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There are two major branches to the tradition of the Mummers Play: Firstly the folk tradition of troupes of mummers performing street theatre and secondly the more formal Christian Mystery Plays.
Mummers' Plays
The Mummers Play is performed throughout the British Isles in different forms and, in England, is often associated with the Morris dance. It is a highly symbolic enactment of religious significance.
Themes include: Saint George and the Dragon, Saint George and the Persian Knight (alternatively Turkish Knight), Old Father Abraham (alternatively Father Christmas), Robin Hood, etc.
There is sometimes a horse character such as the Padstow hobby-horse in Cornwall or the Minehead Obby Oss in Somerset.
The plays generally involve a battle representing good against evil and usually feature a doctor who has a magic potion which is able to resuscitate the slain. Thus the plays contain the archetypes: duality and resurrection.
The performers are masked.
The term "mummer" is usually believed to come from the Middle English word "mum" which means "silent" (the plays were originally silent pantomimes), though some people have suggested a connection with mommo the Greek word for mask.
The origins of the plays are believed to be Pagan though very much Christianised in more recent centuries. Some people have even read traces of human sacrifice into them! This was part of an ongoing process ever since the first Christian missionaries arrived in the British Isles. The Christianisation of Britain and Ireland didn't always proceed by scorning the existing Celtic and Saxon traditions, but often by converting those traditions into Christian versions. The same pattern of converting existing forms to Christian ones was followed all over Europe. Thus the pagan festival of rebirth at the Winter Solstice became Christmas and the festival representing the death of old forms became All Hallows Eve (Halloween).
Curiously enough, Philadelphia has its own tradition of mummers marching on New Year's Day; they dress in elaborate costumes--often in drag--while the skits are sometimes based on current events.
Christian Mystery Plays The Christianisation of the folk tradition did not cause the village and street performances to cease, but rather creates a second branch of the same tree. The church-sponsored cycles of mystery plays dramatised stories from the Bible for public enjoyment and learning. These include the Passion Play, which retold the story of the Crucifixion.
The province of Newfoundland, Canada, has a two-hundred-year long tradition of Mummering between Christmas and Jan. 6. In complete disquise the Mummers go from house to house to entertain and socialize. Often men dress as outsized women, but no one is supposed to be recognizable.
See also Wrenboys, Jester, Clown, Commedia dell'arte, Dadaism, Pantomime, Mystery play Philadelphia Mummers_parade
External links Mummers' Plays Proper Mystery Plays - Mystery Plays on h2g2 directory (BBC) (http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/alabaster/A1031707)
- York Mystery Plays (http://www.yorkearlymusic.org/mysteryplays/)
- Chester Mystery Plays (http://www.chestercc.gov.uk/arts/mystery.html)
- Wakefield Mystery Plays (http://www.columbuslibrary.org/cmlplay/playsearch.cfm?input=pb&searchterm=Wakefield%20Mystery%20Plays)
- Coventry Mystery Plays (http://www.coventry.ac.uk/cms/jsp/polopoly.jsp?d=496&a=4550)
- Willesborough Mystery Plays (http://www.sandmartyn.freeserve.co.uk/willsplays.htm#Willsborough%20Mystery%20Plays)
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