New Year’s Day, and its Mummers Parade festivities, have come and gone. The confetti, beads and empty bottles on Broad Street have been (mostly) picked up and the hangovers and ringing in the ears for anyone who was around “Two Street” have healed.
But this year the Mummers get another weekend in the city’s spotlight, thanks to the Philadelphia Historic District’s “52 Weeks of Firsts,” which are showcasing a variety of marvels, inventions and events that first happened here in Philly.
The Historic District has set up a Saturday “Firstival” ceremony to kick off each week. The free public events, running from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., will introduce and celebrate the topic through entertainment and activities, a sculpture painted by a local artist, music, giveaways and storytelling by Historic Philly’s Once Upon a Nation historical experts.
The inaugural “firstival” last weekend celebrated French aeronaut Jean Pierre Blanchard completing the first successful balloon flight in America, on Jan. 9, 1793.
Next up is the Mummers Parade, which is the nation’s first folk parade, dating back to 1901 — though that’s just a part of the tradition of mummery in Philadelphia.
“That dates back to as early as 1640,” said Mark Montanaro, the current curator of the Mummers Museum. “The parade itself is celebrating its 125th anniversary, but mummery dates back over 350 years in Philadelphia.”
Mummery traces its roots to the city’s 19th-century immigrant communities, including Swedish, Irish, German and English arrivals.
There have been controversies surrounding cultural insensitivity, cultural appropriation and racist attire and actions in costumes and performances in the past, but many clubs have worked to make mummery more inclusive and diverse in recent years.
The Mummer’s “firstival” will be held at the museum, which is celebrating its 50th year. Located in South Philly, it was created as part of Philly’s celebrations of the nation’s bicentennial, “to preserve, display, and educate the history of mummery in Philadelphia,” Montanaro said.
“At the Mummers Museum, every day is New Year’s. So we try to celebrate New Year’s year-round here,” said museum coordinator Cheyenne McClain Cohen, who is also the vice president of Golden Sunrise N.Y.E., the last Fancy club left in its division.
The museum is chock-full of costumes, instruments, images and records of past parades. It is also a space where Mummers clubs — and other performing groups spread across the city — can meet, practice and be highlighted.
“This is a home to the Mummers,” said McClain Cohen. “This museum is meant to be some place that all Mummers feel represented, and where the public is able to see that.”
It may seem counterintuitive to not celebrate the Mummers Parade in the same week as the event, but there was a good reason for that. Montanaro said that Saturday, Jan. 3, was the alternate date for the parade if weather caused any delays.
Despite an early-morning snow squall and high winds, the Mummers still strutted — though the string band competition was suspended for safety reasons.
Most Philly residents have misconceptions about the tradition of mummery — some of those have been brought on by the unflattering moments of its past.
The biggest one, though, is that it’s a one-day commitment every year.
“To a lot of people, we’re like Santa Claus,” said Shawn Blubaugh, captain of the Greater Kensington String Band. “You get close [to New Year’s Day] and you go in the attic, you open the box, you pull out, ‘Oh, the Mummers are here.’ We do the whole Mummer thing. And then after it’s over, ‘OK, we’ll put them back in the box, we’ll put them in the attic, we’ll see him this time next year.’ ”
Blubaugh said that the string band takes just a week or two off after parade day, and then it’s right back into meeting, costume designing, practicing and fundraising for next year’s parade.
He says that being showcased in the city’s 250th celebrations helps to shed a more positive light on the Mummers, and lets them celebrate and showcase the work that clubs do for the parade and their local communities throughout the year.
“It not only helps spread … awareness, but just sheds a positive light to show everybody what it is that we do beyond just New Year’s Day,” he said “And also just the recognition, and showing people who we are and that we’re more than just ornaments that go up around the holidays, that you can pack back in the box and come out the next year.”
For those interested in getting some steps in before and after the firstival, the Freewalkers walking group is having a meetup starting at 9:15 a.m. in LOVE Park, heading to the Mummers Museum, and then back to LOVE Park.
In the coming weeks
Here are the first months of other firsts being highlighted this year, along with the Saturday firstival dates and locations.
- The first volunteer fire company (1736)
Jan. 17 at the Fireman’s Hall Museum, 147 N. 2nd Street
- The first professional basketball league (1898)
Jan. 24 at Xfinity Mobile Arena
- The first public Girl Scout cookie sale (1932)
Jan. 31 at the PECO Building, 2301 Market Street
- The first African Methodist Episcopal congregation (1794)
Feb. 7 at Mother Bethel AME Church, 419 S. 6th Street
- The first abolitionist society in America (1775)
Feb. 14 at the African American Museum in Philadelphia, 701 Arch Street
- The first authentic Chinese gate built in America (1984)
Feb. 21 at Chinatown Friendship Gate, N. 10th Street
- The first public protest against slavery in America (1688)
Feb. 28 at the Historic Germantown Mennonite Meetinghouse, 6119 Germantown Ave.
- The first flower show (1829)
March 7 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center
- The first women’s medical college (1850)
March 14 at Drexel University, 60 N. 36th Street
- The first match folder (1892)
March 21 at the Science History Institute, 315 Chestnut Street
- The first medical school in America (1765)
March 28 at the Perelman School of Medicine, 3400 Civic Center Blvd.
