The Mummers.

Carrying on with the theme of Irish tradition How many people have heard of the mummer’s and their tradition. Some of you may have heard of them but don’t really know too much about them.

 

The Mummers.

The origin of The Mummers is unclear however; they have become part of the rich tradition of Irish folklore taking their place alongside the Wren Boys and Straw Boys. In some ways The Mummers are very similar as they go from house to house on St Stephens Day providing entertainment. There has been some suggestion that the tradition of The Mummers came to Ireland with the Anglo-Normans and this may account for their strong presence in some counties and not in others. However, the ancient Irish were said to have had extremely similar performances by entertainers that can be traced back thousands of years.

The difference between Wren Boys and Mummers is that the Mummers performed plays as opposed to general entertainment and music and the Wren Boys wore any disguise that was handy only performing on St. Stephens Day to hunt the wren. Mummers will wear face obscuring hats or other kinds of headgear that creates the impression of being masked. Some will blacken their faces or paint them red and some will disguise their face using straw. They go from door to door requesting and receiving money or some other token for their performance and this tradition is still strong in Cork and Kerry.

The Mummers are led by a captain who announces their arrival and they then play a tune which is followed by a play. These plays are considered to be the first recognised form of theatre in Ireland and contained four characters. In Ireland it would be St. Patrick, the Doctor, The Fool and The Captain. Someone dies and is brought back to life by the doctor and it is this death and resurrection that is a symbol of the death of the old year and the rebirth of the sun and the New Year.

Generally the mummer’s plays are in verse and the theme is one of combat between the two heroes, the death of one of them and his resurrection. They bring to life characters such as Saint Patrick doing battle with the Turkish Knight, Dick Derby the cobbler, Slick Slack with his wife and children on his back, Big Head, Oliver Cromwell, and The Doctor with his bag of tricks. Incidentally Mum’s the word is an old saying which means keep quiet, this is where the original meaning of mummer’s comes from as the Middle English word mum means silent, so the plays began as miming performances and as they evolved words were added.