Artist / Band

Newfoundland Mummers

Origin Newfoundland and Labrador, 🇨🇦

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Biography

Newfoundland Mummers is a tradition-rooted folk album celebrating the centuries-old custom of Newfoundland mummering, recorded in Ottawa at Snocan Studios and released circa 1976 on the Snocan label (SCN 508). Drawing on a mix of jigs, songs, hymns, and traditional tunes—including “Mummers Jig,” “I’se the B’y’e,” “Muddy Musk,” and “Turkey in the Straw”—the album evokes the seasonal rituals of disguised visitors who went door-to-door between Boxing Day and Old Christmas Day, offering music, dancing, and communal revelry. Produced by Ron Sparling and Reg Watkins, the record was endorsed on the back cover by Joseph R. Smallwood, who recalls mummering as a vital source of community entertainment in pre-television Newfoundland. The liner notes trace the origins of mummering to England over eight hundred years ago, noting its spread to Ireland, France, the United States, and Canada, where the tradition became especially prominent in Newfoundland and eastern Quebec. Intended to capture the warmth and spirit of a Newfoundland mummer party, the album serves both as cultural documentation and as a festive reminder of a deeply rooted folk practice passed down through generations.
-Robert Williston

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