Classic Christmas Stories

by Frank Galgay

  The two letters confirm a good deal of what Tocque reported from memory about the custom of mumming when he was a boy, especially that it had been a custom engaged in by both the well-to-do and the “lower orders” but that the custom was becoming the preserve of “the lower orders” almost exclusively and was becoming used by them as in the case of the attack on the Alcock party, as an attack on the wealthier and more privileged part of society. The lower orders whom the magistrates refer to were, I submit, almost exclusively Irish: this is born out by the fact that the magistrates single out Carbonear as a place where this custom of mumming was especially strong; Carbonear had, at that time, a very large Irish population. The Irish extraction of the mummers is of great interest and may shed some light on the political aspects of mumming post 1832: Irish political agitation in the home country, especially that in the countryside, was very often carried on in circumstances where masks and disguises were used.

  One of the most vigorous supports of Catholic Emancipation in Newfoundland before 1829 had been Henry Winton, the editor of the Public Ledger. However with the rise to prominence of John Kent as a Catholic politician allied with the powerful Rev. Michael Anthony Fleming, Catholic Bishop of St. John’s (Kent was married to Johanna Fleming, the Bishop’s sister) Winton took up a political stance which can variously be interpreted as anti-clerical, anti-Irish or anti-Catholic. Winton’s stance against the growing power of what he saw as an ignorant Catholic oligarchy earned him the enmity of the mob. Most likely expecting the worst from the Christmas Mummers whom Winton saw clearly as nothing more than the bully boys of the clerical party, Winton had the temerity to publish a letter and an editorial against the mummers on Christmas Eve in 1833. “It is an old but senseless practice with a certain portion of the inhabitants of this town to celebrate the Christmas holidays, by dressing themselves up in the most ludicrous, the most fantastic shapes and under the character of ‘mummers’ parade the public streets, carrying with them all kinds of offensive and defensive weapons.” The letter goes on to decry the authorities’ permitting the mummers to parade, since the mummers took upon themselves “the right of insulting all those whom they look upon as enemies.” Pointing the finger quite clearly at Winton’s political enemies the writer of the letter denounced in advance the violence unleashed against Winton on Christmas night. “We have all, ” the letter continued, “reason enough to perceive the excitement under which a certain party or faction, is now at work, a party who only wait (sic!) an excuse (and what better excuse for them than this meeting of mummers), to inflict on their adversaries the produce of their evil passion.” The letter signed “Lover of Peace” was followed by some editorial comment which was more restrained than the letter by “Lover of Peace.” In the commentary, Winton, wearing his editorial hat, states that he is not opposed to mummering as such which he called “innocent amusement” but to the political purposes imposed upon it. It is interesting that in the same issue of the paper is a very strong attack on the political influence of the Catholic priesthood upon the “lower orders” who were the very persons whose custom of mumming was condemned on the same page. On Christmas Night the troops had to be called to restore order after Winton’s house had been burnt by the mummers. Thereafter some exchanges went on between Winton in the Ledger and Valentine Nugent the Catholic editor of the Patriot about whether military force had been called for in the circumstances.

  The list of assaults upon members of the public by mummers, especially in St. John’s during the period between 1840 and the ultimate banning of the custom by the legislature in 1861 is not large but it is significant. In 1842 a well-to-do member of the community Pascoe Carter was assaulted by a mummer James Walsh in St. John’s. The correspondence about the incident shows that although Walsh was arrested he was very quickly released with the assent of the man he had assaulted, Pascoe Carter. Walsh is reported to “have learned his lesson” and the incident was seemingly accepted as an accidental event in a customary celebration which was treated with a great deal of toleration by the establishment.

  However people like Winton of the Ledger who saw the outrages of the Christmas mummers in a darker light continued to cry out against the continued toleration of the custom. In 1853 he fired a broadside against the mummers whom he said “in all sorts of grotesque dresses . . . parade, and almost . . . take possession of the streets of this town.” This editorial was reprinted in another St. John’s newspaper the Newfoundland Express. It is clear that these editors saw the behaviour of the mummers as controlled by political agents and their acts of violence as clearly political acts. In 1855 Responsible Government was granted to Newfoundland and the first two governments after that event: those of Little and Kent were seen as clerically dominated Catholic governments and the politics of the period between 1855 and the election of 1861 were years of a good deal of factionalism and occasional violence. It was only natural that, in the context of Newfoundland, these disturbances would be reflected in the mumming. Possibly in anticipation of expected violence during Christmas of 1860 the local magistrates had posters put up in St. John’s stating that anyone appearing on the streets of the town “masked as fools” would be arrested and prosecuted. Those few who ventured out on Christmas night are reported as having been arrested. However, in typical Newfoundland fashion where persistence is nine tenths of the law, the fools continued to come out in clear defiance of the law and, apparently got away with it.

  The murder by a group of masked individuals of a man named Isaac Mercer at Bay Roberts on New Year’s day of 1861 was a most serious matter. The Anglican Bishop of Newfoundland, Edward Feild, wrote a letter to the Telegraph decrying the anarchical situation in Newfoundland and it is a fair guess that those people whose gentile notions and political angers were disturbed or aroused by the mummers exerted strong pressure to have the custom banned by law. In fact a law was passed in the summer of 1861 making it illegal to go into the public streets “dressed as a Mummer, masked, or otherwise disguised, ” but only if one did so without a license. The latter clause is important for at Christmas 1862, if an anti-mummer editorial in the Ledger is correct, 150 licenses were issued but the editorial suggests that many unlicensed youths joined in. The Ledger editorial suggests again that the mummers had friends in high places who continued to allow what the editor called a “degrading and brutal” custom. The outraged sensibilities of the “upper classes” are strongly and triumphantly in evidence in the editorial and it is from this point on that public mumming in St. John’s was very quickly done away with. In 1863 notices went up in St. John’s “prohibiting the use of firearms and forbidding mumming;” however, “numbers of rollicking boys” were on the streets “serenading the towns people every night, ” obviously replacing the banished mummers. A diarist of St. John’s in the 1860s records the demise of the mummers in perhaps unconsciously symbolic phrasing under the date of the 6th. January, 1864: “Last night and this morning a snow storm raged with great violence. The afternoon was clear but threatening, ‘Twelfth Day’ . . . but not celebrated as in former years by numberless fools and mummers on the streets.”

  By the 1870s the custom of Christmas mumming was almost dead in St. John’s yet it continued in areas outside the city for quite a period afterwards. In Brigus, Conception Harbour, Harbour Main and Holyrood at the Head of Conception Bay, I have recorded recollections of parades of mummers as late as the beginning of this century and one man in Holyrood, Jimmy Boland, aged 79 can recall having seen the mummers’ play when he was a boy. Nearer St. John’s at Pouch Cove there is a case recorded of a man named Patrick Whalen having been assaulted by mummers on St. Stephen’s Day in 1879. Whalen’s assailants Terrance Kelly and William Brien “both admitted wearing mummers apparel to avoid getting a beating from Mummers of Fools.” In 1895 the Evening Telegram reported that “all the mummers are not dead” but that “a party of young people grotesquely attired were visiting in the neighbourhood of Lime Street on yesterday” (Christmas Day). That report suggests
that the practice is a novelty and curiosity since it states “the custom had declined until it has almost appeared to have died out.” There is a quite similar report of a visitation by mummers in St. John’s in the Evening Telegram of January 5th, 1896.

  However one has a sense of “deja vu” about a reported beating (in 1896) at Harbour Grace of a young man returning from a New Year’s night dance—the circumstances and the place suggest the incident at Mansel Alcock’s house in 1831. The report of the incident suggests that mumming in Conception Bay was still alive and still retained some of the aspects which had led to its outlawing: “The practice of ‘dressing up’ and making friendly visits is harmless and may be all right in its way, but it is apt to be abused, and persons against whom anyone has a grudge suffer from the attack of such.”

  Mumming in Newfoundland during the period between 1830 and 1861 was a very complex social phenomenon and one is careful not to make categorical statements about its social significance however, I feel that the few incidents involving mumming which are on record and the remarks made explicitly and implicity about it suggests that it had a dimension of political statement and protest about it; that the incidents involving violence are all related to political events and to the uneven distribution of wealth and political power in early 19th. century Newfoundland and to the increased awareness of that fact after organized forms of political life were introduced to the island early in the 19th. century.

  The Folk-Lore of Newfoundland and Labrador

  by Rev. Arthur C. Waghorne

  THE FOLK-LORE OF CHRISTMAS—The Literature of our local Christmas Folk Lore.

  This must be sought for, no doubt, chiefly in the pages of our local, and perhaps a few foreign, newspapers, as far as anything of the kind exists, and in our Christmas numbers of the Telegram and Colonist, I have not a complete set of these to consult, but I find a description of a Labrador Christmas, entitled “Christmas in the Far North” (by L. A. W.), in the Telegram Christmas Number for 1887, page 5; also a vivid description of a St. John’s Christmas in the old times in the issue of 1886 or 1887, page 10, entitled “Rambling thoughts about Christmas in Newfoundland years ago, ” written by Mr. William Whittle, of Boston. What else has been written on the subject?

  CHRISTMAS WEATHER LORE

  I am assured by the Rev. J. H. Bull, that the idea of the 12 days of Christmas governing the 12 months of the year, referred to in the last communication, is currently believed by many old people at Battle Harbor, Labrador. These 12 days, they believe, make the almanac of the year.

  Though not in immediate connection with our subject, the following taken from a late issue of the Herald, may be cited:

  “A prominent gentleman in an important Water Street firm, without being a weather prophet, gives out the following oracular dictum— ’Whatever the weather is on Dec. 8th, so will the winter be.’ He says he learned this valuable information from a steamer captain eight years ago, and has always found it correct. He has from time to time imparted it to various gentlemen who have also observed the remarkable fact, and are assured of its truth. Why the 8th of Dec. should more than any other day, set the fashion for the winter’s weather he does not profess to say; but this winter will be, according to him, moderately cold, and marked by N. N. E. winds. Treasure this up and see how it results.”

  CHRISTMAS LOVE-SPELLS

  This season is, or was, in many parts of England, at least used by love-sick maidens for obtaining some glimpse of, or token from, their future or possible partners in life; almost as many superstitious notions, as to this matter, existed, as are connected with All-Hallow’s Eve. To the season of Christmas properly appertains the “salt-egg” spell. About here, at least, our local nestegg notion does not belong to any particular season; an authority from Scilly Cove connects it with Midsummer Eve. The idea seems to be pretty well known, but takes different forms. This is the complete form: Cut hard-boiled egg (first one of pullet) in two, fill it with salt, and eat it; go to bed backwards, not speaking afterwards; you will then dream of your sweetheart bringing you a drink (if he is rich, in a glass; or if poor, in a cup)— [Topsail], (Scilly Cove).—Glass to be placed ready, and, if offered to you, it must not be taken, else it will poison you— (Chappel Arm).

  SOME CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS

  I briefly indicate the customs which prevail about here, at least to some extent, or but lately, disused; and, as far as I can learn, in other parts of the country.

  This season is a popular one for weddings; this is so, I believe, to a certain extent, throughout the country.

  The old custom still prevails, to some extent, of having some new garment at Christmas; at Scilly Cove, it occurs, also at New Harbor.

  At Fogo the custom appears to be to light bonfires on Christmas Eve.

  Till late years the 12 days of Christmas were kept as entire holidays as far as possible, at least by many. Enough wood was cut up and stowed away to last till the Epiphany, even now many do so up to New Year’s Day. This is an old English custom. The Monday after the Epiphany was called by country folks, in the old times, “Plough Monday, ” as they then returned to their usual labors, after the festivities of Christmas; devoting the morning of that Monday to overhauling and getting into good order their ploughs and other agricultural implements, and the rest of the day to a final frolic.

  Houses are subjected to a general clean up, papered and whitewashed; so too on the Labrador.

  Christmas presents or boxes, carefully concealed from the notice of those for whom they are intended, were probably much more common (like many other customs, good and bad) in former days, here and on the Labrador, than they are now.

  As each family finished supper on Christmas Eve, one of the men of the house would fire off a gun. So too after the Christmas dinner. Mr. Whittle mentions the latter custom as prevailing in St. John’s 50 years ago. Very few guns were heard about here this Christmas Eve.

  In very few cases indeed have I heard of any evergreens decorating the houses, as is so common in England, at this season. The family Christmas Tree, so popular amongst the children in the old country, and universal in Germany, seems, in this very neighbourhood, quite unknown. In the States this good old custom is steadily growing—about 2,000,000 trees are sold there each season, Philadelphia being the largest market.

  The Christmas decoration of our churches does not appear to have been anything so common as in England, though here and there it seems to have been done. The Rev. P. Tocque, in his “wandering thoughts, ” page 307, mentions seeing in 1843, the pews of Trinity Church decorated with mountain-ash-berries, commonly called in Newfoundland, “dog-berries.” He observes too that large bags of these berries are often gathered in the autumn and preserved for Christmas eating, the frost making them more palatable.

  Some other old customs must be kept for the next communication. From the two introduction to this subject which you have printed, your readers will have gained a good idea of the scope and range of Folk-Lore; and I hope they will perceive that, however absurd and frivolous some matters connected with it may appear at first sight, there is much to be learned from its study. The ignorant and narrow-minded are not qualified to see the true meaning and value of many things which to the wise and thoughtful are really full of force, and interest. The poet reminds us that very often things are not what they seem; on the other hand the old proverb says:

  “’TIS NOT ALL GOLD THAT GLITTERS.”

  This assuredly is true of Folk-Lore. It is with a painful amusement I learn that some good folks in this neighbourhood are a little (if not much shocked) at my writing about such “nonsense.” I suppose such persons, if they read Mr. Newell’s instructive explanation of the meaning and value of Folk-Lore, failed to take in his meaning; or as likely as not, though they knew better than he did about the matter! Such objectors, however, are probably of the same class as those who about here, regard missionary meetings as carnal, too unspiritual for their sanctified tastes! So that the opinions of such persons c
annot have much weight. I had intended to begin my communications with some notes on Weather Lore, and death and dream omens; but the approach of Christmas invites us to the consideration of Folk-Lore of the Christmas season.

  This is indeed, in all its aspects, an interesting, comprehensive, and instructive subject. Perhaps there is no richer field of study throughout the whole region of Folk-Lore than that of the Christmas Festival, with its rich history, its diverse customs (national, local, ecclesiastical, domestic, and social), its many superstitions and poetry. Whether here in Newfoundland we can contribute our full and proper proportion to the subject-matter of Christmas Folk-Lore remains to be seen. I regret that my own contributions are very meagre and incomplete, but I trust that others who have a deeper knowledge of the subject will kindly inform your readers, either directly to you, or through me, more at large about the matter.