Christmas Mumming

How did the tradition start?

The Roman Saturnalia, the holiday that created some of the foundation for Yule, became a holiday that was celebrated by drinking very heavy amounts of alcoholic beverages (Nock, 2007). Due to this behavior, many people associated the winter solstice with lewd and outrageous acts. This created a role reversal among many areas, where the head of the house would wait on the servants (Nock, 2007). These behaviors carried on to some Yule traditions, but it is not clear whether more recent accounts of mumming evolved from Saturnalia. One speculation is that mumming took place of human sacrifice that Pagans may have done (Nature, 1998). The early mummers would visit houses, but their main role was to perform in a play that acted out a death, then a revival from being killed (Nature, 1998). The symbolism here could mean the light of the sun defeats the darkness of winter, or it could just be a way to act out a human sacrifice (Nature, 1998).

More recent mumming, in Newfoundland, is described to be a role-transparency (Handelman, 1984). This is much like the mumming that happened during Saturnalia. In Newfoundland, members would dress in a costume that made sure others did not know their true identity, then they would harass the host until the host was able to guess the mummers identity (Handelman, 1984).