New Year's Traditions: The Philadelphia Mummers Parade

The Philadelphia Mummers Parade 1909 (Courtesy of Library of Congress)

 

 

The Mummers parade is held each New Year’s Day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is believed to be the oldest folk festival in the US. The word “mummer” is derived from Momus, the Greek god of ridicule. The origins of the parade were inspired by Old World customs brought by the various groups who settled in Philadelphia, including the folk plays of the British Isles called Mummers’ Plays and the Swedish and Finnish custom of visiting neighbors after Christmas. The parade began as early as the 1870s, but it was not officially sponsored by the city for a number of years. The first official parade occurred in 1901, and it has grown into a unique and exciting tradition. 

 

Images from the Mummers Parade 1917 (from The Philadelphia Evening Ledger, 01/01/1917)

Many Philadelphians welcome friends and family on New Year’s Day to watch the parade (in person or on TV), and to eat and drink together. Staying warm is a priority; alcohol flows freely, and big pots of soup are often made to feed hungry guests who may be walking back and forth to the parade or visiting other friends and neighbors. Traditional soups include beef vegetable soup and Pepper Pot, made with beef tripe, vegetables, and black pepper.   

Edward Chevers, Musical Director, Lobster Club
(from The Philadelphia Evening Ledger, 01/01/1915)

Mummer's Parade 2011 (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of Library of Congress)

Most Mummers clubs are based in South Philadelphia, but a number of Mummers today (and their fans) live in other parts of Philadelphia and the local suburbs. Mummers are ordinary people, not professional entertainers, but they put a lot of love and dedication into creating elaborate costumes, routines and movable scenery each year, and feel a strong commitment to their community. 

Mummer's Parade 2011 (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of Library of Congress)

The famous “Mummers’ Strut”, is performed traditionally during the parade, and at many local weddings. Often Mummers carry an umbrella or parasol while doing the Strut.  

Charles Dumont, Lobster Club Captain Who Won Prize For Fancy Costume
(from The Philadelphia Evening Ledger, 01/01/1915)

Costumes are brightly colored, and decorated extravagantly with sequins and feathers; face paint is often worn. Traditionally the Mummers, their wives and friends made the costumes, but many of them are now made by professional costumers. Gold colored shoes are often worn, in reference to the parade’s unofficial theme song, “Oh Dem Golden Slippers” by James A. Bland. 

Click here to watch parade goers strut to "Golden Slippers" by the Quaker City String Band 2009 

Another favorite Mummers tune is “I’m Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover, written by Mort Dixon with music by Harry M. Woods.

Click here to watch the Mummers Strut, to the Tune of "I'm Looking Over A Four Leaf Clover" 

Mummer's Parade 2011 (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of Library of Congress)

Women were not allowed to be Mummers until the 1970s, but some men have historically dressed in women’s clothes during the parade. In recent years, this has mainly been done by the humorous Wench Brigades, who clearly look like men in costume. But early 20^th century pictures, such as the ones below which appeared in The Philadelphia Evening Ledger on January 1, 1915, show men at the parade wearing fashionable dresses and shoes, more like modern female impersonators.

Charles Bell, Famous for His Ballet Girl Impersonation

E.W Dillon of Lobster Club

Clubs today compete in one of five categories called Divisions (Comics, Wench Brigades, Fancies, String Bands and Fancy Brigades).

• The Comics dress as humorous characters or clowns, wearing colorful costumes and often carrying decorated parasols. They may be individual or group performers and children are often involved in this Division. Comics dance to prerecorded music and sometimes use floats. Often they reference politics and popular culture.
• The Wench Brigades are now their own Division but began as an offshoot of the Comics. Men dress humorously in women’s clothing, traditionally wearing dresses, bloomers and bonnets over long braided wigs. They often carry parasols and wear “golden slippers”.
• The Fancy Division focuses on elaborate costumes and floats called frame suits, and participants are judged on costume and presentation. Traditional themes are used and categories include King Clown, King Jockey, Handsome Trim, Handsome Costume and Fancy Trio.
• Mummers String Bands have a unique sound, combining excellent musicianship and elaborate costumes. The instruments that make up a string band are saxophones, banjos, accordions, violins, bass violins, drums and glockenspiel; no brass instruments are allowed. Each string band selects an annual theme, with an elaborate performance that includes precision drilling and choreography.
• The Fancy Brigades evolved from the Fancy Division. They perform inside, and present a choreographed four and a half minute themed performance with elaborate costumes, sets and props, and dancing reminiscent of a Broadway or Las Vegas Show.

Costumes at The Mummers Museum, Philadelphia, PA (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, Library of Congress)

Visit www.phillymummers.com to find out more. The Mummers Museum website www.mummersmuseum.com also contains many photos and information about the Mummers past and present. Individual clubs also have their own websites

 

Youngest New Year Mummer in Parade Today--"Buddy" Backich 3 yrs. old, Mascot of the Lobster Club
(from The Philadelphia Evening Ledger, 01/01/1915)

Many modern traditions at the holiday season have ancient origins and symbolism. At the winter solstice, in the darkest and coldest days of the year, people have always craved light, warmth and fellowship. From the European pagan Yule and the Roman Saturnalia to the Jewish Hanukkah and the Christian and (often secular) Christmas, these celebrations have helped people to pass the long nights, connect to one another, and offer hope for the future and the spiritual triumph of light over darkness. Of course, for people living in the Southern hemisphere, the holidays fall in summer, instead of winter.  

Mummer's Parade 2011 (Photo by Carol M. Highsmith, courtesy of Library of Congress)

  

During Saturnalia, the ancient Roman festival in honor of the deity Saturn, which was held in December, there were religious observances and well as public and private festivals. Schools and courts were closed and special clothes were worn. There was feasting, drinking and gift-giving and a general carnival-like atmosphere. Roman social norms were temporarily overturned. For example, gambling was permitted and slaves were waited upon by their masters.

The Philadelphia Mummers Parade 1909 (Courtesy of Library of Congress)

Many later European and American holiday customs grew from the spirit and traditions of the ancient festival of Saturnalia, as well as from Christian religious inspiration. The following article from 1914 gives an overview of some of the origins of what came to be known as “mummery” in Britain and Ireland, part of the historical roots of the  Philadelphia Mummers and other American New Year’s traditions.

Float from the Mummers Parade 1915
(from The Philadelphia Evening Ledger, 01/01/1915)

Happy New Year Customs— Celebrations of the Mummers in Olden Days in England

In England the mummers performed plays, spoke dialogues and impersonated famous people, especially kings and warriors. Songs were sung both by the mummers and their entertainers. Here is one:

To shorten winter's sadness

See where the folks with gladneas

Disguised all are a-coming

Right wantonly a-mumming.

In those days they loved, too, to masquerade as animals, bears and unicorns being especially favored disguises. Scott's couplet summed it up:

Who lists may in their mumming see

Traces of ancient minstrelsy.

At last this mumming came to be a (seen as) a menace as well as a nuisance and (in the 16^th Century) King Henry VIII made it a misdemeanor to wear a mask. 

It was George Washington who made the day what it once was in this country. Said he: "Never forget the cheerful and cordial observance of New Year's day." The celebration grew and grew, until a generation or so ago, the scenes enacted at some receptions were simply disgraceful, society having progressed some since it was good form to imbibe until the imbiber quietly slid under the table. 

Of late years there has been a tendency to revive (the custom of) visiting on the first day of the year. But it is all very informal, and every hostess knows each and every one of her guests, which was not always the ease when it was the fashion to have as many as possible…

--from the Anderson Daily Intelligencer,

Anderson, S.C., 12/18/1914

Celebrating the New Year

In honor of New Year's Eve 2016, I wanted to share some thoughts on celebrations of the past, and images of New Year's postcards from the early 20th century. 

New Year's Day

The day devoted is to mirth,

And now around the social hearth,

Friendship unlocks her genial springs,

And harmony her lyre new strings;

While plenty spreads her copious hoard,

And piles and crowns the festive board.

--from The New York Herald, January 1, 1802

 

Excerpt From "A Passing-Bell for New Year's Festivity 

     Aside from the celebration of the day proper, New Year's Eve has usually had a celebration of its own. On this holy night the Druids cut the sacred mistletoe from an oak in the sacred forest, for distribution among the people the next day.

     The Eve has been called "Singing E'en," from the carols that made it vocal. Some churches call it "Watch Night". The congregations meet and pray till five minutes of twelve; there is complete silence and prayer then trill the clock tolls in the New Year, and with its last stroke a joyous hymn bursts forth. The Catholics and many other denominations mark the night with special service.

     In ancient Gallic times, crowds of fantastically garbed men and women ran about begging. They disturbed the vigils of the churches so much , that in 1598  an edict was published forbidding their entrance. Then they roved so freely under their chief "Rollet Follet," and caused such anguish to the sedate and the timid that the legislature forbade their frolic altogether in 1668. Among the French the day is far more hilariously treated than among us. They call it the day--"le jour de l'an."

     The Wassail-bowl was the fountain of all English drinking-songs, and an altar of poetry and mirth generally. It comes from an old Saxon greeting , wes hal!--be hale! A bowl of special ale or other cheering liquor was passed around among the family, and each, as he drank, toasted the rest with a beaming wes hal! The poor used to carry about a brightly beribboned bowl, wherein the charitable would throw money, which the wizard at the tavern would transform into good stout drink.

     In Nottinghamshire the young women, in their best smocks, carried a bowl to friendly doors and sang especial songs. in Derbyshire, the hostess drops her wedding-ring into the punch or "posset," and each of the party, as he takes his ladleful, tries mightily to scoop up the ring to insure marriage before the New Year is itself rung out....

--by Marmaduke Humphrey, 

from Godey's Magazine, January 1896

    

A New Year's Eve Frolic

(As shared by Mamie Dickens, 

daughter of Charles Dickens)

     One morning--it was the last day of the year, I remember--while we were at breakfast at "Gad's Hill," my father suggested that we should celebrate the evening by a charade to be acted in pantomime. The suggestion was received with acclamation, and amid shouts and laughing we were then and there, guests and members of the family, allotted our respective parts. 

     My father went about collecting "stage properties," rehearsals were "called" at least four times during the morning, and in all our excitement no thought was given to that necessary part of a charade, the audience, whose business it is to guess the pantomime. At luncheon someone asked suddenly: "But what about an audience?" "Why , bless my soul," said my father, "I'd forgotten all about that." 

     Invitations were quickly dispatched to our neighbors, and additional preparations made for supper. In due time the audience came, and the charade was acted so successfully that the evening stands out in my memory as one of the merriest and happiest of the many merry and happy evenings in our dear old home. My father was so extremely funny in his part that the rest of us found it almost impossible to maintain sufficient control over ourselves to enable the pantomime to proceed as it was planned to do.

     It wound up with a country dance, which had been invented that morning and practiced quite a dozen times through the day, and which was concluded at just a few moments before midnight. Then leading us all, characters and audience, out into the wide hall, and throwing open wide the door, my father, watch in hand, stood waiting to hear the bells ring in the New Year. 

     All was hush and silence after the laughter and merriment! Suddenly the peal of bells sounded, and turning he said: "A happy New Year to us all! God bless us." Kisses, good wishes and shaking of hands brought us again back to the fun and gaiety of a few moments earlier. Supper was served, the hot mulled wine drunk in toasts, and the maddest and wildest of "Sir Roger de Coverlys" ended our evening and began our New Year.

--from The Ladies' Home Journal, December 1892

 

New Year's Eve Celebration

     Have your decorations in holiday red, holly, poinsettias, etc. Soon after your guests arrive, hand them slips of paper and pencils and ask each one to write slang phrases. Allow five minutes for this, then collect the papers, which should be duly signed, and award the first prize to the one who knows the least and the consolation to the one who knows the most....

     Next provide the guests with paper and pencils, then read aloud ten letters of the alphabet so the guests can write them in the order in which they are given. Now request each one to write a New year's resolution of ten words, each beginning with one of the letters used and in the order in which they were given out.

     About ten minutes before twelve let the hostess seat her guests around a large table, blindfold each one and place a lighted candle in front of each. If candlesticks are lacking one can use apples or turnips hollowed out. On the first stroke of midnight and simultaneously with each stroke of the clock each one of the guests in turn must try to blow out the light before her or him. 

     Only one trial is to be allowed each one. For those who succeed there may be a prize. A pretty Scotch custom that may be introduced here is to put a big dictionary on a bed of holly after midnight, then each one blindfolded should be led to the book and told to open at any page and select a word at random. This word must be read aloud and will be held to predict in some way what the future has in store for the one who makes the test. After this refreshments can be served. It is always a pretty idea to open the windows at the stroke of twelve to let the old year out and the new one in, while all stand to welcome the newcomer and drink to the health of all present.

--from The Book of Frolics For All Occasions

by Mary Dawson and Emma Paddock Telford (1911) 

   

New Year’s Eve in San Francisco During WWI

     “On account of the war there won’t be the usual big New Year’s Eve celebration.” The remark was heard on many sides prior to December 31; but on investigation one found that it was made by habitual stay-at-homes. As a matter of fact, this celebration was the biggest we have ever had. It was not as noisy as some—an indication that we have learned the real carnival style. And it was not as wild as some—proof that we are getting more sensible. But in point of numbers it beat all records. And in point of elaborateness it left the preceding celebrations far, far behind.

     The St. Francis and Palace had larger throngs than ever; the Fairmont had a very large celebration, for the first time; and the Whitcomb celebrated its first New Year’s Eve with every foot of public floor space jammed. So much for the hotels. The cafes were packed to the last seat all night long. The streets were thronged as usual. And the Civic Auditorium held fifteen thousand people, its record gathering. Nobody forgot that we were at war. Indeed, soldiers and sailors, both officers and enlisted men, were numerously in evidence everywhere, having the time of their lives. Patriotism flamed up as the minutes sped from 1917 to 1918. It was a bully night.

     One interesting feature of the celebration was the remarkably large number of strangers who came to town. They came from the dry (alcohol-free) states in droves. Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Utah and Arizona sent great numbers to our hospitable city.

     Soldiers have learned that they can celebrate and have a good time without the inspiration of bubbling wine; but civilians still feel the need of stimulation when they see the old year out and the new year in. So the dry states gave of their citizenship that night, and San Francisco was host extraordinary.  The records of the police show that there was a very small outbreak of intemperance that night—smaller than ever before. Among those who drank to excess were a good many visitors from dry territory. That of course was to be expected. It is a psychological condition too well known to need elucidation.

--from "Social Prattle" by Tantalus, 

from The San Francisco Daily Times, January 5, 1918

 

 

Birthdays

Birthday Cake (Courtesy of splitshire.com)

Today I'm posting some vintage cards and historic birthday images .

Grandma's Birthday 1896

This photo is part of a series of staged photos of older people involved in everyday activities. This picture features an elderly woman knitting and elderly man looking at a photo album. Photo by Leo D. Weil.

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

Birthday Postcards circa 1900-1910

 

Birthday Party Chinatown, San Francisco 1912

Photograph shows Chinese children posed with a birthday cake, probably in San Francisco, California.
Photo by Mr. & Mrs. Wong Sun Yue Clemens, San Francisco, Calif. Wong Sun Yue and Ella May Clemens were married and opened a curio and tea shop in Chinatown, San Francisco. They published a series of postcards to promote their business. (Source: Flickr Commons project, 2013)

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Uncle Sam's Birthday 1918

Uncle Sam's birthday July 4th 1776-1918 142 years young and going strong! This patriotic poster was created during WW1 by United Cigars, showing Uncle Sam running with a bayonet, amid bursting shells.

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA

   

 Laddie Boy's Birthday 1922

Laddie Boy was the beloved "First Dog" during the administration of President Warren G. Harding. He was presented with a special dog biscuit birthday cake for his birthday in 1922 "with three candles, each tipped with a tiny American Flag." The White House held birthday parties for Laddie Boy, and neighborhood dogs were invited to share the "birthday cake" in celebration.

Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
 

 

Behind the Scenes At the Circus 1926

 

 
Date Created/Published: 1926 May 11 This photo shows Miss Lillian Leitzel, star with Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey circus helping Dolly Jahn celebrate her birthday.
 

Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print

Children's Birthday Cards Circa 1950s-1960s