Mummering Memories: Show and Share Your Mummering Experiences

Date: Sunday, December 6, 2009
Time: 2:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: The Rooms

This year, as part of the Folklife Festival of Newfoundland and Labrador, we are focussing on Christmas mummering and related traditions. In addition to the public workshops, lectures and the final Mummers Parade on December 20th (http://www.mummersfestival.ca), we have been collecting information on Christmas traditions as part of our ongoing partnership with the Digital Archives Initiative (DAI).

The DAI is a gateway to the learning and research-based cultural resources held by Memorial University and partnering organizations. From books and maps to photographs, periodicals, video and audio, the DAI hosts a variety of collections which together reinforce the importance, past and present, of Newfoundland and Labrador's history and culture.

Intangible Cultural Heritage depends on its basis in communities, and on the continuing activities of those with specific knowledge of traditions, skills and customs within these communities. Regarding the participation of communities and groups, Article 15 of the International Convention on Safeguarding the Intangible Cultural Heritage (UNESCO 2003) states:

“Within the framework of its safeguarding activities of the intangible cultural heritage, each State Party shall endeavour to ensure the widest possible participation of communities, groups and, where appropriate, individuals that create, maintain and transmit such heritage, and to involve them actively in its management.”

In light of this, we are interested in viewing, hearing, and documenting all aspects of our mummering traditions, and documenting those traditions on the DAI. Whether you’re a mummer, a janney, a nalujuk, a wren boy, or a wren girl, if you have a story, artifact, or photograph to share or are just curious about mummering, we’d love to meet you.

This Sunday, December 6th, from 2-4pm, you’re invited to contribute a digital copy of your mummer materials to the Digital Archives Initiative as a record of our province’s Christmastime house-visiting tradition. We will have digital scanners for photos and a video booth to record mummer experiences. We are looking for YOUR memories of Christmases past and present, to be recorded and shared with future generations.

For more information, meet us at The Rooms this Sunday, or call Dale Jarvis at 1-888-739-1892 ext 2.

Presented in collaboration with The Rooms as part of the First Annual Folklife Festival of Newfoundland & Labrador

Janney Film Night

Date:
Wednesday, December 2, 2009 - 7:00pm - 8:30pm

Location:
The Rooms Theatre, St. John's

Mummers and Masks and Mum's the Word

Mummers and Masks is a one-hour documentary by Chris Brookes that examines the ancient Christmas tradition of mummering on both sides of the Atlantic. Mum's the Word is an outrageous short comedy about mummers in St. John’s plotting a robbery directed by Ed Tanasychuk and written by Kerri MacDonald.

PLUS: A new short film by Jason Sellars!

Presented in collaboration with The Rooms as part of the First Annual Folklife Festival of Newfoundland & Labrador.

http://mummersfestival.ca/home/?q=node/50

Labrador Inuit diary - documentary broadcast

A new feature documentary from Battery Radio can be heard on CBC Radio IDEAS Monday Nov 30th and Tuesday Dec. 1st

Listen online at: http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/

ABRAHAM'S DIARY traces the tragic story of 2 Labrador Inuit families who travelled to Europe in 1880 to be exhibited in zoos.

The late 19th century saw the rise of scientific racism in Europe, and those who flocked to the zoo exhibit expected to gape at "exotics" from some "primitive race". What they found instead were Labradorimiut who spoke 3 languages, played German hymn tunes on violin, and who were keeping their own ethnographic notes on the "uncivilised" Europeans. Tragically, both families died of smallpox, but not before Abraham Ulrikab wrote his impressions of the trip in a remarkable diary.

The 2-hour special features the voices of Solomon Simeak, Robin McGrath, Tom Gordon, Rainer Baehre, Hans Rollman, Mary Simon, Aaju Peter, Aiden Flynn and others. Part One will be heard on Monday night, with Part Two the following evening.

You can find information and online audio at http://www.batteryradio.com/Pages/Abraham.html

The Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage

Ms Reiko Yoshida, Assistant Programme Specialist. Intangible Heritage Section at UNESCO, elaborates on the relevancy of the Convention on the Safeguarding of Intangible Cultural Heritage during the Mapping for Change Conference which took place in Nairobi, Kenya in September 2005.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7B4Cqzm-lWA

The Wren, The Wren, The King of the Birds - The Wren Song

The wren is just one of several Christmastime house-visiting traditions that continue in Newfoundland and Labrador. Typically, children and/or adults will visit homes within their community carrying around an effigy of a small bird—the wren. Upon entry into a home, they usually recite a poem about the wren and may offer some kind of performance, be it song, joke, or recitation. Often the host will offer up food, drink, or money for the visit. Unlike other house-visiting traditions, there are no disguises involved.

Recorded over one day in November of 2009, here are four slightly different versions sung and recited by five different people, all from the community of Colliers, Conception Bay.

Blair Phillips & Gay Phillips http://collections.mun.ca/u?/ich_xmas,6

Honora Skanes http://collections.mun.ca/u?/ich_xmas,1

John Ryan http://collections.mun.ca/u?/ich_xmas,3

Will Murphy http://collections.mun.ca/u?/ich_xmas,7

Granny! 'Tis Mummers!!

The province's First Annual Folklife Festival kicks off tonight with an exhibition of fine art and craft dedicated to the history and culture of Mummering.

“The Mummers Festival is a series of events taking place in late November and December which will culminate with the Mummers Parade on December 20th, ending on the grounds of The Rooms with a Christmas concert and Mummers Jam with music, dancing, and spaces for impromptu performances,” says the Province’s Intangible Cultural Heritage Officer, Dale Jarvis.

Jarvis says “The folklife festival is an opportunity for cultural exchange - a place where audiences can feel free to engage with particular traditions and their respective tradition-bearers-within a 'museum without walls' context. The folklife festival is an invitation for audiences to participate, to learn, dance, dress, move, sing, and interact with tradition-bearers and each other.”

Folklife Festival Organizer Ryan Davis says “Mummering in Newfoundland and Labrador takes on many different forms: it continues as a Christmastime house visit; it has become a type of performance for summertime Come Home Year celebrations; it’s the topic of a still-popular song; and it’s represented in art and craft.”

The Mummers Festival is being organized by the Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador and our sponsors: The Rooms; The Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador; Memorial University; MITACS; The Friends of Victoria Park Lantern Festival; Georgestown Neighbourhood Association; Mummer's The Word; and MacPherson Elementary School.

For more information about how you can participate, volunteer and learn more about the Mummers Festival go to the festival website at www.mummersfestival.ca

For Further Information
Contact:
Ryan Davis

1-888-739-1892
info@mummersfestival.ca

ICH Update for November 2009

In this month's ICH update: the creation of Dance NL, to safeguard dance traditions and contemporary dance in Newfoundland and Labrador; and our ICH intern Jed Baker sails off to the Wooden Boat Conference and reports back.

Download the pdf at:
http://tinyurl.com/yfz38mp

Traditional Dance Night, November 25

Dust off your dancing shoes and let loose for a night of traditional jigs, reels and running the goat. Music will be provided by those darlings of Water Street (Tuesdays only) - The Auntie Crae Band (Stan Pickett, Andrew Lang, Doug Baggs and Rick West).

Folk Night happens every Wednesday night at the SHIP PUB (formerly known as the SHIP INN) on Solomon's Lane (265 Duckworth). The music goes from 9:30 pm to 12:00 am. $5 at the door.

People and Place: Realizing Potential

A lecture on people and place, and the intangible cultural heritage strategy of Newfoundland and Labrador, given by folklorist Dale Gilbert Jarvis on Thursday, November 19th, 2009, at the Cultural Tourism Conference in Trinity, Trinity Bay, Newfoundland, Canada.



Download a copy of this video at:
http://www.archive.org/details/PeopleAndPlace