Philadelphia Mummers Building Community Through Play Summary

In Philadelphia Mummers: Building Community Through Play, Patricia Masters explores how the Mummers began and how the parade has changed as Philadelphia has become more diverse. She effectively demonstrates the Mummers ability to produce an ongoing “play community” that has successfully triumphed in a largely fragmented society where social integration had essentially been lost at the time of its inception. Masters’ capacity to clearly outline the longstanding ceremonies of the annual parade shines through as she closely analyzes the rituals present within the community beginning in the mid-19th century. Her attention paid to the African American experience within the mumming community clarifies the conflicting practices within it and society

as a whole, specifically during the Civil Rights era. Overall, Masters provides a comprehensive and inclusive account of the formation and rise of the Mummers of South Philadelphia.
According to Masters, mummery provided “temporary relief from the stifling requirements imposed by factory labor and gave [participants] the opportunity to vent their frustrations” (Masters 21).

Mummers were working class immigrants living in the Southern Philadelphia. Once a year on New Years’ Day, these people, all of varying ethnic groups, came together and walked the streets of their neighborhoods in costume, singing, dancing, and performing skits door to door for their neighbors, who often rewarded their performances with cake and other refreshments. “The public nature of the holiday gave the diverse ethnic groups an opportunity to see the individuals and their families from other cultures at play and to understand that, as different as they were, they could come together as neighbors and friends in the spirit of fun.” (Masters 42) Traditions within the mumming community developed spontaneously and informally, as the driving force was the desire to have fun and play together, affirming their group identities in that they could express group sentiment and values. In the early 1800s, mumming was a carnivalesque occasion, but following the Civil War, aesthetic and specific musical forms began to develop. Businesses began to offer cash prizes for categories such as best performance and best costume, and the Mummers parade changed from spontaneous play to competitive play with the institution of a set of rules when the different clubs came together to parade down Broad St in

1901 (Masters 63). Since 1901, the parade has become increasingly elaborate and competitive as cash prizes grew larger and every club tried to put on extravagant shows and gain recognition.
Pride in their tradition and the desire to entertain outweighed practical considerations, and in the 20th century no expense was spared for their elaborate costumes. The Mummers courted admiration rather than notoriety. Their skits often included mockery of the upper class, political satire, patriotic themes, and minstrelsy, looking to the culture around them for images and ideas. As a multigenerational group with a desire to innovate, their ongoing collaboration enhanced the sense of connection and interdependence that cemented the play community. Their “openness to new ideas and recognition that play itself requires periodic redefinition has allowed the community to survive for over a century,” according to Masters (Masters 51). The modern Mummers parade consists of three divisions. The comic division, the most traditional of the three, puts on satirical sketches, while the fancy division is known for its creative visual effects. The division with the fiercest competition is the fancy brigade, consisting of string bands. The elaborate costumes and skits, staples of the string bands’ performance, are the most memorable characteristics of the Mummers parade today. The string bands have started to incorporate some of the more popular styles of music into their routines, specifically hip hop. Despite its origins in the immigrant communities in South Philadelphia, people of every background can be found at the Mummers parade, whether they be participating or watching the spectacle.
Masters also delves into numerous aspects of the African American experience within the mumming community throughout its existence.

Despite displays of minstrelsy, which often involved the mockery of blacks through blackface and derogatory skits, people of color still remained facets within the community and their culture is still present within the Mummer’s traditions today. Mummers had initially resisted the city’s ban of blackface, continuing to “identify blackface as a tradition that was devoid of any other meaning besides having fun” (Masters 77). This hails back to the true reason for the Mummers’ traditions—to escape the grueling demands of factory work and poverty. While there was tension between groups such as CORE and the mumming community, blacks within the community chose to remain a part of the traditions despite the history of racially insensitive practices, most of which were banned in the 1960s, because through mummery they had an outlet through which they could escape their daily lives by way of anonymity and

fun.
Masters’ main sources of evidence came from firsthand accounts of traditions and rituals practiced over the years. Articles in local newspapers published throughout the 19th and 20th centuries, such as the Philadelphia Inquirer and Philadelphia Daily News, chronicled how the people outside the Mummer community felt about the parade and how the parade has changed since 1901, growing more elaborate and diverse as years passed. Many of these articles included quotes from Mummers as well, in which they described firsthand what it meant to be a member of the mumming community. Masters also includes various studies on play communities and the dynamics within them, which aided her effort to capture the purpose of the Mummers’ traditions. The most notable sources of evidence were through both the interviews Masters conducted with current Mummers, and video footage of the parade spanning several decades, courtesy of the Mummers Museum in Philadelphia. This footage allowed Masters to see for herself the staples of the Mummers parade, and how it has changed in style and in size since the early 20th century. Masters’ interviews allowed input from the multigenerational Mummer community, with perspective from community elders as well as young people who have joined or were born into the community. As an ethnography, a large portion of Masters research required her to become “a categorical member of [the] community,” immersing herself in their culture as much as she was able (Masters 196). In her research, Masters strayed away from opinion pieces and critiques of the Mummers, instead relying on factual events and footage, occasionally referencing a member of the community in order to incorporate an insider’s perspective within her work.
Masters provides an in depth look into working class Philadelphians and how they coped with the grueling demands of factory work and poverty through the development of a successful play community that has stood the test of time. Her in depth research, which she states took her five years to complete, displays a true interest in “the transformation of many small ethnic celebrations into a public ritual that has occurred for more than a century and a half” (Masters 2). Through her interviews with the Mummers and research of their history, her focus remained on understanding their world as they saw it, and this comes through in her work. One does not feel like an outsider looking in when reading about the history of the Mummers, but rather as someone right there with them. Her understanding of what it truly means to be a Mummer allows for a deeper understanding of their traditions, and thus the explanations of such traditions are clear and their meaning is not convoluted. Masters, and Temple University Press, a publisher close in proximity to the Mummers and their parade, exhibit a passion for localized traditions that have become staples of regional culture and a “longstanding interest in the relation between individuals and their communities” (Masters 5). Although her work addressed the Mummers’ traditions completely, she did not mention how the Mummers’ play community fits into other play communities around the world, such as Mardis Gras, Civil War reenactors, Carnival in Brazil, and other folk traditions. It would have been interesting to know how the Mummers’ focus on distraction from reality and desire to have fun relates to the purpose of other play community traditions. Her extensive research on the Mummers leaves nothing to be desired in terms of their traditions or evolution.
Patricia Masters immersed herself in the mumming community of South Philadelphia in order to complete a comprehensive analysis of the Mummers, their traditions, and the famous annual parade. The purpose of the Mummers’ traditions are often shrouded in mystery for mere fans of their parade and antics. Masters unveils what it means and what it meant to be a Mummer from their formation in the mid-19th century to present day. The Mummers Parade, a homegrown tradition conceived by working class immigrants, has become larger than life. Its origins and traditions, although controversial at some points, have transformed into an event with participants from throughout the region. Masters’ ethnography shed a light on a local tradition that continues to grow in the 21st century as a means of not only joyous release, but as a way of building strong friendships through a sense of community and oneness.