The Philadelphia Mummers Parade: A sociological study of play and community

This research explores the broad question of how communities form and persist examining: the ways humans define and engage in play; the many ways in which play enriches the lives of individuals, families, and neighborhoods; the processes by which competitive play generates culture; and the outcomes of play for local communities and surrounding areas. Multiple methods were used in this case study, including extended interviews, participant observation, historical research, and content analysis, with the goal of revealing how the play experience and the process generate and sustain tightly knit communities. The Mummers Parade began in the mid-1800s as ethnically and racially distinctive holiday celebrations in South Philadelphia; by the late 1800s, the processions were a hybrid celebration bringing disparate groups together in play. In 1901, Philadelphia invited the small groups to perform as competing clubs at City Hall. Subsequently, the Mummers became a fully realized "community," with a unique artistic heritage, heroes, norms, and values that affect the lives of individuals and neighborhoods. My research affirms Huizinga's (1955) assertion that culture is born in play.