1900s-1945
In the 1930s, a folk-lorist wrote down the words and stage directions of a mummers' play that had been performed at the Fleur de Lis pub in Leigh. The record found its way to the English Folk Dance and Song Society, where the details can still be consulted today. It is a relatively short version of a tradition that was once familiar across the country, with similar plays heard all over England and in Northern Ireland, and related variants turning up throughout Europe. The custom is an old one: these plays have existed for at least five hundred years, and their roots reach back before Christianity.
The Leigh play opens with an introduction from Father Christmas, and its hero is Saint George, sometimes referred to as King George. His opponent is the villain of the piece, the Little Turkish Knight. In the course of the action Saint George fights and kills him. The Old Woman then pleads on the villain's behalf, and an eccentric Doctor is called in to bring him back to life with the help of a special potion. All ends happily, after which the mummers go round asking the onlookers for money.
The performers were dressed in clothes covered with coloured strips of cloth, and their faces were blackened. They delivered their lines in a flat monotone, and the words themselves had become garbled over time, having descended from a much older ritual ceremony. That ceremony marked the end of one year and the rebirth of the new, asking for luck in the coming season, abundant crops and plenty of food. The usual occasion for such ceremonies was the Winter Solstice, which in time became Christmas, though the plays were occasionally performed at Easter. The Leigh version was noted at Christmas time.
The tradition has not entirely faded here. Within the last thirty years the Leigh Mummers have revived the play on two occasions, and other groups in the area still perform it each Christmas.