Mummering

Mummering is a Christmas-time house-visiting tradition practiced in Newfoundland and Labrador, Ireland, Philadelphia, and parts of the United Kingdom.

[1][2] An old Christmas custom from England and Ireland, mummering in a version of its modern form can be traced back in Newfoundland into the 19th century.

Some formal aspects of the tradition, such as the mummers play, have largely died out, with the informal house-visiting remaining the predominant form.

On June 25, 1861, an "Act to make further provisions for the prevention of Nuisances" was introduced in response to the death of Isaac Mercer in Bay Roberts.

Folklorist Dr. Joy Fraser has noted that, "in common with many other folk revivals, the resurgence of Christmas mummering in Newfoundland is largely based on a selective and idealised conceptualisation of the custom.