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Bulgarian mummers at the Yambol festival,
Bulgaria
Two postgraduate students from the Department of Irish Folklore recently
accompanied an Irish folk theatre group on cultural exchanges in Bulgaria.
The students, Billy Mag Fhloinn and Peter McGuire, joined the Co. Fermanagh based Aughakillymaude Community Mummers on their visit to the incoming EU
accession state to promote understanding of Irish folk culture, and to learn more about similar Eastern European customs.
On the two trips, they visited numerous Bulgarian folk festivals, where they observed traditional drama, costume, dance, and music. The Irish group also
gave performances of 'mumming', a stylised Irish folk play, usually including poetry, song, and dance, and involving both set and variable
characters, usually acted out for fun. In addition, the Department of Irish Folklore established links with Bulgarian academic and cultural
institutions, including the National Ethnographic Museum in Sofia.
Bulgarian mummers in traditional costume (left);
Irish mummers (right).
The Department of Irish Folklore first came in contact with the
Aughakillymaude Community Mummers as part of the Room to Rhyme Project, a cross-border study involving UCD (Department of Irish Folklore), the Ulster
Folk and Transport Museum, and the University of Ulster. This study aims to record and document the vibrant tradition of Irish mumming, with an emphasis
on cross-community relations on the island of Ireland. Historically, mumming was a part of both Catholic and Protestant culture. In this instance, the
predominantly Catholic Aughakillymaude group also travelled with members of the Co. Down-based Ards Rhymers, a mumming group of mixed religious
backgrounds.
The funding has come from divergent sources, including the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs Reconciliation Fund and the
Ulster - Scots Agency. The
Aughakillymaude mummers are the only Northern Irish community cultural group to receive funding, under the auspices of the EU Peace and Reconciliation
Programme.The publicity surrounding the Room to Rhyme.
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