All Silver and No Brass: An Irish Christmas Mumming

by Henry Glassie

Overview

For the general reader as for the folklorist, this is a fascinating, vivid, and sensitive account that, through its portraits of individuals and of a community, offers a unique insight into a folk custom of the Christmas season.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780812211399
Publisher:	University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication date:	01/29/1976
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1100L (what's this?)

About the Author

Henry Glassie is College Professor of Folklore at Indiana University. He is the author of Art and Life in Bangladesh, Irish Folktales, The Spirit of Folk Art, and Pattern in the Material Folk Culture of the Eastern United States, which is also available from the University of Pennsylvania Press.

Table of Contents

Bright Waters, Green Isle: A Preface
Acknowledgments

Four Conversations
—Ellen Cutler: I Loved to See the Mummers Come
—Hugh Nolan: I'll Tell You the Way It Was
—Peter and Joseph Flanagan: A Little Entertainment
—Michael Boyle: We Used to Mum in Our Country
Rhyme and Reason
Survival: The Ould Customary Thing
Geography: A Custom in These Islands
Performance: Go in with a Vengeance
Meaning: The Performance of the Season
Function: To Bring Unity amongst Them
Envoi
Fare Thee Well for a While

Glossary
Bibliography
Notes
Index

Editorial Reviews

"An excellent book, not only a perceptive study of mumming in Ireland but also an excellent introduction to folklore and what folklorists do. . . . This book is most impressive and can be recommended for any level of adult audience."—Choice

"An excellent book recommended both to the student of literature and the general reader interested in folklore."—Irish Echo

"A magnificently comprehensive book. . . . Whether you are a mumming or Wran Boy enthusiast or not, this beautifully produced book will take you into a world of suspended reality, gone, but not quite."—Books Ireland

"Glassie has captured the authentic tang of the Ulster countryman's speech, laconic with surprising shots of hyperbole. . . . A beautifully produced book."—Irish Independent

From the Publisher