Althouse: Yeah, I have always wondered what "mummers" were..."

October 13, 2011

Yeah, I have always wondered what "mummers" were..."

"Eleven were charged with prostitution last night in connection with a Mummers orgy."

37 comments:

edutcher said...: Well, this will kill all those rumors that the Mummers were all homosexual.; 10/13/11, 9:41 AM
Sal said...: At first I thought mummering was a sex act I hadn't heard of.; 10/13/11, 9:41 AM
Peter V. Bella said...: Mummers for hummers.; 10/13/11, 9:42 AM
Jeff with one 'f' said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/13/11, 9:43 AM
Jeff with one 'f' said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 10/13/11, 9:43 AM
Jeff with one 'f' said...: Argh.

It's sort of a Mardi Gras parade, only instead of warm weather and lots of skin it happens on New Year's Day, near the Delaware River, and features local Irish and Italians drinking from kegs on the sidewalk. Philly treats it like a really big annual tradition.

There is a Mummer museum which looks like Liberace's worst nightmare.

http://www.mummersmuseum.com/home.html; 10/13/11, 9:46 AM
Bob said...: Mummers' hummers result in cummers. Arrest=bummers!; 10/13/11, 9:47 AM
Anonymous said...: It used to be the longest parade in the world, lasting from early in the morning on New Year's Day until 7:00 or 8:00 at night.

It's a great tradition, but couldn't really keep up with its history as Philadelpia's popluation fell about 1,000,000 people from its height in the 50's.; 10/13/11, 9:54 AM
Moose said...: They guys with the fez's and little cars.
No?; 10/13/11, 9:56 AM
Anonymous said...: Those are Shriners.; 10/13/11, 10:00 AM
Bartender Cabbie said...: Sounds like a fun group to me.; 10/13/11, 10:04 AM
Paddy O said...: I still don't know what a mummer is.

Though I found the comment by isaac_spaceman over at the link particularly worthwhile on its own merits.; 10/13/11, 10:04 AM
Shouting Thomas said...: And they didn't invite me!

An orgy and a bust!

You don't get that kind of action very often.; 10/13/11, 10:09 AM
edutcher said...: t-man said...

It used to be the longest parade in the world, lasting from early in the morning on New Year's Day until 7:00 or 8:00 at night.

It's a great tradition, but couldn't really keep up with its history as Philadelpia's popluation fell about 1,000,000 people from its height in the 50's.

No, what happened is people got sick of having to watch the damned thing to the exclusion of everything else on New Year's Day. It ran on the local ABC affiliate.

Nobody wanted to sit through it all. It's a big thing in South Philly, but that's it.; 10/13/11, 10:17 AM
traditionalguy said...: It seems to be either a sect of Mormons or an Egyptologist's parade.; 10/13/11, 10:18 AM
Fred4Pres said...: It is a Philadelphia thing. You wouldn't understand.; 10/13/11, 10:29 AM
Fred4Pres said...: And now you know why I dislike the Eagles. It is of the devil!; 10/13/11, 10:30 AM
RimrockR said...: I would have thought that the mummers would have all been arrested some time ago simply for bad taste. As a kid, one of the precious big 3 TV channels in the Philadelphia market was monopolized by the Mummer's parade. I just hated all that banjo strumming, strutting and "fancy dancing", and weird sparkly outfits. Oh, I've had it in for the Mummers for some time now and now they they are getting their just punishment. Revenge is a dish served best in golden slippers with a side of feathers.; 10/13/11, 10:34 AM
Paddy O said...: All I know is that you wouldn't see this kind of foolish parading around of men in silly costumes here in Pasadena.; 10/13/11, 10:44 AM
J said...: A karnival for hicks, (Anglos,originally)--related to Feast of the Epiphany originally--ala Twelfth night. Now makes some scratch for philly ho's; 10/13/11, 10:47 AM
edutcher said...: Fred4Pres said...

It is a Philadelphia thing. You wouldn't understand.

And only South Philly and some of the Northeast, at that.

RimrockR said...

I would have thought that the mummers would have all been arrested some time ago simply for bad taste. As a kid, one of the precious big 3 TV channels in the Philadelphia market was monopolized by the Mummer's parade. I just hated all that banjo strumming, strutting and "fancy dancing", and weird sparkly outfits. Oh, I've had it in for the Mummers for some time now and now they they are getting their just punishment. Revenge is a dish served best in golden slippers with a side of feathers.

What he said (put better than I ever could). Do you remember New Year's 1960, perchance?; 10/13/11, 10:57 AM
Chef Mojo said...: Man, you know times are weird when the Mummers are rolling dirty.; 10/13/11, 10:57 AM
Pastafarian said...: GWAR is back together? Why wasn't I informed?; 10/13/11, 10:58 AM
ndspinelli said...: I went to a Mummer's Parade w/ college friends from Philly..it's wild. It was always televised on local tv. Maybe we need to take a close look @ some old footage.; 10/13/11, 11:15 AM
lgv said...: They have their own dance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxTpvA-pUG0&feature=related

I love this song by Loreena McKennitt; 10/13/11, 11:23 AM
caplight said...: Thanks, Professor. Now I will have banjos banging out, "O Dem Golden Slippers," in my head all day. You knew that would happen to any of us from Philly. You knew it and yet you did it any way. Ann, you are one cruel blog mistress.; 10/13/11, 11:23 AM
Mary Beth said...: To always wonder about something when you have the internet speaks to a lack of initiative.; 10/13/11, 11:23 AM
Anonymous said...: edutcher,

You couldn't give up Channel 6 for one day of the year for the Mummers? Really? I've only been to the parade a few times in my 40+ years, but there's something nice about knowing it exists. You will miss it when it's gone.

There was an Althouse thread about events that used to be of much greater national significance than they are now. There are a host of local examples of the same thing, like the Mummers Parade here.; 10/13/11, 11:36 AM
J said...: Time to lie for Byro the queer LDS -stoner-trolll from Sac. How many names does it have on here now? Know nothing about 'mummers' or Phil.

Yr party about over perp. Yll be playing yr banjo ..inside; 10/13/11, 11:42 AM
edutcher said...: t-man, in 1960, channel 6 ran the Mummers' Parade in its entirety, then ran it taped in its entirety immediately after, and after that ran taped highlights.

My family was so Mummered out, not to mention that Monday was a big ABC night at our house and, every time we looked, it was the same stuff, on again, none of us ever wanted to see the damned thing again.

If you're in your 40s, you've only seen it since they cut it back. If you enjoy it, more power to you, but some of us would rather spend New Year's getting a root canal.; 10/13/11, 11:59 AM
Methadras said...: Here is an urban dictionary definition of what mummers are:

1. mummers

Philadelphia tradition: grown men dress like women and bums get wacked on drugs and booze, play banjos, tubas, and flutes while running through the streets causing mayhem. The mummers are divided by brigades, fancies, comics, gays, trannies, post and pre op transexuals. Mummers are known to take a full year to make thier costumes. Women are prohibited from becoming mummers. Sexual relations between the mummer men is commenplace as there judgement is often so impaired during the parade. Most mummers are Eagle fans.

I watched two drunken mummers blow each other on new years day!; 10/13/11, 12:01 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "To always wonder about something when you have the internet speaks to a lack of initiative."

I grew up in Delaware, watching Philadelphia TV. The Mummers Parade was a big deal back then. I'm talking about the 1950s and 60s. As a kid, I accepted that this world contained mummers, but it was a weird thing. Mummers! Who were they? Where did they come from?; 10/13/11, 1:05 PM
Triangle Man said...: In ancient times, hundreds of years before the
dawn of history. There lived a strange race of people...the Druids. No one knows who they were, or what they were doing..; 10/13/11, 1:33 PM
Automatic_Wing said...: Most mummers are Eagle fans.

Wow, they really are perverted.; 10/13/11, 1:46 PM
poppa india said...: I worked at the Philly Navy Shipyard for 8 years , till they closed around '93, a very South Philly, ethnic, blue-collar place. Lots of mummers worked there, the Yard even had a string band, made up of mummers from different bands.; 10/13/11, 2:32 PM
Unknown said...: I am now 67 years old and was born and raised in Philly. I remember the Mummers as far back as I can remember. THe King Clowns, The King Jockeys, The Fancy Brigades, and, of course, The Stringbands. It use to be that it was all men and they would do skits with some of them dressed as women. But many of the were cops and firemen. The bands would march along Broad Street through South Philly to City Hall and do their skits. I recall many winters on New Years' Day (which everyone in the Delaware Valley knew as the Mummers' Day Parade), going to my aunt's house around 9th and Cantrell and walk out to Broad and Snyder to watch the parade. THe only damper we had was the wind. It could be rain, snow, sleet, or sunny and we stood on the corner and along the curbs of the street. We hoped to get on Channel 6 WFIL. Later WPHL televised the whole parade from 900AM to 900PM. It was pretty cold out and we would bundle up with boots and overcoats. We would drink Hot Chocolate or hot tea and dance to the string bands to keep warm. Then go back to my aunt's house and get warm and eat lunce to do it again in the afternoon. In those days there were 40 members to each band and large back pieces with roped supports to keep them from falling back in the wind. The plumbs and sequence, head dresses, maneuvers with military precision. Never saw any problems with the end of the parade. THe parade would end with police vehicles, then the flat bed trucks to pick up the barricades, then the trash trucks would clean the streets. By the end of the last trash truck the crowds were gone the parade was over. the streets were clear. No rowdies, no fights or very few if any, just good fun until next year.; 1/4/16, 1:48 PM
Unknown said...: I don't know where some of these comments come from but obviously they haven't the slightest inclination of what Philly Mummery is about. In fact, this 2016 was the first time they added the Philadelphia Division. Anyone can now be in the parade. I just hope outsiders behave themselves or stay on the curbs and watch.; 1/4/16, 1:53 PM