Arrive Magazine - November/December, 2008

silk, bangles and beads, and “wench brigades”—men and boys dressed in drag. This big-deal affair officially starts at 9 a.m., attracts about 100,000 spectators—and lasts a mind-boggling eight hours. And rest assured that the partying begins well before 9 and wraps up with a 2 a.m. unofficial “ victory parade” in South Philadelphia. If that’s too much for you, buy a ticket (about $12) to the finale and competition at the Convention Center, where judges hand out some $400,000 in prizes to the most outrageous brigades. This Philly tradition goes back to 1901 (there’s even a Mummers Museum, at Second Street and Washington Avenue). And about the word “mummer”: Some say it is descended from the German word vermummen , “to disguise.” Others point to the Greek god Momus, who was expelled from Heaven after mocking other gods. And the impulse to dress up in wacky costumes? There are those who trace it to the Druids and the Celts—the world’s first trick-or-treaters.

RESTAURANTS AND CATERING BY DANIEL STERN

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Lions and Dragons

What: Chinese New Year Parade When: Sunday, Feb. 1

Where: Manhattan

Why: According to legend, almost five millennia ago Emperor Huangdi invented a calendar to help farmers decide when to sow and reap—and thus was born Chinese New Year, which marks the beginning of spring (even though it falls in the middle of winter in Ne w York). The Year of the Ox begins Jan. 26, but the celebration goes on for days, and the annual New Year Parade is traditionally the following Sunday. Naturally, copious amounts of delicious food are involved. Bet ween raids on the neighborhood restaurants and dim-sum palaces, you can watch a parade of 5,000 people that begins around 1 p.m. and features musicians, floats, firecrackers, dancers, acrobats, magicians and clusters of traditional dancers in lion and dragon get-ups weaving their way down narrow streets. Steven Tin, president of the Better Chinatown Society, says last year’s parade attracted 350,000 gawkers, although the streets are so crowded during New Year it’s hard to tell the spectators from the shoppers and street vendors.