Mummers Parade to return to Broad Street on New Year's Day

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PHILADELPHIA - The Mummers Parade will be returning to Broad Street on New Year’s Day after the COVID-19 pandemic prompted the cancellation of last year’s parade.

The Mummers announced their planned return during a press conference Tuesday morning.

Jan. 1 2022, will mark the first time the Mummers have officially paraded down Broad Street since 2020.

Despite the cancelation of the parade in 2021, some revelers strutted through South Philadelphia in protest of the city’s decision to cancel the parade. A small group of protesters, many dressed in classic Mummers garb and some with signs denouncing Mayor Jim Kenney, who had announced the cancelation the previous July.

At the time, Kenney had announced that the city would not grant permits to planned outdoor events with more than 50 people, effectively canceling the large annual parade and other events as officials struggled to keep a lid on the spread of the virus. Some Mummers leaders and organizations also asked members to stay home.

The usual celebration viewed by thousands each year features string bands, comic brigades, elaborate floats and plenty of feathers and sequins, but it has also attracted persistent criticism over its long history of racist blackface displays and other inappropriate or offensive behavior by some participants.

After the 2019 parade, Kenney threatened to end it if parade organizers didn’t clean up their act.

The Mummers Parade, believed to be the nation’s oldest folk festival, stems from a mixture of immigrant traditions, some dating back of the 1640s, dubbed "mummer" probably from the German word for "mask." It mixes the immigrant traditions of the Scandinavians who welcomed the new year with gunfire, the English and Welsh who entertained with masquerade plays, and the Germans credited with introducing Santa Claus to their new surroundings.

Black residents arriving after the Civil War added the signature strut along with "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers," the parade’s theme song. The parade became an official city-sponsored event in 1901.

The traditional spectacle now includes competition in four divisions: comics, the satirists; Fancies, with the flashiest outfits; Fancy Brigades, with choreographed theatrical works; and String Bands, the dancing musicians, with their traditional theme "Oh! Dem Golden Slippers." After the parade, the spectacle moves indoors for a show in the Pennsylvania Convention Center — and even then, it’s not over. After the formal program, mummers and their fans traditionally congregate in South Philadelphia for a celebration that lasts late in the night.