“In the Good Old Mummertime . . . .” 0

I lived in the Greater Philadelphia Co-Prosperity Sphere for over two decades.

Philadelphia is one of the nation’s great cities and I do miss it, for all that it has faults; having lived there, I know that my current location of residence, for all that it is legally a city, is no city; it is a resort town surrounded by endless suburbs with delusions of city, Rehobeth Beach with dreams of grandeur, if you will.

During the time I lived in the Philly area, I was never moved to watch the Mummers parade. I didn’t have a position on it, one way or the other; I just couldn’t be bothered to get up at five and shiver my way through the day on Broad Street.

The Mummers are very much a Philly thing, for good or ill. In the most recent parade, though, the ill seems to have triumphed in a series of incidents of hate-full and bigoted actions on the part of the paraders.

Philly is moving, however fitfully, into the 21st Century.

The Mummers look back wistfully to the 19th.