| Following the UK's ratification of the 2003 UNESCO Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage in 2024, communities across the UK have been invited to submit their living heritage to the new inventory. |
English folk play props and costumes |
| The Joint Morris Organisations (JMO) are in the process of making submissions for the styles of folk performance done by their member gtoups. These include mumming and guising plays. |
| The JMO has been consulting with their members about their submissions, but as relatively few of their groups perform plays, they would also welcome feedback from non-members. |
| The relevant extract from the latest JMO draft submission for Mumming and Guising Plays is given below. |
If you have any feedback, please email ich@thejmo.org by Tuesday 24th March 2026. Sorry for the short notice.
The Draft JMO Submission (17th March 2026)
Title (15 words): Mumming and Guising Plays
Inventory: England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland
Short Description (50 words):
Mumming and guising plays are short verse dramas performed seasonally with regional variations in England, Northern Ireland and southern Scotland. The traditional texts feature a mock sword fight or assault, and a quack doctor is brought in to cure the loser. They may also feature songs and short dances.
Please tell us more information about your element (200 words):
These plays are traditionally performed annually by around 200 groups, mainly at Christmas, but during other festivals in some regions. They also occur in Newfoundland and certain Caribbean Islands.
18th century in origin, they were taken from house to house by male groups to collect money for themselves. Today's performers are mainly morris dancing and folk enthusiasts but may also be ad hoc community groups, and may be mixed gender. Pubs are now the main venues, although some groups perform outdoors. Collections are usually given to charity.
A typical play has an introducer, the disputants who have a mock sword fight, a quack doctor to cure the loser, plus extra characters who ask for a reward. All versions have the Doctor, but the disputants vary widely according to region. The hero is often King or Saint George, and his opponent Slasher or the Turkish Night, but there are many others.
The actors may learn their lines from scripts or pick them up while playing bit parts.
Costumes may be representative, e.g. white coat and stethoscope for the Doctor, but may simply be clothing festooned with ribbons, streamers or plaited straw. Historically, faces were blackened, masked or veiled for anonymity. Today, facial colouring is rarely used.
Do you consider the element to be endangered, e.g. likely to die out? (No / Yes / Yes critically)
No
Please outline information relating to your element's safeguarding (200 words):
See Standard Reply*
Please outline how you have gathered free, prior and informed consent from the community in more detail (200 words):
See Standard Reply,* Plus
The JMO consulted Peter Millington, an expert on Mumming and Guising plays, who consulted with additional contacts outside the morris community.
Would you like to provide links to any sources of further information? (100 words):
The two main sources for further information are:
The Master Mummers website - www.mastermummers.org. This lists current folk play groups and events, and a selection of recent photographs. It also has distribution maps of groups, times of occurrence and regional variants.
The Folk Play Research website - folkplay.info. This has many articles about the tradition and a selection of historical photographs.
Both websites include databases of plays texts and various research resources.
Is there any additional information you would like to provide? (100 words)
The traditional itineraries of some Mumming and Guising groups are being impacted by pubs being permanently closed down. This means they have to arrange substitute venues which are increasingly difficult to find. Mummers plays can also sometimes be seen at folk festivals, and anywhere that morris dancing might be found.
Element Categories: Performing arts
Tags: plays, entertainment, christmas
* The full draft submission for all the JMO genres can be downloaded from tinyurl.com/JMO-LH-Draft-202603, which includes certain standard replies for all their submissions.
The JMO Living Heritage team comprises: Emma Melville (Morris Ring), Jen Cox (Open Morris) and Jenny Everett (Morris Federation)
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