Season 2, Episode 5

Title: Mummers and Music

Time: 47 minutes

Locations: Bay Roberts; Harbour Grace; Codroy Valley

Story: Mummers & Murder; ‘Twas the Night After Christmas

Guest: Carolina East

Listen:

About The Episode:

Part One: Mummers & Murder

Newfoundland has a lot of interesting traditions but few are as celebrated as mummering.

Mummering is a Christmas tradition that dates back hundreds of years. It came to Newfoundland from England and Ireland with the first settlers. In it’s best known form, it involves costumed people visiting house-to-house during the 12 days of Christmas.  Once invited inside, the host tries to guess the mummer's identity. Refreshments are served and fun is had by all.

This sort of mummering is entertainment, but it wasn’t always fun for everyone. For some people, especially children, mummers were scary. They looked odd and behaved strangely. Mostly, the fear was unwaranted

In the 1800s mummering was altogether different. Mummers used to celebrate outdoors and could be found roaming the streets. There are many instances of mummers taking advantage of their anonymity to settle scores.

In one instance, there was a murder.

Part Two: Twas The Night After Christmas

In this segment we take a look at the lighter side of mummering with the Newfoundland Mummer Story Twas The Night After Christmas.

It tells the story of a grandmother who is *usually* very good at guessing the identity of mummers until one fateful Boxing Day night when she meets her match.

Part Three: A Chat With Carolina East

Carolina East has made a name for herself across the country, not only as as an impressive singer but as talented songwriter. She’s making music inspired by an eclectic tapestry of influences; from soul, to country, to pop.

She competed in the Sirius XM Top of the Country competition as one of eight semi-finalists. In July 2021, Carolina released a full-length album Soaked in Whisky. It’s a polished collection of songs about love, happiness, and loss.

Her songs are honest, vulnerable, and. always relatable.

Carolina joined me to talk about making music, her Christmas album Home for the Holidays, and how covering Journey’s ‘Don’t Stop Believin’’ changed her life.

Hear Carolina East at the following links:

• Carolina East (website)

  • Carolina East on Apple Music

  • Carolina East on Spotify

  • Carolina East on Instagram

Message Carolina to get your copy of her Christmas album Home For The Holidays. This year money from album sales is being donated to East’s friend Felicia Power who requires an expensive surgery.

You can watch the video for ‘Soaked in Whisky,’ featuring Justin Nurse below.

You can watch Carolina’s Home for the Holidays Christmas special here and be sure to listen to her latest, Russell Broom-produced single ‘Airport’.

Part Four: Monstrous Things

The season, I’ve been capping off each episode with a segment I call Monstrous Things. It features tales of a Newfoundland sea monster sightings reported in the mainstream media.

This episode offers the story of a ‘monster’ seen in the Codroy Valley area around Christmas, 1951. The sighting was described in the January 5th, 1952 edition of the Evening Telegram under the headline “Report Monster Destroying Nets.”

What do you think it was?

Listening Options

You can listen to the episode here or on your favourite platform.

• Apple Podcasts

• Spotify

• Amazon

• Google Podcasts

Sources & Further Reading

1. The Many Mummers of Newfoundland, Product of Newfoundland

2. Mummers, Murder and Mayhem, Product of Newfoundland

3. Twas The Night After Christmas, Product of Newfoundland

4. Mummers on Trial, Joy Fraser, Shima Journal

5. Some Comments on The Social Circumstances
   of Mummering, Cyril Byrne, NQ

6. Fought a Mummer, The Evening Telegram, 1907

7. Mercer Murder, Daily News, Jan 03, 1861

8. Mercer trial coverage, The Courier, Nov 23, 1861

9. Mercer trial coverage, Daily News, Nov 21, 1861

10. Christmas Mumming in Newfoundland, H. Halpert and G.M. Story, 1969

11. Newfoundland Mummers’ Christmas House-Visit, Margaret Robertson, 1984

12. Carolina East, website

13. Report Monster Destroying Net, Evening Telegram, January 05, 1952