Mummers Parade
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Mummers Parade is held each New Year's Day in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Local clubs (usually called "New Years Associations") compete in one of four categories (Comics, Fancies, String Bands, and Fancy Brigades). They prepare elaborate costumes and moveable scenery, which take months to complete. This is done in clubhouses, many of which are located on or near 2nd Street in South Philadelphia, which also serve as social gathering places for members.
Contents |
[edit] History
The first official Mummers Parade was on January 1, 1901. Prior to that, local lore holds that many traditions—the dressing ("mumming") from England, Sweden and other countries—came on New Year's Day when at midnight, the citizens shot off guns to welcome the new year, a dangerous tradition that the law frowns upon. The next day, residents usually went door-to-door shouting out the following rhyme:
Here we stand at your door,
As we did the year before.
Give us whiskey, give us gin,
Open the door and let us in!
Or give us something nice and hot
Like a steaming hot bowl of pepper pot! (A Philadelphia soup)
The parade is related to the Mummers Play tradition from Ireland.
[edit] Location, time and route
The Mummers Parade travelled northward on Broad Street in Philadelphia for decades until the 1995 parade when the parade was moved to Market Street due to construction work on Broad Street (noteably the "Avenue of the Arts" between Washington Ave. and City Hall). After contruction was completed, the parade returned to Broad Street from 1996 to 1999. For various reasons, the parade was moved again to Market Street in 2000. This move failed to reinvigorate the parade. In 2004, the parade was moved back to Broad Street. Big crowds and a new enthusiasm have made the return a huge success. It was in 1997 that the Fancy Brigades were moved to the Pennsylvania Convention Center, which severely limited the amount of people that could go and see them live; however, it allowed them to create huge sets and dazzling performances.
Each year, about 15,000 people participate in the parade. Close to $400,000 in prizes are awarded, a small fraction of the cost of sequined, ostrich-plumed costumes, which can run to several thousand dollars each.
The parade begins at 9:00 AM and ends sometime before 8:00 PM. Fancy Brigades hold two competitions at the nearby Pennsylvania Convention Center—the first at 12:00 noon and the second at 5:00 PM. The second show is when the judging for the Fancy Brigades actually take place.
[edit] Two Street
Because of the proximity of such a large number of clubhouses, 2nd Street often serves as an after-the-parade party location, where clubs often march in a sort of unofficial parade. Local residents, and people who have gone to Philadelphia to watch the parade, often revel while watching, and sometimes joining, this unofficial parade/celebration. Locals and tourists who have visted this after-parade often describe it as being analogus to the Mardi Gras in New Orleans, LA and is a favorite recommendation of locals to tourists who come to town for the Mummers' Parade. The mummers are able to let loose after a year of preparing for this special event.
[edit] Blackened faces
The wearing of black face paint was once a traditional part of the parade. Growing dissent from civil rights groups and the offense of the black community led to a 1964 official city policy ruling out blackface.[1] Nonetheless, the parade participants are mostly of caucasian descent and minorities rarely perform in the parade in costume.
