(The Fermanagh Men of Straw)

The Aughakillymaude Community mummers, widely known as much for their unusual sounding townland name where they all hail from (Aughakillymaude meaning the wooden field of the wild dog), have unwittingly become the unofficial cultural ambassadors for rural Fermanagh. The sixteen strong motley mummers troupe have literally been tramping the roads at all ungodly hours bringing luck, diversion and mayhem by re-enacting and performing an ancient mid winter hero/combat folk drama that is heavily pregnant with all the pagan symbolism of a mid winter European fertility play.

Since 1988 when the newly founded Aughakillymaude Community Association “jumped in” and saved the closed 1888 Aughakillymaude National School from being sold off into private ownership, the burley, unrulely mummers have been “holed up and lodged” within the same stone built listed building which proudly overlooks the tranquil setting of Upper Lough Erne outside Derrylin village 14 miles South West of Enniskillen.

Aughakillymaude Community Centre. Built 1888.

For the mummers there is no hullabaloo over “keeping on” the annual folk tradition of mumming (never mind their playing of an ancient pastime of outdoor wooden skittles in the centre yard). Indeed, for ordinary rural Fermanagh folk mumming is identified with being both enjoyable and chaotic, and being a commonly accepted excuse to “act the blaggard” and cause all sorts of ructions by “storming in” uninvited into settled homes, and peaceable pubs and halls.

Lofty academics would tell us that the Aughakillymaude nonsensical mummers play of rhymes and gibberish involving fighting, killing and bringing back to life from the dead a fallen hero by a blackened doctor using medieval root based medicines (the fore runner of aspirin) came to Ireland during King Henry II's reign of 1182. He is recorded to have instructed his Dublin castle based plantation soldiers to go out and entertain the native Dubliners at Christmas time.

Fermanagh mummer complete with
a three pronged straw pleated hat,
straw jacket and straw skirt

Whatever the exact origins, rural mummers know that mumming is what their parents used to do and were expected to do each winter coming up to Christmas time, when “getting up” a mummers troupe from their area and going about doing the house visits amongst your neighbours was all about bringing luck. Also it was a bit of fun, breaking up those long dreary nights in the dead of winter.

These devilish, fearsome heroes of the night (also known affectionately as “the Men of Straw”) are now plotting to make a real public show of themselves and their traditions by displaying a permanent public exhibition at the Aughakillymaude community owned building. Plans are well afoot to extend the building to the rear in order to “house” up to sixteen life sized mumming characters. Bold and daring applications written in the best of English for capital funding are currently being “haggled over”, whilst the mummers' priority is the naming of a country kitchen within the new building as "Cecilia’s Kitchen". Cecilia was a disabled elderly lady who lived alone on Inislaroo Island immediately opposite Aughakillymaude. (The mummers raised the money to install electricity via a generator on the island and proudly looked after her needs in all sorts of weathers.)

To make the 16 life sized mumming models (that will be housed within a turn of the century kitchen and parlour setting) the Aughakillymaude Community Association ”headhunted and swore in” Enniskillen model maker of renown Gordon Johnson. A humble, humorous wee man who is a devil for detail, Gordon has loads of examples of his artistic work on permanent display throughout Ireland’s finest museums and heritage centres.

Renowed model maker Gordon Johnson
removes the conical shaped straw pleated
hat from Captain Mummer, who is
holding a goat horned staff
and hurricane lamp.

For the past year with a big whack of grant aid from the Rural Development Council’s Peace two local identity and heritage programme Gordon has been working closely with mummers Dessie Reilly (Beelzebub) and Jim Ledwith (Saint Patrick) in ensuring that the straw craftwork, costumes and the accoutrements and paraphernalia that adorns the motley mummers are true to the real McCoy. The straw craftwork on the models is a much sought after traditional skill that the proposed mummers activity centre aims to rightfully restore and is a folk craft to be admired as it uses local traditional skills and natural resources such as oat, barley and rye straws.

Up to the time of writing nine of these life sized characters proudly stand (it must be said menacingly) – masked, silent and still – in line, threatening to come alive. They are extremely lifelike. Take another look at the brutish huge straw costumed mummer in the very top photo. Although a model, to stand beside him you would swear that the veins on the back of the hands (they are big as shovels) are pulsing. It would make the hairs stand on the back of your neck.

"Doctor Good and Sure" administers the
cure to "The Bold Slasher" whilst
"Lisbellaw Jack Straw" looks on

“Stir up carefully with an auld cat’s feather,
take that fourteen fortnights before
the day,
and sure if that doesn’t cure you, I’ll ask
no pay.

Moreover I have a little bottle in the
Hip pocket of my waistcoat
Called Hocus Pocus Sally Campain.
Rise up dead man and fight again.”

By the way the Doctor in this tableau is wearing a thin mesh mask over his face and is dressed with top hat and tailed coat to represent a Harvey Street trained doctor of old.

Beelzebub

And the final example of the model maker’s craftsmanship is Beelzebub who is a dirty lookin clart.

“Here comes I Beelzebub,
And in my hand I carry a club,
And over my shoulder, a frying pan,
A’m’nt I a horrible old man,
And if you don’t believe in what I say
Enter in the bold slasher
And he’ll soon clear the way” A mummer from Fermanagh, far west of the River Bann,
none braver, none stouter, no better man
let it draw near, that season in December
when mummers do battle in Enniskillen town centre. Mumming troupes a plenty gather up from all around,
from ancient townlands that abound and abound,
masked and clad in strange straw gowns
fighting to death with swords and acting the clown. So when the mummers wrap your door
bid them in and clear the floor
they’ll act the like of which never seen before
for mumming is our folk drama and pagan folklore.Extract from poem "Men of Straw"
Jim Leadwith

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A dip into the BBC Archives to listen to an extract of the Ballyboley Mummers performing.

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