The Tradition of Mumming - Essay Example

Famous Tradition of Mumming The tradition of Mumming is very old rooted in the ancient times of Christmas celebrations. The concept of Mumming is actually based on the thinking of enjoying the Christmas happiness by adopting different characters. There are different themes, which are portrayed by the people during this Mumming tradition of Christmas. Sometimes people put on the character of any famous person or even sometimes cartoons or good and evil spirits, then visit different homes, and spend 10-15 minutes in the house. Sometimes these good and evil spirits take part in a role-play, which is portrayed in the streets just for the sake of happiness. There is thinking that usually people take part in these role-plays just for the sake of collection of money. This collection of money is also considered as the act of begging in the opinion of different people. The actors or the people, who take part in such role-plays, usually hide their identities by covering their faces with some clothe or masks. They usually hide their identity just to prevent any bashing from the people because of involvement in the act of begging. People take this Mumming as the party of Christmas. They do not hesitate at all in order to take part in these kinds of role-plays. Some other people are of the opinion that the basic concept behind the tradition of Mumming is the diversion of camouflage of people. It means that people usually exchange their identities i.e. men become women and women become men by putting on different dresses and suits and masks. In this way, they think that they actually exchange each other’s identity. These actors usually visit homes in the form of groups of four to five people. The group leader of these people is named as the Father Christmas. He leads them all too different places and houses. He actually narrates the conversation on behalf of all the members of group of those mummers. The tradition of Mumming can be traced back in the Roman Times also. At that time people were use to dress up like this at the time of New Year. The New Year evening is fixed for such kind of role-plays and activities of Mumming. Some researchers wrote in their study that in the United Kingdom, the first Mumming act was played on the shortest day of the year. The tradition of Mumming is very much common in many parts of the world. People perform different activities according to their own interest and customs. There are different performances in different parts of the world depending upon the cultural values of that area. Even people call this Mumming activity through different names in different parts of the world. In Scotland, it is Gusards, in Somerset, it is Moping, in Warwickshire, it is Thomasing and in Kent, it is Corning. In UK, there is a famous sword dance, which is a special part of this Mumming activity. Like many other things and traditions, this tradition of Mumming also changed as the time passed. The history has its deep impressions on the tradition of Mumming in the past times. Earlier it was only a New Year or Christmas celebration but in medieval times, people change it into a begging activity. People make it as an excuse and start begging money when they visit different places and houses. They were of the opinion that the money is their right because of their performances and the fun created at different places. This was so bad turn in the tradition that many people turned against the begging activity and even tradition of Mumming also. At that time, the King passed a law that anyone who caught involving in this begging activity will be prisoner for three months. This law helped a lot to refrain people from the begging in the form of a tradition. There was a famous poem, which people use to sing during this Mumming activity. The poem narrates that the time of Christmas has come, the animals are getting fat because of the happiness and all the audience of mummers should put a penny in the hat of the artist. However, this poem is still in use by different people. The words of the poem are somewhat changed now but still people use it during their Mumming activities. People of United Kingdom brought this old tradition of Mumming to the Canada. In the earlier times, Canadians were unfamiliar with the custom but after the introduction from the UK, they also adopt this tradition. In Canada, the people named the tradition of Mumming as the murmuring (Story 2). However, the situation was same in UK and Canada. People thought this to be a part of begging and they did not mind at all to beg for money because they hide their identity using a facemask. After sometime, the State of Canada also banned this tradition in some parts of the country because of the begging involved in it (Story 3). In USA, it is called as the Mummer’s Parade, which is a very old tradition or we can say folk festivity of the people of USA. It is a very common practice that the clubs or the local New Year associations held a competition among them in four categories. They usually compete with each other in some categories, which include fancy dressing, comics and sometimes bands also. This mummer’s parade includes heavy scenery along with them and the preparation take months to get ready for the evening of the New Year (Haggerty 1). The costumes of the members of this mummer’s parade is specially designed and thus take a long time and cost to be prepared. The faces are usually covered or sometimes even blackened for the Parade. All the members of the mummer’s Parade usually hide their identity using black paint or masks for the faces. These masks are specially designed just to entertain people (Haggerty 2). There are different features or characteristics of this Mumming traditional activity. The Mumming celebration starts with the comic activities, which mean the parody of any famous celebrity or the parody of any famous current event, occurred in the country. They include floats, groups, couples, costumes and different huge sceneries for the background. There is music bands also included in the group. Here it is important to be cleared that every country has its own Mumming activities based on their cultural values and other traditions and customs. The upper described features of the Mumming celebration are the characteristic of the USA people who are involved in the mummer’s parade. During Mumming or we can say Mummering activity people usually change their style, dress, walk, postures, gestures, body shape and even sizes also by putting on heavy costumes (Davis 2). When these groups of mummer enter any place or home, the host individuals try to guess the actual person behind the masks or the heavy costumes. The hosts try to ask a variety of questions and then try to poke those using different tactics. The artist usually changes their voices so that the host may not be successful in their mission of getting the right person in the costume. In a severe situation if the host individuals get success and find out the right person behind the costume and the mask then that particular person have to drop his or her costume right there and then they must have to eat and drink at that place or the home. If the hosts are not successful then the mummers may leave that home and move towards the next one (Davis 2). It is also a part of tradition that the hosts should not offer any eatable or drink to the mummers unless they may not find out any single person in the costume. The psychology behind this logic is that when the particular mummer uncovers his or her face in front of the residents of that house then it means that they are friends now and they should socialize more now. This logic is applicable in some countries because every community has its own traditions and customs. Every mummer has his own specialty and thus his or her treatment may also differ from country to country or we can say culture to culture. Earlier we described different features like music, costumes, bands, floats and background scenes of the mummer’s parade. Now the focus is on the different characters, which these mummers usually portray in the Mumming activity. These mummers use a variety of characters and these characters are entirely different from each other. These mummers can adopt anything to look real in their get up or characters. For this purpose, they use different costumes, masks and sometimes even face paints. The behavior of the mummer groups also changes as per their theme and the characters, which they actually want to portray. The basic reason behind this Mumming festivity is the entire change than real personality and the mummers try everything to fulfill this requirement. The most common look of any mummer is that of a stranger (Davis 3). The mummers try show themselves as the alien at that particular place. When the host individuals ask for their background, they usually claim that they came from Moon or from North Pole. Another funny answer of mummers is that they are lost form their home ship and reach here accidently. In the mid century, people even get scared of these stranger mummers. They usually did not open their doors for the stranger mummers. In these situations, usually the mummers did not knock the doors and get into the houses without any prior permission. This was an unethical practice, and after sometimes, the mummers leave this act of entrance to any home without permission (Davis 4). The costumes of these mummers are also very much funny. There is a very common practice that people may exchange their looks or we can say lose their gender for one day on the Mumming activity. Women wear men’s clothes while the men are likely to wear women’s apparels. Either its men or women, both of the dresses are very loose just to increase the body shape and size (Davis 2). Bed sheets, pillow covers and flour sacks are very common covers for the face of the mummers. The speaking style and the voice tone of these mummers are also very much abnormal as compare to a normal individual. The behavior of these mummers is also extra ordinary unique. They usually speak in loud voices and usually put an empty jar in front of mouth just to change and make it more funny (Davis 3). The act of Mumming is the oldest tradition or we can say the custom of medieval times (Emery 2). In the modern era, this Mumming activity or we can say festivity has been replaced by the occasion of Halloween. Halloween is the New Year celebration of modern times. The theme of both of the traditions i.e. Mumming and Halloween is same. People wear a lot of costumes, make-ups and different funny items on themselves on both of these occasions. Both of the festivals are particularly associated with the New Year evening or the Christmas evening (Emery 2). Usually people entirely change their looks and appearance on both of these celebrations just for the purpose of joy and happiness. When the tradition of Mumming started, it was not at all considered as the source of begging or any disrespect for the individuals taking part in this activity. However, after half century passed, this tradition took its worst condition. People started begging money against their performance as the mummer in the mummer’s parade or in the mummer’s play. Earlier it was only performed just for the sake of joy and happiness but later on people started using it for their own benefits (Evans 2). At that time, Government took severe actions to stop this ruining act for the oldest tradition of the medieval times. They passed the orders of prison of three months for the mummers who caught involved in the begging. Another disadvantage of the mummer’s parade was the act of robbery. There is a common costume or the get up of an alien or stranger. These strangers are allowed to enter any home without any prior permission. In this situation these stranger mummers may take advantage and steal any precious thing for the houses (Evans 2). This act of robbery, stealing by the stranger mummers and the act of begging during mummer’s parade or mummer’s plays is very dangerous for the survival of the oldest tradition of Mumming from the medieval times. People may not welcome the mummers groups to their doors just because of their fear of strangers. After that, there was another trend in the mummer group members that they may donate all the collected money at the end of the festival so that the begged money can be used for the good of the human being and the society. This was an appreciable act of the mummers. They adopt this practice just to save their oldest tradition in the modern times. Initially many people were involved for this Mumming activity but after the begging trend in the performers, many reasonable people who just go for Mumming for the sake of pleasure and happiness, left this tradition. The content of the mummer’s plays is also very subjective in its history. Some authors are of the opinion that these plays are also coming from the medieval times when the mummers were used to visit houses individually (Grace 1). Some people even make it similar to the theatre plays of England. Many other people are of the opinion that these mummers’ plays are rooted in the German or French history. Still it is believed that there is no proof that these mummers’ plays are originated from the medieval times history. There are various nicknames of these mummer’s plays like disguise, rhymers, galoshins and soulers. These names are kept according to the particular culture of any place. These mummer’s plays are also common to be performed in the Royal palace and the courts just because of the fun and joy they provide to their audience. After the First World War, the tradition of Mumming see a downfall but it again comes back with the zeal of joy and happiness after the Second World War. Now in the modern times, the Mumming also rise again in the second half of the twentieth century. Reference List: Davis, Ryan, “Mummering and Janneying”, Mummer’s Festival, 1 January 2010, Web 24 May 2014 Emery, David, “Why Do We Wear Costumes and Tricks or Treat on Halloween?” Halloween History and Customs, 1 December 2013, Web 24 May 2014. Evans, Maryam, “The Tradition of Mummer’s Play in England”, Humanities 360, 26 December 2012, Web 24 May 2014. Grace, Maria, “Regency Christmas Traditions: Mumpers, Mummers and Sword Dancers”, 19 December 2013, Web 24 May 2014. Haggerty, Bridget, “Mumming- A Yuletide Tradition”, Irish Culture and Customs, 5 May 2014, Web 24 May 2014. Story, George, “Mumming”, Historical Canada, 2 August 2006, Web 24 May 2014. Read More