All mummers allowed in! First time mummers hit the annual St. John’s parade

The crisp weather didn’t stop the hundreds of people who took part in the annual Mummer’s parade in Bowring Park, St. John’s Saturday.

As in each of the last seventeen years of the parade, the first stop is the costume table to ‘rig up’ a mummering disguise. Parade go-ers dig into donated boxes of nan’s old clothing, large undergarments and doilies.

But for the first time ever, Beverly James and her family joined the parade to start what they hope to be an annual Christmas tradition.

A few visits to the thrift store and to Beverly’s house and her grandson Gabriel says their costumes were made.

“You should see her garage,” he said, “you could have dressed everybody else here as well.”

Amid a sea of colour, Olha Dohulyiay wore blue and yellow accessories to represent the Ukrainian flag. Dohulyiay says that the mummer’s parade reminds her of a similar custom in Ukraine.

“On Christmas we have like similar tradition, people dressed [...] and they go from house to house singing, asking for trees like candy and money,” Dohulyiay said.

She says she joined the parade because it reminds her of home and of her childhood.

But she said, “We don't wear underwear like this and this beautiful ugly sticks!”

Back at the rig up table, a group of kids clammered around the boxes of fabric and underwear. None of them had ever been to the mummer’s parade and snickered at the braziers.

Emily Halfyard works for the YMCA and planned the kids’ first outing to the annual holiday-time parade.

“We actually did a little presentation on kind of the history of mummering and where it came from,” she said. “And we kind of gave him the lowdown of what's gonna look like when we got here and now we're taking the kids out to kind of get to experience it.”

“I think it's so special because it brings community together and it helps people feel connected.”

Two student exchange students came to experience the festivities. They too said the festival reminded them of things they’ve seen back home.