mummer and
mumming are more likely to be derived from continental roots than vice versa.
Etymology and early precedents Other kinds of Mummers Although they can be dated back to John Langstaff's 1957 New York City Concert, "The Revels" did not become popular across the USA until the 1970's. They are a loose association of people trying to keep folk traditions alive. They perform Christmas Carols, sword dances and Mummers' Plays. Links:
History, and
Revels Revels The province of
Newfoundland and Labrador, in
Canada, has a two-hundred-year long tradition of
mummering or
janneying between Christmas and
January 6 (
Twelfth Day). In complete disguise the mummers go from house to house to entertain and socialize. Often men dress as outsized women, but no one is supposed to be recognizable. People often give alcoholic beverages to the mummers.
Newfoundland Mummers Main article: Mummers Parade Philadelphia Mummers A contemporary Sacred use of the mummery theatre concept has arisen within a small
New Religious Movement named
Adidam. The founder and Spiritual Teacher of Adidam, named
Adi Da wrote a book now called
The Mummery Book,(which he first began writing in 1957) expanded over many years into what he calls a "Liturgical Theatre". It is performed at the Adidam
Ashram (or Retreat Sanctuary) named "The Mountain of Attention", located in Clear Lakes Highland in Northern California, at least once annually and often several times a year. It uses artistically talented formal members of Adidam with some professional help. The central theme, meaning and script content of The Mummery Book and its theatrical impact appear to be related (most closely) to this definition of mummery "a ridiculous, hypocritical, or pretentious ceremony or performance."
[12] Adidam Mummery Sacred Theatre There are several traditional songs associated with mumming plays; the "calling-on" songs of sword dance teams are related:
The Singing of the Travels by the
Symondsbury Mummers, appears on SayDisc CD-SDL425
English Customs and Traditions (1997) along with an extract from the
Antrobus, Cheshire, Soulcakers' Play
- It also appears on the World Library of Folk and Primitive Music. Vol 1. England, Rounder 1741, CD (1998/reis), cut#16b
The Singing of the Travels was also recorded by the Silly Sisters (Maddy Prior and June Tabor). Silly Sisters, Takoma TAK 7077, LP (1977), cut# 6 (Singing the Travels)
A Calling-on Song by Steeleye Span from their first album Hark! The Village Wait is based on a sword-dance or pace-egg play calling-on song, in which the characters are introduced one by one
The Mummers' Dance, a song from the album The Book of Secrets by Loreena McKennitt, refers to traditional mummers' play as performed in Ireland.
England in Ribbons, a song by Hugh Lupton and Chris Wood is based around the characters of a traditional English mummers' play. It gave its name to a two hour programme of traditional and traditionally-rooted English music, broadcast by BBC Radio 3 as the culmination of a whole day of English music, on St George's Day 2006 [13]
The Mummer's Song, performed by the Canadian folk group Great Big Sea, but originally written by the Newfoundland folk band Simani, is an arrangement of the traditional song The Mummer's Carol, which details the Mummer tradition in Newfoundland and Labrador See also