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More than 5000 entries on the history, culture and life of Britain (published in 1993 by Macmillan, now out of print)
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mummers
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Performers of a midwinter folk play, once common in most parts of Britain and still surviving in a few places. The actors are local amateurs, traditionally all men. They usually wear costumes which conceal their faces and they speak their doggerel verses in a deadpan manner, stepping into the circle formed by the onlookers to perform a play which has a very consistent central theme.
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A hero, most often St George or King George, engages in single combat with an adversary (Bold Slasher and the Turkish Knight are leading candidates). One of them is killed, whereupon a comic doctor steps forward; he professes to have all sorts of cures and is much concerned with being paid, but he does manage to revive the dead man. The play is probably a survival of a midwinter festival, celebrating or encouraging the renewal of life in the coming season, with many of the specific details added during the 18C.
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