Saving a New Year’s tradition

When you’re a kid, you rarely think your parents or their friends are cool. But my sister and I were always in awe of our Dad’s friend Ron Konick. After all, Mr. Konick was a Mummer. 

Now most of you are probably asking, "What the heck is a Mummer?" To be honest, there’s no easy answer. By simple definition, a mummer is typically explained as a clown. But in my native Philadelphia, Mummers are New Year’s Day, a tradition born of the city’s ethnic neighborhood and old-world customs imported by the immigrants who lived there. What started more than a century ago as men dressing up in face paint and/or dresses has evolved into a New Year’s Day parade that has entertained millions over the years. But this year, the struggling economy threatened to keep the Mummers from strutting their stuff down Broad Street.

At first glance, the Mummers Parade conjures images of Mardi Gras. But it is far more elaborate than the drunken free-for-all of floats and cheap plastic beads that gets New Orleans ready for 40 days of Lent. The Comic Division starts the day dressed as clowns, wenches and other characters in the purest reminder of the origin of the tradition. Then the Fancy Division drags giant, ornate, wood and metal-framed costumes through the streets. The signature section of the parade is the String Bands. Think Mardi Gras meets marching band. Costumes adorned with feathers, sequins, mirrors, glitter and more cover performers dancing and playing banjos, violins, double basses, saxophones, clarinets, glockenspiels;  any kind of instrument other than brass, creating a unique sound, as they perform a themed-routine. The day full of spectacle is capped by the enormous, transient productions of the Fancy Brigades.

Again, it is hard to explain the Mummers without even seeing it. But suffice it to say that what the dozens of performing clubs, all volunteers, many having been part of the clubs for generations of their families, create on New Year’s Day is so treasured by Philadelphians that for the first time ever, private donations are helping support the parade this year. The support became necessary because the City of Philadelphia faces a $1 billion budget shortfall. The city decided it could not give out the $355,000 in prize money it usually awards. Still, the city pitched in $300,000 of the $350,000 needed to run today’s parade, which generates millions of dollars for Philadelphia’s economy each year. But with the threat of no funding in the future, the Mummers looked to their fans, as we have come through.

By Christmas Day, the Mummers had raised nearly a quarter-million dollars. Yesterday, I logged onto savethemummers.com and chipped in a small donation before challenging some family and friends to match it. My parents already have. I know some of you reading this are fellow Philadelphians and understand what the Mummers mean, so I hope you, too, will make a donation. For those of you who still don’t understand, think of New Orleans without Mardi Gras, New York without its Times Square ball, Pasadena without its Rose Parade, the National Mall without its July 4th fireworks or even Wrightsville Beach without its Holiday Flotilla. They are more than just events. They are icons. And I hope the iconic Mummers will never have to worry about whether they can march through the City of Brotherly Love ever again.