Somerset mummers

Mummers or guisers were groups of villagers who would ‘mum’ or act out little plays at Christmas time, going from home to home, singing, acting, entertaining. They would be in costume and there were set characters in the stories they told. It was a tradition particularly associate at Christmas, and in some parts of the country, and in Somerset, our county, it continues. I suppose maybe it was how pantomime started, that peculiarly English Christmas entertainment where the principal boy is played by a woman and the dame is played by a man, where animals speak and evil is defeated by good.

One of the traditional mummers’ plays is about St George and the Dragon; as well as George and the fearsome dragon, there are characters such as Old ‘Oss, The Turkish Knight, Johnny Jack, the doctor and Father Christmas.

Here is what Mrs N. Walker and Helen Burnett have to say about them in ‘Somerset Folklore’:

Until the end of the last century (nineteenth century) the ‘Mummers’ were a fairly common sight visiting homes and on the streets. They were usually brightly-dressed young people who mimed some traditional theme,or one of their own devising. For centuries wassail drinking was especially associated with New Year’s eve and was a common custom in the South. Open house was kept and neighbours would knock on doors and expect to be invited in, or at least given a drink or small gift. Some carried with them their own bowl or mug! The Curry Rivel Wassail Song ran as follows:

Wassail and wassail all over town
The cup it is white and the ale it is brown
The cup it is made of the good old ashen tree
And so is our beer of the best barley
To you wassail!
Aye and joy come to our jolly wassail.

O maid! O maid! with the silver-headed pin
Pray open this door and let us come in
All for to fill our wassail bowl
And sail away again!
Wassail and Wassail all over the town, etc.

O maid! O maid!
Pray open unto this door and show your pretty face
For we are truly weary
Of standing in this place!
Wassail and Wassail all over the town, etc.

O Master and Mistress, we done you no harm
Pray pull fast this door and let us pass along,
And give us hearty thanks
For singing this song!
Wassail and Wassail all over the town, etc.