Christmas traditions and the lost practice of ‘mumming’

Christmas, we are often told, is rich in traditions invented by the Victorians (or even later), and it was a rather austere affair before Charles Dickens. But while it is true that the Victorians gave us many of our Christmas traditions in their current form, English Christmas traditions before the Victorian era were simply different, not non-existent – and they were every bit as exuberant as what came after, if not more so. One of those long-lost pre-Victorian traditions of Christmas is mumming; something which was as synonymous with Christmas 200 years ago as a fat man in a red suit with a proclivity for housebreaking is today. Mumming was a form of folk drama with its roots in the midwinter custom of guising – the wearing of masks for folk performances during winter festivals – which is found across Europe and may well have very ancient origins indeed, although it is first attested from the 13th century.