Good morning everyone, Cyn I think you've got me this time I have not even a glimmer of an idea. Maybe clues will help so will check back in later.

Annette

I read most of the info from your link last week so think I know this one. Will wait for clues to see if I am on the right path.

Beautiful weather here the past few days. Temp high of 40F melting some of the snow. Not as nice as San Francisco area where my sister-in-law picked and sent along a photo of the last rose of 2013. Still, enjoying a break from the single digits where we are heading again tomorrow. Plan to do some end of the year bargain shopping this afternoon.

Wow - it's Saturday!! I lost track of the days and almost forgot to come over for Trivia.

I did not read the full article - busted! I have no clue of my own, and need your help!!

Nancy.

Ha, Bobbie, I thought you might know after you mentioned that you had explored the other link last week! Mum's the word though! ;)

Just got home from getting a haircut. It has been five months. I always feel so good after a haircut (even though I pretty much look exactly the same since I have straight, fine, thin hair-not much I can do) that I feel like strutting down Broad Street.

Cynthia

Is there a parade associated with this festival? Is there a certain group associated with the parade whose name would give us a big clue?

TM

Big time parade! About 15,000 paraders from what I have read. The entire parade used to be telecast-it took up all of New Year's Day! Went to watch once when John was little, but it was impossible to get close enough to see well. The parade is actually the festival. Used to be quite something back in the 50s-60s when the groups would spend the set-up night drinking and continue through the day! I think they finally banned that. I suspect the younger generation got too sloppy. ;)

So, TM, I suspect you have it. Would you join in with the Comics, the Fancies, the String Bands, or the Fancy Brigades? I always liked hearing "oh, Dem Golden Slippers".

Cynthia

OK, even more confused. Too late for Macy's Parade and too early for Mardi Gras.

Nancy.

The parade traces back to mid-17th-century roots, blending elements from Swedish, Finnish, Irish, English, German, and other European heritages, as well as African heritage. The parade is related to the *#%$ Play tradition from England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. Revivals of this tradition are still celebrated annually in South Gloucestershire, England on Boxing Day and in parts of Ireland on St. Stephen's Day and also in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador around Christmas.
Swedes, Philadelphia's first settlers, brought the custom of visiting neighbors on "Second Day Christmas" (December 26) with them to Tinicum. This was soon extended through New Year's Day with costumed celebrants loudly parading through the city.
Traditional New Years' celebrations of firing guns (Swedes and Finns) and recitations of traditional rhymes (English and Welsh) joined common practices of visiting neighbors. The Belsnickle, an early German version of Santa Claus, inspired comic masqueraders riding through Tinicum and Kingsessing dressed as clowns.
U.S. President George Washington carried on the official custom of New Year's Day calls during the seven years he occupied President's House in Philadelphia. The *#%$ continued their traditions of comic verse in exchange for cakes and ale. Small groups of up to twenty *#%$, their faces blackened, went door to door, shooting and shouting, spoofing General Washington and the English *#%$s' play St. George and the Dragon.
Philadelphia's 19th-century Carnival of Horns drew thousands of merrymakers in festive costumes to the vicinity of Eighth and South Streets in the South Philadelphia section. An 1808 law decreed that "masquerades" and "masquerade halls" were "common nuisances" and that anyone participating would be subject to a fine and imprisonment. It was apparently never enforced and was repealed in 1859.
Henry Muhlenberg, writing in 1839, reported, "Men met on the roads in Tinicum and Kingsessing, who were disguised as clowns, shouting at the top of their voices and shooting guns.
Southern plantation life's contributions include the parade's theme song, James A. Bland's "Oh, Dem Golden Slippers" (introduced by Charles Dumont in 1903), as well as the 19th-century cakewalk, dubbed the "*#%$s' Strut" or the "2 Street Strut". Other ethnic groups have been integrated into the parade through the years. Italians began to participate in large numbers after World War II.

Gotta love Philadelphia. I replaced the name of the group wherever it appears in the Wikipedia article with symbols. This may be too Philadelphia-only to be fair. Feel free to check out my link last week to see if you can figure it out. Even though they are the types who might have thrown snowballs at Santa during football games, I have a soft spot for these South Philly guys. Wouldn't be NYD without them!

Cynthia

I think I do have it. I've never known much of anything about the #%$s and always used to wonder who the heck they were. I guess this is the time I find out.

TM

Used to be just a bunch of drunks strutting and dancing down(up?) Broad Street. No hummers or drummers though. Their costumes used to be amazing and they often worked on them all year long for that one day parade. The parade used to last from about 9 in the morning to 8 at night!

Cynthia

Ah, yes. Mum's the word. I had no idea this came from the Swedes!!

Nancy.

I'm still in the dark :(.

Annette

You see, I think it was the Swedish bit that confused me, as I had always thought of this as a weird English thing....

Nancy.

No hummers, no drummers, but plenty of strummers.

Four stars, or rather Mummers, for Bobbie, TM, And Nancy. Yes, the Mummers' Day parade is the answer. It used to be a very raucous event in keeping with the long history of mummers. More sedate now.

Happy New Year! Hope it is full of joy, laughter, and silliness (not unlike the Mummers Parade). By the way, did I mention the various groups work on their costumes and shows for the whole year. They spend more than they reap in prize money which is in the hundreds of thousands!

Here is a link that might be useful: Mummers video

Also, on the chance you are interested, here is another link.

Cynthia

Here is a link that might be useful: More on Mummers

Very colorful exhibitions. Looks like fun.

Cool - I had no idea there was a parade!! Thanks for the fun!!

Nancy.