All photos by Chris Fascenelli 

A few years ago I didn’t know what a Mummer was. I had heard from my sister’s fiancé that he and his mother were going to wake up at dawn, try to snag a good spot by 2nd Street and go see the Mummers Parade on New Year’s Day. You couldn’t peel me out of bed at that hour—especially on New Year’s Day. At the time, I had been living in West Philadelphia for three-and-a-half years and I had never actually seen the Mummers.

My first actual experience with the Mummers was January 1st of this year, when I picked up my girlfriend from the South Philly Diner. She had gone to the parade and had entirely too much fun. Unfortunately I couldn’t stick around.

My second encounter, however, was not as brief.

If you didn’t hear them yourself, Duffy String Band plucked, buzzed, thumped their way through Fishtown on May 21st, banjos, strings and horns in hand. Members of the band told The Spirit that they hoped to raise money for the annual band expenses; which can reach up to $100,000. Two kids, Regina Kaminski, 11, and Foley Anastasi, 9, members of the Trilby String Band, were knocking on doors and asking for donations. Their efforts alone raised $470.

I caught up with the group on Gaul Street and followed them for about an hour as they zigzagged their way through the neighborhood’s side streets. As the band turned down each block, residents exited their homes with cell phones in hand, taking videos and photos.

Eventually, the band hit Frankford Avenue, stopped at Pizza Brain, and made their way back to the Duffy String Band headquarters at 2300 Cedar Street. There, Jim Sexton told me about the band’s rich history, which dates back over half a century. Duffy String Band was originally the Firefighters Band and was founded by George Duffy, who served as captain until 1959. The band was then renamed in his honor.

“Henry Kunzig started out as an accordion player with Aqua String Band; he then purchased the Firefighters band in 1956 and became Captain in 1959,” Sexton said. “He led Duffy up Broad Street as Captain for the first time in 1960 and continued to do so until his retirement from active marching in 1985.”

Henry’s four children and seven grandchildren are all involved in the band.

“His son Teddy Kudrick became Captain making his debut in 1986. Teddy continues to lead us today,” Sexton said. “This makes Teddy the longest continuing marching Captain in the [New Year’s] Parade and this year will mark his 30th year.”

There is a bad stigma surrounding the Mummers; some have openly expressed that Mummer traditions are sexist and racist. On New Year’s Day, there were reports that a group of Mummers were wearing blackface, even though blackface has been banned from use in the parade since 1964.

Duffy is different. They contain multicultural members. About half of the band’s current members are women, and according to alto sax player Kerianne Fath, Duffy String Band is one of eight bands that have women members. One of their banjo players, Catherine Hennessy, is a member of the LGBT community and two of their women members, Cheryl Crowe and Peg Rullo, have been voted into the Mummer Hall of Fame by their peers. Mummer bands like Duffy are breaking the mold of a historically male-driven culture.

I later discovered that all the stops we had made along the parade route were to honor past members who had died.

“I know Mummers who have passed away on the street,” said Angie Morta, “That’s how they want to go. Then get your ashes spread on New Year’s the next year—go out with a bang and confetti.”

 

I sat with the band members for hours hearing old stories from years past. Morta, 29, has been in the band since the 6th grade. Jim Anastasi and his wife Katie got married in the Mummers Museum. Their whole lives are Mummery.  Everyone was so close and instantly I felt like I was one of them.

“It was a poor man’s New Years Eve Party,” said Fath, recalling the parades of her childhood, “if you didn’t have money and had kids you were there.”

The Duffy String Band sold me with their family environment, their continuing history and tradition and their drive to be the best String Band in the city. They showed me the meaning of why this sense of belonging and family is important, valuable, fragile, and in many ways, slipping away from our larger culture. They value a rich history when combined with an open mind and open heart. Rather than taking a stance of what the Mummers ARE or ARE NOT, they focus on the real potential of Duffy to develop and evolve as something increasingly positive, with families and people who love each other.

I wish them well, though one thing’s for sure: When New Year’s Day rolls around, I’ll still probably sleep through the parade.

Some things never change.