Mummers Parade and Mummers Museum

The annual Mummers Parade is a Philadelphia New Year's Day tradition with roots in colonial-era mumming and later 19th-century immigrant customs; it features elaborate costumed clubs performing music, string bands, and tableaux. The Mummers Museum preserves costumes, string band instruments, and archives documenting the parade's history and cultural controversies. The parade route and museum are central to local discussions about tradition, community identity, and periodic calls for reform.