Suspected to be bawdy revelers from ad agency Target

Click link for full slide show: Mummering photo slide show_1.mp4

A great band of strangely dressed mummers were seen marauding through the streets of downtown St. John's last Saturday night. The creatively disguised group - which included men, women, women-dressed-as-men, and men wearing women's undergarments over outer garments - caused all manner of disorder as they paraded from bar to bar.

One unnamed witness claimed the group swept past him, hauled him into a pub, coerced him into downing several swallies of a mysterious substance that "burned like Satan's fire," and then shoved him out onto the dance floor with a slap to his behind, demanding he "take a turn."

"I wouldn't have minded," admitted the unidentified man, "but when I got that slap on the rump, it was with such granite force, I suddenly realized the hand behind it could only belong to a monster of a man. Not the well-endowed lady I imagined was hiding behind the flowery headscarf and dress. I felt violated."

As well as disturbing the peace, the revelers have been accused of taking the revival of traditions too far, as they danced through the streets, boisterously brandishing inflated pig bladders and ugly sticks.

"Well, it was quite a sorry situation," said Police Constable Hugh Jass, who was (unsuccessfully) responsible for trying to quash the volatile jocularity. "It's incidents like this that makes you realize why they banned mummering back in the 1860s. People gets some funny disguise on, drinks some beer and whatnot, and they suddenly turn into hoodlums that think nothing of pinching law enforcement officers in private places off limits to all but Mrs. Hugh Jass."

On the night in question, someone who appeared to be Target's president Noel O'Dea wearing a 44 DD bra over a housedress was asked for a comment as he single-mindedly headed towards The Duke public house. All he seemed able to communicate, however, was, "Creativity is a powerful drinking tool!" and "Jockey rules!" It is unclear if this last remark was paying homage to what is widely known to be his favourite brand of beer, or the large underpants sported by a nearby man/woman mummer wielding a fiddle.

The tradition of mummering (also known as jennying or jannying) was brought to Newfoundland in the early 1800s by the English, and is still occasionally practiced today. At Christmastime, people cover their faces and disguise themselves with old articles of clothing. They parade about, singing and dancing, calling on the homes of their friends and neighbours who ask them in for drinks, and try to guess their identities.