Mummers Museum
Mummer comes from the Old French word momer—to wear a mask. Philadelphia’s annual Mummer’s Parade draws 15,000 costumed participants who compete for a half-million dollars in prizes. Four broad categories of costume are represented: fancies (individuals or trios often accompanied by a brass band), fancy brigades (groups of 35 or more led by a captain, who incorporate moving scenery and choreography into their presentation), comics (who satirize popular images), and string bands (led by the banjo and glockenspiel). Each of these broad categories contains many traditional caricatures that the participants try to channel. One popular comic character is the wench: a man or a boy in a satin dress, usually carrying a three-tiered parasol and wearing gold shoes and a braided wig. The wench "struts" in a characteristic "cakewalk" dance that is based on [white interpretations of] black plantation culture. Black face paint, once part of the costume, was banned in 1964. Although the first city-sanctioned parade occurred in 1901, the Philadelphia tradition dates back to the 1700's when Swedish immigrants celebrated their traditional "Second Day of Christmas" by going house-to-house, shouting and shooting their guns into the air. While the changed over the past 300 years, women were prohibited from marching until 1983. These images are of the holdings of the Mummers’ Museum in South Philadelphia. The costumes take months to construct, can weigh up to 150 pounds, and cost several thousand dollars in materials and labor. Posted On: September 18, 2007
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