Traditional Manx 'mumming' play to be performed this weekend

Tue, 12 Dec 2023

The ‘White Boys’ named for their unusual costumes have been seen around Manx streets at Christmas time for 200 years and they are back this Saturday (December 16).

The tradition was first recorded in the Isle of Man in 1832 and their name dates back to the 1830s, when it was just a description of the group’s unusual costume.

The Christmas time tradition is performed on the streets (and in welcoming inns or houses!) in the lead-up to Christmas.

The times & locations for the White Boys this Saturday are:

• 10am Kirk Michael, outside Cannan Court
• 11.30am Ramsey, outside the Courthouse
• 2pm Peel, Michael Street
• 5pm Peel, Black Dog Pizza Oven

The play is not performed to a single static script, but is adapted and changed each time.

This year’s play will feature St Maughold as the hero, and St George playfully as the antagonist.

After both of these saints die in sword fights, the Doctor enters and revives them with his bottle of ‘rixum raxum’ medicine, after which the play concludes with a song and a sword dance.

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