This show takes place in a huge warehouse space with temporary bleachers
holding seats for viewers. Additional seats are available on the floor closer
to the “action”; however, these seats are all at the same elevation, so if you
are in a more rear row and you are vertically challenged, you may have
difficulty seeing. We had a hard time locating our seats: although each section
of the bleachers seemed to contain a directional sign, the placards really
marked sponsor lounge areas rather than patron seating sections. Also, we
arrived to the show about 20 minutes late, and we feel that other viewers moved
to our seats, which were located at the end of a row. In addition, the
temperatures were quite cold the day that we visited, and the bleacher seats do
not allow for anywhere to store large coats and other cold-weather gear. The
ushers were not able to direct us to our seats; instead, they directed us to
the floor area where no one was sitting.
The Mummers Parade is held
each New Year's Day in Philadelphia, believed to be the oldest folk festival in
the United States. A “mummer” is defined as “an actor in a traditional masked
mime, especially of a type associated with Christmas and popular in England in
the 18th and early 19th centuries.”
Local clubs (usually called "New Years Associations") compete in
one of four categories (comics, fancies, string bands, or fancy brigades). They
prepare elaborate costumes, performance routines, and moveable scenery, which
take months to complete, in their clubhouses in South Philadelphia.
The parade traces back to mid-17th-century roots, blending elements from
Swedish, Finnish, Irish, English, German, and other European heritages. Swedes
and Finns, the first European colonists in the Philadelphia area, brought the
custom of visiting neighbors on "Second Day Christmas" (December 26)
with them to Tinicum. This was soon extended through New Year's Day with
costumed celebrants loudly parading through the city. They appointed a
"speech director", who performed a special dance with a traditional
rhyme in exchange for food and ale. It sometimes included shooting firearms on
New Year's Day as well as the Pennsylvania German custom of
"belsnickling," where adults in disguise questioned children about
their behavior during the previous year.
Unable to suppress the sometimes riotous customs, the city government began
to require participants to join organized groups with designated leaders who
had to apply for permits and were responsible for their group’s actions. The
earliest documented club, the Chain Gang, formed in 1840, and Golden Crown
first marched in 1876 with cross-town rivals Silver Crown forming soon after.
By 1900, these groups formed part of an organized, city-sanctioned parade with
cash prizes for the best performances. The parade usually marches on either
Broad Street or Market Street. In 1997, the Fancy Brigades were moved to the Pennsylvania
Convention Center, allowing for larger sets, but limiting audience size. In
2011, the Fancy Brigades returned to the parade.
Each year, thousands of people participate in the parade, many wearing
elaborate costumes costing tens of thousands of dollars to make and weighing
well over 100 pounds. The categories of Mummers are described below:
Comics are clowns in colorful outfits, often with multi-level umbrellas who
dance to recordings such as "Golden Slippers". The comics typically
start the parade. Themes often gently parody current events and traditional
life. Prizes are awarded for floats, groups, brigades, couples, original
costume, original character, and juvenile. Wench brigades, an offshoot of
comics, pride themselves on continuing traditions such as the
dress-and-bloomers "suits", painted faces, decorated umbrellas, and
live brass bands to accompany the brigade. Wench brigades were originally men
dressed as women, although now sometimes include women, too. The fancy division
members strut with some small floats in elaborate costumes to music provided by
a live band. String bands provide elaborate performances using their
unamplified strings, reeds, and percussion, and featuring banjos, saxophones
(alto, tenor, baritone and bass), accordions, double basses, drums,
glockenspiels, and violins in musical arrangements tied to a theme presented by
the captain, beautiful costumes, and props (some people call them “floats”).
String-band performances are now the most elaborate of the parade, outdone only
by the fancy brigades’ indoor performances.
The fancy brigades, the largest category with the largest crews, march the
southernmost portion of the parade route, before heading to the convention
center for a ticketed show and judging. Over time, as props grew larger, more
cumbersome, and more vulnerable to wind, rain, and snow, the Brigade show was
moved indoors.
Fancy brigades clubs include 2nd Street Shooters, Avenuers, Cahills, Clevemore,
Downtowners, Golden Crown, Jokers, Satin Slippers, Saturnalian, Spartans, Shooting
Stars, and South Philly Vikings.
