mumming

This practice is called mumming, from which the practice of trick-or-treating evolved.

unknown title 2009

By the early 1600s, however, the excesses of "Christmas-keepers" in England had only increased, when such practices as "mumming" had become common.

"The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dickens's 'A Christmas Carol' Rescued his Career and Revived Our Holiday Spirits" 2008

They ever incline to the baby-talk style of composition, -- "mumming," as the tavern-woman proposed, the bread and milk which they set before their youthful readers.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 13, No. 78, April, 1864 Various

The custom of Christmas masking, "mumming," or "disguising" can be traced at the English court as early as the reign of Edward III.

Christmas in Ritual and Tradition, Christian and Pagan Clement A. Miles

As it stands, this old Christmas Mumming Play (which seems to have borrowed the name of an Easter Entertainment or Pasque Egg) is not fit for domestic performance; and though probably there are few nurseries in those parts of England where "mumming" and the sword-dance still linger, in which the children do not play some version of

The Peace Egg and a Christmas Mumming Play 1887

As it stands, this old Christmas Mumming Play (which seems to have borrowed the name of an Easter Entertainment or Pasque Egg) is not fit for domestic performance; and though probably there are few nurseries in those parts of England where "mumming" and the sword-dance still linger, in which the children do not play some version of St. George's exploits, a little of the dialogue goes a long way, and the mummery

The Peace Egg and Other tales Juliana Horatia Gatty Ewing 1863

However for the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on the extraordinary work of his brother Dara Vallely, also a painter but better known as the founder of the Armagh Rhymers, who are carrying on an ancient tradition of masked 'mumming' that is mentioned in the Táin Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and is even depicted in the prehistoric cave paintings of south-west France.

Slugger O'Toole 2010

However for the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on the extraordinary work of his brother Dara Vallely, also a painter but better known as the founder of the Armagh Rhymers, who are carrying on an ancient tradition of masked 'mumming' that is mentioned in the Táin Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and is even depicted in the prehistoric cave paintings of south-west France.

Slugger O'Toole 2010

However for the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on the extraordinary work of his brother Dara Vallely, also a painter but better known as the founder of the Armagh Rhymers, who are carrying on an ancient tradition of masked 'mumming' that is mentioned in the Táin Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and is even depicted in the prehistoric cave paintings of south-west France.

Slugger O'Toole 2010

However for the purposes of this column, I am going to focus on the extraordinary work of his brother Dara Vallely, also a painter but better known as the founder of the Armagh Rhymers, who are carrying on an ancient tradition of masked 'mumming' that is mentioned in the Táin Bó Cuailgne (The Cattle Raid of Cooley) and is even depicted in the prehistoric cave paintings of south-west France.

Slugger O'Toole 2010