Mummers Parade
Encyclopedia
Pennsport, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Pennsport is a neighborhood in the South Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.Pennsport is home to a large working Irish American population and many Mummer clubs. It was also the site of a controversial push for casinos along the Philadelphia waterfront...
neighborhood of South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...
, which also serve as social gathering places for members.
The parade is televised on WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV
WPHL-TV, channel 17, is a television station in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, owned by the Tribune Company and currently affiliated with the News Corporation-owned MyNetworkTV television network. This makes it the largest non-O&O station of the network...
; after a national campaign to get the parade nationally televised, an edited two-hour broadcast of the parade was picked up by WGN America and WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
; the broadcast debuted January 3, 2009.
History
Mummers Play
Mummers Plays are seasonal folk plays performed by troupes of actors known as mummers or guisers , originally from England , but later in other parts of the world...
tradition from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Revivals of this tradition are still celebrated annually in South Gloucestershire, England on Boxing Day
Boxing Day
Boxing Day is a bank or public holiday that occurs on 26 December, or the first or second weekday after Christmas Day, depending on national or regional laws. It is observed in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and some other Commonwealth nations. In Ireland, it is recognized as...
and in parts of Ireland on St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day
St. Stephen's Day, or the Feast of St. Stephen, is a Christian saint's day celebrated on 26 December in the Western Church and 27 December in the Eastern Church. Many Eastern Orthodox churches adhere to the Julian calendar and mark St. Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which...
.
Swedes, Philadelphia's first settlers, brought the custom of visiting neighbors on "Second Day Christmas" (December 26) with them to Tinicum
Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Tinicum Township, more popularly known as "Tinicum Island" or "The Island", a census-designated place and township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,353 at the 2000 census. Included within the township's boundaries are the communities of Essington and Lester...
. This was soon extended through New Year’s Day with costumed celebrants loudly parading through the city.
Traditional New Years' celebrations of firing guns (Swedes and Finns) and recitations of traditional rhymes (English and Welsh) joined common practices of visiting neighbors. The Belsnickle, an early German version of Santa Claus
Santa Claus
Santa Claus is a folklore figure in various cultures who distributes gifts to children, normally on Christmas Eve. Each name is a variation of Saint Nicholas, but refers to Santa Claus...
, inspired comic masqueraders riding through Tinicum
Tinicum Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania
Tinicum Township, more popularly known as "Tinicum Island" or "The Island", a census-designated place and township in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 4,353 at the 2000 census. Included within the township's boundaries are the communities of Essington and Lester...
and Kingsessing dressed as clowns.
George Washington
George Washington
George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...
carried on the official custom of New Year's Day calls during the seven years he occupied First White House
President's House (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania)
The President's House in Philadelphia at 524-30 Market Street was the third Presidential mansion. It was occupied by President George Washington from November 1790 to March 1797 and President John Adams from March 1797 to May 1800....
in Philadelphia. The Mummers continued their traditions of comic verse in exchange for cakes and ale. Small groups of up to twenty mummers, their faces blackened, went door to door, shooting and shouting, spoofing General Washington and the English Mummers' play "St. George and the Dragon".
Philadelphia's 19th century Carnival of Horns drew thousands of merrymakers in festive costumes to the vicinity of Eighth and South Streets in South Philadelphia. An 1808 law decreed that "masquerades" and "masquerade Balls" were "common nuisances" and that anyone participating would be subject to a fine and imprisonment. It was apparently never enforced and was repealed in 1859.
Henry Muhlenberg
Henry Muhlenberg
Henry Melchior Muhlenberg , was a German Lutheran pastor sent to North America as a missionary, requested by Pennsylvania colonists....
, writing in 1839, reported, "Men met on the roads in Tinicum and Kingsessing, who were disguised as clowns, shouting at the top of their voices and shooting guns.
Southern plantation life’s contributions include the Parade’s theme song, James A. Bland
James A. Bland
James Alan Bland , also known as Jimmy Bland, was an African American musician and song writer.-Biography:...
's Oh! Dem Golden Slippers (introduced by Charles Dumont
Charles Dumont
Charles Dumont, born in 1929 in Cahors , is a French singer and composer.He wrote songs until the 1960s, sometimes under an alias, for Dalida, Gloria Lasso, Luis Mariano and Tino Rossi. He worked with lyricist Michel Vaucaire. In 1956 they wrote Non, je ne regrette rien, recorded in 1960 by Édith...
in 1903), as well as the 19th century cakewalk
Cakewalk
The Cakewalk dance was developed from a "Prize Walk" done in the days of slavery, generally at get-togethers on plantations in the Southern United States. Alternative names for the original form of the dance were "chalkline-walk", and the "walk-around"...
, dubbed the "Mummers' Strut". Other ethnic groups have been integrated into the parade as the years have gone on. Italians began to participate in large numbers after World War II.
Celebrants using firearms to "shoot in" the new year much later inspired the "New Year's Shooters and Mummers Association". Revelers travelling from door-to-door sang and danced for rewards of food and drink. Cash prizes debuted in 1906.
Early Swedish Mummers appointed a "speech director", who performed a special dance with a traditional rhyme:
The earliest documented club, the Chain Gang, formed in 1840 and Golden Crown first marched in 1876 with cross-town rivals Silver Crown forming soon after. By 1881, a local report said "Parties of paraders" made the street "almost like a masked Ball."
The first official parade was held January 1, 1901. The earliest surviving String Band, Trilby, first paraded in 1902 (with many breaks thereafter, and a reorganization in 1935). The Ferko String Band has never missed a parade since they started marching in 1923. In the early years of the official parade, the make-shift costumes of most celebrants were gradually replaced by more elaborate outfits funded by associations’ fund-raising efforts.
While the Parade has clear African American influences and features a theme song by a black composer, the parade participants are almost all European American. The earliest Parades were not. The all African American Golden Eagle Club, formed in 1866, had 300 members in the 1906 parade. With the Nadir of American race relations
Nadir of American race relations
The "nadir of American race relations" is a term that refers to the period in United States history from the end of Reconstruction through the early 20th century, when racism in the country is deemed to have been worse than in any other period after the American Civil War. During this period,...
, the last black groups marched in 1929.
The Comics "wenches" and female parts in most skits are typically performed by men in drag. Women were not officially allowed in the Parade until the 1970s.
Budget problems
As of 2008, the parade cost the city over $1 million each year, including $750,000 for police and parade services and $360,000 in prize money. The 2008 budget crisis has led the city to propose closing numerous libraries and firehouses and the scaling back of expenditures for the parade, offering $300,000 for the 2009 parade and nothing for 2010. Creative financial ideas are being proposed for 2010 and beyond.After the end of city funding for the parade, the Mummers created the "Save the Mummers Fund" to help cover the additional city fees to paying expenses for police and sanitation services during the event.
Funding for the parade during the first decade of the 2000s was provided for several years by Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines Co. is an American low-cost airline based in Dallas, Texas. Southwest is the largest airline in the United States, based upon domestic passengers carried,...
, which also took naming rights of the parade, which was called "Southwest Airlines Mummers Parade."
In September 2009, the Bacon Brothers (Philadelphia natives Michael and Kevin Bacon
Kevin Bacon
Kevin Norwood Bacon is an American film and theater actor whose notable roles include Animal House, Diner, Footloose, Flatliners, Wild Things, A Few Good Men, JFK, Apollo 13, Mystic River, The Woodsman, Trapped, Friday the 13th, Hollow Man, Tremors, Death Sentence, Frost/Nixon, Crazy, Stupid, Love....
) recorded a special version of their song "New Year's Day" with members of the All-Star String Band. Proceeds from the sale of the CD went to the Save the Mummers Fund. Additionally, the Bacon Brothers performed a benefit concert for the parade in December 2009.
Location, time and route
The Mummers Parade traveled northward on Broad StreetBroad Street (Philadelphia)
Broad Street is a major arterial street in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is nearly 13 miles long.It is Pennsylvania Route 611 along its entire length with the exception of its northernmost part between Old York Road and Pennsylvania Route 309 and the southernmost part south of Interstate 95...
in Philadelphia for decades until the 1995 parade when the parade was moved to Market Street due to construction work on Broad Street (notably the "Avenue of the Arts" between Washington Ave. and City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall
Philadelphia City Hall is the house of government for the city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. At , including the statue, it is the world's second-tallest masonry building, only shorter than Mole Antonelliana in Turin...
). After construction was completed, the parade returned to Broad Street from 1996 to 1999. For various reasons, the parade was moved again to Market Street in 2000. In 2004, the parade was moved back to Broad Street. In 1997 the Fancy Brigades were moved to the Pennsylvania Convention Center
Pennsylvania Convention Center
The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a multi-use public facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which is designed to accommodate conventions, exhibitions, conferences and other events.-History:...
, allowing for larger sets, but limiting audience size. In 2011, the Fancy Brigades returned to the parade.
Each year, thousands of people participate in the parade
Parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, floats or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually celebrations of some kind...
, many wearing elaborate costumes costing tens of thousands of dollars to make and weighing well over 100 pounds. $395,000 in prizes is awarded to the various winners. The costs for making the outfits plus fees to choreographers and prop designers often far exceed the prizes available. While club fund raisers, hall rentals, bank loans often cover much of the expense, individual members frequently spend hundreds or thousands of dollars of their own money. To raise funds, many string bands and their members seek paying gigs, particularly in area Fourth of July parades, the annual "Show of Shows" (held in Atlantic City each winter), weddings and other events. Many clubs hold "beef and beers" or 50/50 raffles. Most charge annual dues for membership.
As of 2008, the parade began at 9:00 am and ended sometime before 8:00 pm. Fancy Brigades performed at the nearby Pennsylvania Convention Center at noon and, in a second, judged show, at 5:00 pm. An individual Mummers' strut—a weaving, comical dance/walk with pumping arms held out to the side—may last two or three hours from South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west.-History:...
to City Hall
City hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall or a municipal building or civic centre, is the chief administrative building of a city...
. The whole Parade, at close to 11 hours, may have been the longest parade in the United States. Due to budget cuts, the 2009 parade was "shorter", scheduled to begin at 10:00 am and last 6 and a half hours.
Incidents of foul weather have delayed the parade on occasions by several hours, including 2008. If an all-day postponement is required for foul weather, the parade is usually held the following Saturday (or Sunday, if Saturday is inclement), as the expensive and fancy costumes are easily harmed by precipitation or high winds.
Each year, there is a festival leading up to the parade called MummersFest. It allows fans to tour the Pennsylvania Convention Center to watch the Fancy Brigades build their props and practice for their New Year's Day reveal.
Two Street
In 2009, the city declined to pay for any post-parade celebrations on Two Street. However, Rep. Bob Brady
Bob Brady
Robert A. "Bob" Brady is the U.S. Representative for , serving since 1998, and the ranking Democrat on the United States House Committee on House Administration since 2007...
helped secure funding for the event in the final hours.
Blackened faces
The wearing of black face paintBlackface
Blackface is a form of theatrical makeup used in minstrel shows, and later vaudeville, in which performers create a stereotyped caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the proliferation of stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky...
was once a traditional part of the parade. Growing dissent from civil rights groups and the offense of the black community led to most clubs phasing out blackface in the early 1960s. A 1964 city policy officially ruled out blackface but some still appears in the Parade.
With growing controversy, blackface is still a part of the related Mummers or Darky Day
Mummer's Day
Mummer's Day, or "Darkie Day" as it is sometimes known, is an ancient Cornish midwinter celebration that occurs every year on Boxing Day and New Year's Day in Padstow, Cornwall...
in Cornwall, England and Jonkonnu parades
Jonkonnu parades
Jonkonnu, Junkanoo Jonkanoo, Jankunu, John Canoe or Johnkankus is a musical street masquerade, believed to be of West African origin, which occurs in many towns across the Caribbean every December 26 and New Year's Day. The largest parade, Junkanoo, happens in Nassau, the capital of the...
in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...
.
Comics
Comics are clowns, many of them well-liquored, in colorful outfits, often with multi-level umbrellas who dance to recordings such as "Golden Slippers". The Comics typically start the parade. Themes often gently parody current events and traditional life. Prizes are awarded for floats, groups, brigades, couples, original costume, original character, and juvenile.Wench brigades pride themselves on continuing traditions such as the dress-and-bloomers "suits", painted faces, decorated umbrellas, and live bands to accompany the brigade. Wench brigades include Bryson, Cara Liom, Froggy Carr, O'Malley, Pirates, Riverfront, and Saints.
The comic clubs are Goodtimers, Landi, Liberty and Murray
Fancies
The Fancy Division is made up of four mother clubs: AdelphiaAdelphia (fancies)
Adelphia New Years Association is one of only four Fancy Mother Clubs in Philadelphia's centuries old Mummers Parade. They are one of only two new clubs added to the Parade since 1960. They are the first new Fancy added to the Parade since Hog Island in 1942...
, Golden Sunrise, Hog Island and Oregon. Members with some small floats strut in elaborate costumes to music provided by a live band. Prizes are awarded to individuals, trios, juveniles and Captains.
String bands
String bands provide the most elaborate performances and are most audience members' favorite part of the parade. Limited to unamplified strings, reeds, and percussion; string bands feature banjos, saxophones, accordions, double basses, drums, glockenspiels and violins in musical arrangements tied to a theme presented by the captain, beautiful costumes and props (some people call them floats). Historically, String Bands performed mostly in military drill formations. Harrowgate (now Uptown) String Band's first prize winning railroad tunes with Broadway-style dance in 1976 changed that. String Band performances are now the most elaborate of the parade, outdone only by the Fancy Brigades indoor performance.String bands include Aqua
Aqua String Band
The Aqua String Band is an all-volunteer String band founded with the intent of participating in the annual Philadelphia Mummers Parade. The Band was organized on April 2, 1920 by Elmer W. Leyrer and Fred J. Kesel, Sr. and incorporated into the String Band Association in 1945...
, Avalon, Broomall, Duffy, Durning, Ferko, Fralinger, Greater Kensington
Greater Kensington (string band)
Greater Kensington is a string band in Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade.The Greater Kensington String Band was organized in 1946 and first marched in the New Year’s Day Mummers Parade in 1948...
, Greater Overbrook, Hegeman, Irish American, Pennsport
Pennsport (string band)
Pennsport is a string band in Philadelphia's annual Mummers Parade. They are one of two new groups added to the parade in 2008.They have taken a new approach to mummering: keeping expenses low, paying out of pocket and avoiding fund-raising and weekly jobs to fund their march.Most of the members...
, Polish American, Quaker City, South Philadelphia, Trilby, Uptown and Woodland.
Fancy brigades
The largest category with the largest crews, the fancy brigades march the southernmost portion of the parade route, before heading to the Pennsylvania Convention CenterPennsylvania Convention Center
The Pennsylvania Convention Center is a multi-use public facility in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania which is designed to accommodate conventions, exhibitions, conferences and other events.-History:...
for a ticketed show and judging. Until the late 1970s, the Fancy Brigades were simply larger presentations within the Fancies. As the props grew larger, more cumbersome and more vulnerable to wind, rain and snow, the decision was made to move the Brigades inside. Current Fancy Brigades include Avenuers, Cahills, Clevemore, Downtowners, Golden Crown, Jokers, Satin Slipper, Saturnalian, 2nd St Shooters, Shooting Stars and South Philly Vikings.
Further reading
(reviewed with excerpt in Chronicle of Higher Education. Nov. 23, 2007 p. B19.)External links
- Official site
- National Geographic Feature
- Mummers Parade, City of Philadlephia Recreation Department
- The Philadelphia Mummers String Band Record, Comprehensive record of all the String Bands and their prize finishes, since 1902.
- Links to many Mummers and New Year's Associations
- Mummers Fancy Brigade Association Web site
- Save the Mummers – a grassroots effort to prevent financial crisis from destroying the tradition.