We were in bed before the New Year –
too tired to stay awake. Jet-lag
definitely affects you! For breakfast,
we met Tony at the Marathon restaurant, as his first choice was closed today.
Yes, we ate there yesterday, but that is ok, as it is a good spot.
It is COLD this morning. 10 degrees!!
We are bundled up, so we cannot spend much time inside, with all these
clothes. In other words, as soon as you put on your coat, hat and scarf, you
want to go outside. However, staying
warm today, will require us to go inside every-so-often.
After breakfast Tony wanted to go to
his apartment to run some errands, such as grocery shopping, while Cal wanted
to go to the parade route, to see what was happening.
Our hotel, the Westin, is in perfect
position. We are in the block south of
Market Street where the String Brigades stage.
Also, two blocks from City Hall, where the Wench Brigades stage. And two
blocks from Broad Streets, where all the Brigades march south to Washington
Street, before they return to the Pennsylvania Convention Center for final performances
and final judging.
History: Mummery is unique to
Philadelphia as Mardi Gras is to New Orleans. The first settlers to
Philadelphia welcomed the New Years by dressing up in masks and costumes, then
going house to house, singing and dancing.
We watched parade activity, walking
to different locations to see different groups. There are different divisions –
Fancy, Wench, Comic and String Bands.
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| Parading Groups |
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| Old and Young |
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| Keeping Warm |
After about 45 minutes, we went
inside a Starbucks for a cup of coffee, toilet – and of course to warm-up. Staying warm is going to be a real challenge! At the Starbucks I inserted my foot-warmers,
as my toes were not as toasty as I wanted them to be. The other part of my body, not warm, was my
thighs – my coat is not long enough, or actually, I need to be wearing ski
pants. After warming up, we can handle another 45 minutes! One of the
performers who stopped at the Starbucks had bleeding fingers, due to the cold.
And this was early in the day!
Tony joined us about 12:15. Walking
helps to stay warm, plus when standing, if you can be in the sun, it is a big
help too. We watched groups practice their performance, on their way to the
performance area in front of City Hall. At another point to warm up, we stepped
inside the lobby of a Bank of America building – we have a credit card with
Bank of America, so why not access this area.
The crowds were very small today –
understandable. We had no problem moving
around and standing where we wanted to watch a performance. The performers had
buses in which they could wait to stay warm. Several of the String Band groups
did not use their instruments when practicing - keeping instruments warm was an
issue today. Can you imagine playing any instrument today? Freezing fingers or lips! Some of the costumes allowed for layers of
clothes to be worn under them, while other did not. Some of the performers had to be
freezing.
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| String Band Performance |
At the second Starbucks, Cal chatted
with someone who is a member of one of the brigades. These are membership clubs called Brigades. The groups meet once a week. Beside socializing, they are fundraising and
preparing for next year’s Mummers parade. For those groups with chorographic
parts, there is practice. For those with
props, these need to be made and painted. And of course, there are the costumes
that need to be designed and made. Some
costumes were extremely elaborate. The
comic groups had basically the same design of costume, but in different colors.
This gentleman told Cal that
cancelation and postponement of the parade was discussed. However, with all the expense of costumes,
and the time spent in practice, they wanted to be able to march. This was the coldest year since 1919!! They
may have postponed the event until Saturday of this week, but the weather
forecast is for cold weather all week, so there was not reason to
postpone.
It is an interesting event! Glad we came, even if it is cold. 
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