Author: Peter Witham

Miners’Life 8

Victorian Mummers or Guisers acting out a winter play

Modern day Guisers in Devon

The mummers or as they are styled in Scotland, Guisers, occupied a prominent place in Christmas festivities and revels of olden times. The performances like many old customs have been lost to the majority but they were a common site in early Victorian times in many mining villages. In fact they were often carried through to the houses themselves where children were entertained before they went to bed. The passion for masquerade and dramatic representation is inherent in human nature and was a means long ago of stating story and legend.
Social progress and fashion have drastically altered Christmas activities with an emphasis on consumerism, but in spite of this, in certain parts of the country, the old traditions of mummers plays are still practised over the festive season and particularly over the two or three days of Christmas itself.