The Story of "Mummers"

Hanna from Harbour Main and Henry from Holyrood
Handcrafted by Laddio Crafts - Newfoundland & Labrador

Aunt Agnes once shared with me, that what she missed the most when she moved to the "States" were the Christmas Traditions of back home, in Newfoundland.  She explained that during the Christmas Season, they would get dressed up using whatever they had around the house, disguising themselves the best they could, for when they went out visiting the neighbors.  I listened and nodded my head as she told me this story. 

The neighbors, would try to guess who the special visitors were as they played instruments, sang songs and danced on their kitchen floors, their hoods would not come off until they guessed right. After much merriment,  the visitors would be given fruitcake, cookies and treats and occasional sips of port wine! Aunt Agnes added, "They would laugh and laugh all the way home!. 

I remember this story well, it was just a few years ago that Aunt Agnes had shared it with me, but it was not until I was home to Newfoundland this past summer did I truly come to understand the tradition she was telling me about. I was visiting my cousin's family and I saw over in the corner, on the dining room buffet, a pair of colorful figurines holding instruments with hoods covering their faces. They sparked my curiosity! "Oh those are Mummers!" I was informed.  "Mummers?" I questioned. "Haven't you heard of Mummers before?" My reply was "No!" at first, but as I listened to the story of the Mummers I soon realized that this was the tradition Aunt Agnes had told me about, she just never used the term "Mummers" in her story!

I thought to myself, I never imagined that this is what Aunt Agnes meant by dressing up and going around to the neighbors houses! I laughed at the thought, and of the delight and fun they must of had during those cold snowy winter nights!

Christmas in rural Newfoundland can be a Christmas like no other.  The excitement of the season continues long after the presents have been opened and the turkey dinner eaten, for the Twelve Days of Christmas (from December 26 to January 6) is the time for mummering.

House visits like this have been part of the Newfoundland Christmas since at least the early 1800's, as settlers to the Island brought with them their many folk traditions from West Country England and Southern Ireland.  For those early settlers and their descendants, Christmas was the one time of the year when work was set aside and merrymaking took its place. [1]

Follow this link to hear "The Mummers Song" by Bud Davidge

     http://www.wtv-zone.com/phyrst/audio/nfld/01/mummers.htm  

                                         Merry Christmas and Happy New Year  -  Elaine

[1] "The Mummer's Song" by Bud Davidge songwriter, Ian Wallace author/illustrator

             Kevin Major afterword

Note: Computer problems are now fixed, so I will be able to get caught up on my long overdue Blog Entries, sorry for the delay! Stay tuned!

A Sunday Drive - Part 2 - Brigus

 

We continued down the road, North on Hwy 60 from Lakeview, Harbour Main that first Sunday after I arrived in Newfoundland.  The main road was located inland from the actual coastline of Conception Bay, we turned off onto a side road that lead to the small fishing community of Brigus.  This historic town is located in a sheltered bay and has been home to many fisherman and their families, it was first settled in 1610.

Town of Brigus and Harbour - May 2013

The town's well kept old style architecture, rustic stonewalls, lush green gardens, winding narrow lanes are reflective of it's English, Irish and Welsh Heritage. Brigus is home of the Hawthorne Cottage National Historic Site, the former home of Captain Bob Bartlett who was hailed as the "Greatest Navigator of the 20th Century". [1]

Our first stop was just before entering the town itself. The rough rocky shoreline and immense size of the boulders caught my attention.  We got out to stretch our legs and take in the incredible view! This was the point that my camera came out and I started taking photos!  It was just so different from the Midwest landscape that I am used to seeing on a everyday basis.

 We stopped in town for lunch at The Country Corner Restaurant. I enjoyed a bowl of their famous Fresh Cod Chowder, which was "Out of this World" delicious! It was served with a Hot Tea Biscuit and followed by Blueberry Crisp with Ice Cream and Blueberry Sauce, my first authentic Newfoundland Meal!  And yes, I ate every last bite!



Country Corner Restaurant
www.brigus.net
 

Fresh Cod Chowder
thecountrycorner.ca

Every summer this little community comes alive with the hugely popular Blueberry Festival.  Over 12,000 visitors from all over the world come to enjoy three days of music, traditional food, dancing and of course Blueberries! [2]  

 

Blueberry Crisp with Ice cream and Blueberry Sauce
from the Country Corner Restaurant
My photo taken May 2013

I sure enjoyed my time in Brigus and hope to return there someday in the future, maybe for the Blueberry Festival!

 

What a Great Sunday Drive!, and it was only my first day in Newfoundland!

 

                                             Elaine

[1]&[2] Top Destinations

           www.newfoundlandandlabrador.com/PlacesToGo/Brigus

 



 



A Sunday Drive - Part 1 - Harbour Main

Coming down Flynn's Hill Road, May 2013

 

It had been quite some time since I had been back home to Newfoundland, twenty six years to be exact.  Responsibilities and commitments took priority over the years, interfering with taking a long trip home, to Lakeview, Harbour Main.  

 

I knew we were getting close, I sensed the familiarity of the surroundings. I  anticipated that the hill was just around each little bay we would approach.  "We're coming up to it now!, we are getting close!", I would insist. "No, not yet!",  my cousin Wayne would

respond.                                                               

 

We came around a bend and started down a hill, then my cousin announced, "Here it is!"  Quickly we passed Grand Dad and Nan's old house, first the barn and then the house, just like that!                      

 

It caught me by surprise!, as I tried to take it all in.  It was not quite as I remembered.





Grand Dad's Barn as it is, in 2013, built 1920

                                                                            
The barn was faded an ashen grey, and you could see slight remnants of red stain from the last time it had been painted many years ago.  It blended in with the nearby trees, making it hardly visible to see from the road. 

The wood-wire fence that defined the meadow space was completely gone and the meadow itself was now overgrown with brush, trees and weeds.

The house my grandfather had built still stood, with the Mountain Ash Tree I remembered, by it's side.  The house looked tired and worn as the years of time had taken it's toll.

But, the great hill behind my grandparents house stood tall and grand, and green, with magnificent Spruce and Fir trees lining it's ridges and covering its trails that once were used to get to the top.

I didn't expect things to be the same, for all things change with time.
But there is something special about this place for me, for it holds two hundred years of Flynn Family History, of memories and stories, of life and death.



My Grandparents House 2013 in Lakeview, Harbour Main

We continued down the road to get reacquainted with the area for when I would return later in my visit.
This was my first day in Newfoundland, I had family to see, research to conduct, and sights to see.
It felt good to be back home.


                                                                                                                       Elaine

 

A Visit with Great "Uncle Martin"- Part 4

                                   

Below, are Uncle Martin's references to his family - statements were taken from various segments of the conversation between cousin Joe Flynn and Uncle Martin in 1993

My cousin Joe, asked Uncle Martin, "Do you have any memories of your brother Mike (Joe's
grandfather) that you can tell me about?

Uncle Martin was honest with his response, "What can I say! because I was not there very much" (pausing), then he continued, "not very much, because I was a kid and he was a man." Michael Flynn was born 1884, and Martin Flynn was born in 1900, with 16 years between them, Michael was probably living on his own by the time Martin was old enough to remember.

Uncle Martin did go on to say that he remembers his brother Mike lived on Bell Island., " he did pretty well, he worked as a Foreman on Bell Island" adding "he was pretty smart and pretty strong too!

"I loved when they were all up to the house in Harbour Main, I was probably 9 or 10." Uncle Martin recalled. "When they would come in they always had something to give me, a piece of candy or  something, cuz I was the youngest, the little fellow."

"Mike, that brother of mine! Uncle Martin recalled, "He was the oldest boy, I tell you, he used to get a hold of me sometimes and say, now don't you say nothing about what you seen, or I won't give you
no more candy."

" I remember a lot of things like that, he was quite a boy!"

Joe asked Uncle Martin about Mike's wife, Catherine Kent (Kitty Kent), "I heard she was a good singer!" Uncle Martin replied, "Oh Sure! She would come up from Bell Island to Harbour Main on Holidays, and she would sing, she was a hell of a nice person, she would always tell us stories."

Uncle Martin mentioned several times in his conversation with Joe, about his brother Pat (Patrick) from Hamilton, Ontario, that he had a large family. He stayed with his brother for about a year or so before coming to New York City to live.

When asked about his sisters, Uncle Martin replies, " Yes, I had a sister Elizabeth, she was the
youngest, and I had a sister Mary, and a sister Esther. Esther married a man from Bell Island, Lahey,
George Lahey he'll of a nice guy too!"

Joe went on to ask about Uncle Martin's brother Stephen (my grandfather), "Stephen was a well educated man?" Uncle Martins response, "We'll he should be, No I wouldn't say well educated, he educated himself."

Uncle Martin referred to his father Stepher Sr, " Now there was a One Shipmate!," which I am interrupting to mean, he was a good sailor of the sea.


I have listened to this tape recording of my cousin Joe's visit with Great Uncle Martin from 1993 many times now. During my recent trip home to Newfoundland, I was able to share this tape with Uncle Ray (my Mom's brother). We spent a rainy afternoon together playing the tape, pausing it for Uncle Ray to explain the parts I did not understand, discussing its content and enjoying Uncle Martin's stories. Uncle Ray was intrigued to hear the voice of his Uncle, who he had never met, who had come before him and who had grown up on Flynn's Hill just as he had and who had went off to make his way in life.

My favorite part of the tape recorded visit was when Joe asked Uncle Martin, "Can you tell me what part of Ireland we all came from?"  After a lengthy pause and careful thought, Uncle Martin replied in a firm and assertive tone, "You didn't come from Ireland my friend, No Sir! You were born in Newfoundland! If you are any relation to me! Because I was the youngest and my fathers name was Stephen..............

Thank you Uncle Martin, we will never forget our roots from Newfoundland!

                                                                       Your Great Niece,

                                                 Elaine

                                                                                               

Uncle Martin's Story about the Titanic

Joe's conversation with Uncle Martin continued for sometime, talking about when he was young, sharing stories about his family, places he had traveled and his job as an Iron Worker when he first came to New York City years ago. 

The conversation quickly turned when Uncle Martin excitably spoke up,

"I was going to tell you in my mind, about when the Titanic sunk,  (there was a long pause), now that's the big story to tell you!"

Uncle Martin eagerly goes on, "Well, I was out there when it sunk, (pause) I was just a young kid, (pause) it's kind of a long story, (pause) but my father went out there fishing in a little boat, with a buddy.  My mother, she had the other children and went to the farm, well, we called it a farm, which was a little ways from the house."

"My father, he had his friend, and they had to take me with them."  Reflecting on that experience, Uncle Martin questioned in disbelieve, "What were they going to do with me?, See I was a young kid, about 8 or 9, I was the youngest of the whole crew."

"They would put me down in the bottom of the boat, you know, down in the cuddy hole, that's right, that's right", he repeats as he reminisces .

"I will never forget that, never."



My Uncle Ray explains, that back in 1912 when the RMS Titanic sunk 350 miles off the southeast coast of Newfoundland, information or news about such an event traveled "around the bay" by "word of mouth". People in that area mainly relied on what had been passed along without knowing all of the details  about the tragic event but eager to help anyway they could.

Uncle Martin was actually 12 years old at the time the Titanic sunk, but for an old man of 93 years the event left an impression in his memory, that he wanted to share with his great nephew Joe who came to visit him one summer in 1993. Joe, who just happened to tape record the visit for his father, and who I was able to hunt down and who share the tape with me so I could then share this story with all who are interested!

A Visit with Great "Uncle Martin", Part 2

When my cousin Joe went to see Uncle Martin in 1993, Uncle Martin was 93 years old at the time. Joe found him living in a nursing home in Nassau County, Long Island New York. He had heard the story of Uncle Martin growing up in Lakeview Harbour Main and wanted to talk with him about his life and about his older brother Michael, Joe's grandfather. Uncle Martin had been away from Newfoundland for a long time,  but he was the last living relative of Joe's grandfather's generation.

Joe told me, as he entered the nursing home he remembers seeing an elderly man in a wheelchair near the front door. He was wearing a "Salt and Pepper" Cap and red flannel shirt, they said hello and Joe proceeded down the hallway to the Nurse's station and asked where he could find Martin Flynn.  The nurse took Joe back to were he came in, to the man with the "Salt and Pepper" Cap and red flannel shirt.( The "Salt and Pepper" Cap is a traditional cap worn by Newfoundland hard working men.)

After explaining who he was, Joe began his visit with Great Uncle Martin.  Uncle Martin recalled his early years as a young man when he first came to America.  "I came to Sydney, Great Britain, from there I went to Halifax, came across the boarder from my brother Pat, who lived in Hamilton Ontario, where I worked for about a year and came away with one of his children."  later in the conversation, Uncle Martin states that he was in Bell Island for a while, mentions Labrador and that he "moved around a lot" before coming the States. Being 93 years old, it was a little difficult at times for Uncle Martin to summons the exact details of certain times of his life, overall he did very well and as Joe described "He was a pleasant old man, full of stories about home."

Joe asked, " What did you do? Where you an Iron Worker?
Uncle Martin replied, "Yes, when I started out, see that Water Tower over there? I worked on that, back in the day you worked long hours, 10-12 hours a day, not like they do today! When I came to the States, I had about 18 - 19 dollars, that was a lot of money back then". Uncle Martin went on to say, he was a steel climber, and when asked if he was afraid of heights, he replied, "No, I wasn't afraid of heights, Oh No! I wasn't afraid of anything like that!,  My brothers would say, Jesus Christ, you shouldn't do that, you might fall off." Uncle Martin then laughed.

Uncle Ray shared the story he was told as a young boy, that Uncle Martin went off to WWI at a very young age, too young to join the war and that he never returned to Newfoundland.  When Joe asked Uncle Martin about being in WWI, at first he did not have any recollection. Joe asked," Were you in the war? there was a long pause, Uncle Martin's response was a question, "War?" another long pause followed, you could tell he was really thinking back in time, Joe, "You were too young, so you didn't go to war?, Uncle Martin, "No", Another pause, " I do remember something!, I was up through the Dardanelles, I can't seem to get it all together."  Joe, "That was near Turkey?, So you were in the War!" Uncle Martin replied, "I believe I was".

In 1915, during WWI, the Western Allies sent a massive invasion force of British, Indian, Australian, and new Zealand troops to attempt to open up the Dardanelles Strait which connecting the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara in Northwestern Turkey. [1]  Uncle Martin was part of the British Forces and was 15 years old at the time.

Imagine trying to recall something that happen 80 years prior!  I think experiences like war and hardship can sometimes be pushed to far corners of our memory. The story fits the unidentified photo I found in the Flynn Family Photo Collection and also is a fit to the story my Uncle Ray was told as a young boy about his Uncle Martin.

                                               Elaine

 [1]  "Dardanelles", Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
               http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dardenelles

A Visit with Great "Uncle Martin"

This story actually began twenty years ago in 1993,

Philip Martin Flynn "Uncle Martin"
1993, Nassau, New York

when my 2nd cousin Joe Flynn, who was living in the United States at the time, decided he wanted to find his Great Uncle Martin and meet him. Joe was interested in learning more about his Grandparents Michael Flynn and Catherine "Kitty" Kent who both had died at a young age of Typhoid Fever, leaving behind five young children, and thought Uncle Martin might be able to share some information about his older brother Michael.  Joe had heard of Uncle Martin as a child growing up in Lakeview Harbour Main, but had never met him. So Joe contacted my mother Mary, who was living in Illinois and asked her if she knew how to get a hold of Uncle Martin. Now, my mother was the right person for him to ask, for if she did not know where Uncle Martin was, she would surely find out how to get a hold of him.  My mother was always one to stay in touch with family, it was just how she was.

Joe found Uncle Martin in Nassau, New York, with my mother's help and tape recorded his visit for his father, William. A Christmas Card was sent that year to thank my mother for her help and Joe described Uncle Martin as a "Pleasant Old Man full of stories about home, and states that his Dad really enjoyed the tape." My mother saved this Christmas Card and I came across it six years ago, while moving her to a new place. I had just started researching the Flynn Family History and thought the card was very interesting, so I put it aside in hopes of one day finding my 2nd cousin Joe Flynn and possibly hearing the stories on this tape.

So I put the word out, and the message was passed along that I was looking for Joe, and sure enough I found him!  Joe sent me my own copy of the tape this past May!  Joe described his visit with Uncle Martin on the telephone and in person during my recent visit to Newfoundland.  He was concerned that the tape did not have the stories I was looking for, stories of how the Flynn's came to Lakeview Harbour Main, Newfoundland from Ireland. And, although that is true, the stories from Uncle Martin, just hearing his voice are a Real Treasure!

I will share some of the stories from Uncle Martin in my next Blog Entry!

                           Thanks Joe!                     

                                                   Elaine