50 years of Disguising: Newfoundland Mumming, 1970-2020

Mumming in Newfoundland has a several centuries long history. The mumming component of the province’s culture was revitalized in the 1970s, and the renewed interest was accelerated by the 1968 publication of Halpert and Story’s book, Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland. Although many academic papers on mumming appeared, it was the Arts community that made mumming truly accessible to the general public. More specifically it was the performing arts which breathed life into mumming by producing an animated physical presence in the lives and homes of Newfoundlanders. Mumming in Newfoundland is expressed in three forms, the Mummers Play, janneying, and the processional. This paper will address the re-emergence of mumming through the lens of three developments: the Mummers Theatre Troupe researched and re-created the Mummers Play in 1972; Simani, a musical duo, wrote and performed ‘Any Mummers Allowed In?’ (also known as The Mummers Song) in1983, which gave new life to janneying; and the Mummers Festival in 2009 reconceptualized the older practice of the processional with the Mummers Parade.