All Silver and No Brass

Mumming isn't solely the New Year's tradition that is performed in Philadelphia's streets. In Ireland, it involved masking, music making, storytelling, and folk drama as mummers visited neighbors in holiday celebrations. Henry Glassie's book is a study of the folklore and oral history of mumming within a small community in the border area of Ireland and Ulster. Although the mumming tradition had died out by the mid 20th century, current residents who remembered the mumming tradition describe what one might experience when celebrating a typical evening of the old tradition. The book is a highly readable and insightful study of Irish folklife, and a fine presentation of mumming's memory culture.