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Sermonette A Millennia of Mummers

I was first introduced to the concept of the mummer’s plays while serving as minister in the Wakefield Mass UU congregation, who created their own version of this ancient script and opened it to the public just before Christmas, over 10 years ago and it has become a very popular and well attended annual event. I would like to share some background on the play you will be seeing this morning. The word Mumming comes from the word mime which began initially as a folk play, a silent pantomime or mum dramatic performance. In time words were added to enhance the story. Its origins also come from the Greek term for mask known as “masking” or “guising”and costumes were later created and worn, which went along with the story being told. Over the years mummers in The British Isles and across Europe acted out a number of ritualized folk tales which date back a thousand years to the pagan rituals of fertility, death and revival. Historically the Mummers Plays as we know them today, have a very convoluted history. They are rooted in the practices of the early pagan societies of Europe and have been adapted by the early church fathers to reflect the legend of St. George and the Dragon. The story has been elaborated upon over the years and is filled with mysticism, and silliness, all with religious undertones, depending upon the country of its origin and the purpose the have attributed to their performance. To give you a bit of early history beginning with St. George- from an article by Tom Homes, he writes “There is almost nothing known of the early years of Saint George's life. He was born sometime in the year 263AD, in the city of Lydia near Jerusalem…

Ancient storytellers told of legends of an Eastern city called Salem where a terrifying dragon lived in a swamp nearby. The dragon demanded a daily 2 tribute of sheep and cattle. Soon, after exhausting these food supplies, the dragon demanded the sacrifice of two children a day. A lottery system was devised to pick the victims. Cleodolinda, the daughter of the King, was chosen for that day's sacrifice.

As Cleodolinda was sadly proceeding to her doom, along came the knight George. Seeing the dragon about to gulp down the lovely princess, George promised the citizens deliverance from their troubles. After making the sign of the cross, he transfixed the dragon with his lance and wounded it with his magic sword Ascalon. George then had the princess bind the beast with her girdle. The dragon then became docile and tame, and followed the princess and George back to the city. There in the market square, George killed the dragon with his lance.

As George was killing the dragon, he told the city citizens that this act was to show the power of God. Not only was the princess saved and the city relieved, the people gave up their idols and accepted Christianity. George was said to have married the princess and lived happily .

George was canonized by Pope Gelasius in 494AD. St. George was said to exemplify courage, devotion, piety, leadership, truthfulness and dedication. Crusaders venerated him and wore his cross (red on a white background). Which we see so often in the movies!

King Edward III of chose George to be the patron Saint for the Knight of the Garter. During this time he also became the patron Saint of Portugal and Italy. Czarina Catherine II founded the Russian Order of Saint George. Lord Baden Powell founder of the boy scouts also choose St. George as the patron saint of the Boys Scouts.

If you think of this tale as an allegory rather than a legend; with Saint George representing Christianity and the dragon as paganism, this shows us how good triumphs over evil.” 3

End of quote… So, you might be asking, ‘what does the story of St. George and the Dragon have to do with mummers plays?” Actually, the root of our Christmas celebrations and rituals are decidedly pagan in origin and have remained so to this day. In 400 BC, the Romans used mumming to honor the God Saturn and to celebrate the harvesting of crops which began on December 17th. It was a day of visiting friends and exchanging gifts to celebrate the feast of Saturnalia. On the British isles, mummers celebrated the end of the year and the return of spring, their folk focused on the theme of death and rebirth as part of their winter Celtic rituals. Many of these local mummers plays were passed on by word of mouth and the few that were actually written down have been lost. After the rise of Christianity, Pagan rituals and ceremonies were forbidden and punishable by death, however they were difficult to obliterate completely and were co-opted by the Early Christians for their own purposes. The Celtic message was revised to lash out against paganism. Due to the proximity of the winter pagan rituals to the declared birth of in December, the plays took on a decidedly Christian theme and was injected into the play. During the middle ages, the mummers added dialogue and the poorer citizens would appear on the streets in costume during the 12 days of Christmas and go door to door, dramatizing the story and would receive nuts, fruit or cakes in return for their performance.

The legend of St. George continued to be a focal point of the impromptu dialogues and the message appeared to weave back and forth from the death of the dragon as representing the destruction of the evils of paganism, to the more modern version in the 19th century as the resurrection and preservation of the dragon lending hope to the value of compromise and good will at Christmas time. Again, it all depended upon who was scripting the play, and for what purpose it was being presented.

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This morning the First UU theatre Group has adapted their mummers play from the Wakefield Ma. version, In the mummers tradition, preserving yet re-inventing the main characters of; The Fool who usually serves as narrator, Father Christmas who in medieval times wandered around knocking on doors and feasing with families, bearing no gifts and never slid down chimney pots as they were much too small for his hefty physique! There is Johnny Jack, who in midlevel times asked for money from the rich to give to charity, then of course there’s St. George himself who slays the dragon of evil, and the quack doctor, who through no particular skill or training revives the dragon! Naturally the theater group included their own unique dialogue and interpretation. With no further commentary I am delighted to present our own Mummers play, “St. George and the Dragon of Procrastination.”

A Mummers Play: “St. George and the Dragon of Procrastination” Adapted and Presented by The First UU Theatre Readers Group