The Mummers' Play

The words

1. Boxing Day

   26 December, when the Marshfield play is performed.

   Folktrax archive (opens a new tab)

2. Egdon Heath

   Setting of Hardy’s mummers in The Return of the Native.

   Hardy, The Return of the Native (opens a new tab)

3. Eustacia

   Hardy’s heroine, who joins the Egdon mummers.

   Hardy, The Return of the Native (opens a new tab)

4. Guisers

   Old name for disguised Christmas mummers.

   Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

5. Hobby Horse

   A costume horse that often joins the mummers.

   Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

6. Marshfield

   Village near Bath with a Boxing Day mummers’ play.

   Folktrax archive (opens a new tab)

7. Paper Boys

   The Marshfield mummers, dressed in strips of newspaper.

   Folktrax archive (opens a new tab)

8. Plough Monday

   January day of related plays in Lincolnshire and the East Midlands.

   Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

9. Quack Doctor

   The comic doctor who revives the slain man.

   Traditional Drama Research Group (opens a new tab) · Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

10. Saint George

    Hero of the mummers’ play.

    Hardy, The Return of the Native (opens a new tab) · Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

11. Thomas Hardy

    Novelist who described the Egdon mummers.

    Hardy, The Return of the Native (opens a new tab)

12. Tipteerers

    Sussex name for the mummers.

    Miles, Christmas in Ritual and Tradition (opens a new tab)

13. Town Crier

    Announces the Marshfield play.

    Folktrax archive (opens a new tab)

14. Turkish Knight

    St George’s opponent in southern English plays.

    Hardy, The Return of the Native (opens a new tab) · Traditional Drama Research Group (opens a new tab)

15. Wooden Swords

    Weapons of the Chiddingfold players.

    Traditional Drama Research Group (opens a new tab)