Any Mummers Allowed In???
By Rachel Alexander
 

* Picture of my family mummering


    In The Shipping News, Annie Proulx makes the statement, "... of old-time teak days and mummers and jannies." (p. 281)

    Mummering/jannying is a tradition in Newfoundland that was brought here by settlers from England and Ireland.  The earliest recorded date of mummering in the province is 1819.  Although mummering is declining somewhat, it is still a tradition entrenched in our heritage as Newfoundlanders.

    Mummering is an event that occurs during the Twelve Days of Christmas.  Mummers travel, disguised, in groups and visit local homes.  The mark of the mummer is their knock, as traditionally in Newfoundland homes a knock on the door indicated a stranger was present.

    The mummer's costume is meant to conceal one's identity.  Costumes are typically large and loose, and consist of anything deemed appropriate.  This can range from loose fitting clothing to bed sheets.  Concealing one's identity is important as an aspect of mummering is for the host to identify who the mummers are.

    Crucial to the costume is the mask.  As with the costumes the masks are made up of anything on hand, including curtains, cotton sacks, pillowcases, silk or nylon stockings, cardboard boxes that are painted, and face painting.  In the 1950's and early 1960's stores began to sell masks, which have been  used in the past as well.  Another facet of the costume is the hat, used to reveal recognizable body parts, such as the hair or someone's ears.  Headgear, as with the rest of the outfit, is equally ridiculous.  They can include straw hats, cardboard hats, oilskin hats, buckets, a lampshade, and so forth.

    Mummers visit local homes and entertain their hosts by dancing, singing, or playing instruments of some sort.  While the host tries to identify who the mummers it is customary for them to offer food and beverages to their guests.  Once identified the mummer is supposed to remove their masks and enjoy the rest of the party.

    Simani, a local band, wrote a song about Mummering, that is played on radio stations every Christmas, which details the tradition.  Here are the lyrics to the song:
 
 

The Mummers Song

{Spoken}

"Don't seem like Christmas if the mummers are not here."
Granny would say as she'd knit in her chair,
"Things have gone modern and I suppose that's the cause,
Christmas is not like it was."

{Knock}

"Any mummers allowed in??"

{Sung}

Hark, what's the noise out by the porch door?
"Granny, 'tis mummers, there's twenty or more."
Her old weathered face brightens up with a grin,
"Any mummers, nice mummers 'lowed in?"

"Come in, lovely mummers, don't bother the snow,
We can wipe up the water, sure, after you go,
Sit, if you can, or on some mummer's knee,
Let's see if we know who you be."

There's big ones and small ones and tall ones and thin,
Boys dressed as women and girls dressed as men,
Humps on their backs, and mitts on their feet,
"My blessed, we'll die with the heat."

There's only one there that I think that I know,
That tall fellow standing over long side the stove,
He's shaking his fist for to make me not tell,
Must be Willie from out on the hill.

Now, that one's a stranger if there ever was one,
With his underwear stuffed and his trap door undone,
Is he wearing his mother's big forty-two bra?
I knows but I'm not gonna say.

"Don't s'pose you fine mummers would turn down a drop?"
"No!!  Homebrew or alky, whatever you've got."
Not the one with his rubber boots on the wrong feet,
He's enough for to do him all week.

"S'pose you can dance."  "Yes." They all nod their heads,
They've been tapping their feet ever since they came in,
Now that the drinks have been all passed around,
The mummers are plankin' 'er down.

"Be careful the lamp, and hold on to the stove,
Don't swing Granny hard cause you that she's old,
No need for to care how you buckles the floor,
Cause mummers have danced here before."

"My God, how hot is it, we'd better go,
I 'low we'll all get the devil's own cold,"
"Good night and good Christmas, mummers, me dears,
Please God we will see you next year."
"Good night and good Christmas, mummers, me dears,
Please God we will see you next year."
(* Copyright Bud Davidge, 1982)

This page was created by Rachel Alexander

Email me rae@thezone.net


 











Information for this web site was obtained from

Margaret R. Robertson, Mummers Christmas House-Visit, National Museum of Canada, 1984.

Background image courtesy of http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~k54sfw/nfld.html