Don’t seem like Christmas if the mummers are not here, Granny would say as she knit in her chair. But on a cold, clear Newfoundland night shortly after Christmas, several outlandishly costumed mummers do appear and Granny’s house suddenly erupts in a burst of joking and tomfollery, raucous singing and exuberant dancing. Granny and her two young charges are instantly caught up in the merriment, When the evening’s festivities come to a close, the mummers are bid a fond farewell until next year.
Popular singer Bud Davidage wrote “The Mummer’s Song” as a tribute to a centuries-old custom in danger of disappearing. Since its publication in 1973, it has fostered a revival of mummering, as noted author and Newfoundland son Kevin Major points out in his afterword. The sparkling illustrations in this picture book adaptation are by the well-known Canadian artist Ian Wallace.
- ISBN: 9780531068250
- Author: Davidge, Bud
- Illustrator: Wallace, Ian
- Published: 1994 , Orchard Books
- Themes: Christmas, Family, singing, traditions
- Descriptors: Americas, Canada, Folklore and Fairy Tales, Picture Book, Primary (ages 6-9), Realistic Fiction
- No. of pages: 1