the.com/mummers parade

means An annual Philadelphia procession on New Year's Day where costumed clubs — comics, fancies, string bands, and wenches — march and strut for a parade route of judges and crowds, competing for prizes.

from "Mummer" traces back through English folk tradition to mumming, the old practice of masked, costumed troupes performing silent or rhyming plays door-to-door, especially around midwinter; the word itself is related to "mum," meaning silent, since early mummers often performed without speaking. Philadelphia's version grew out of various immigrant customs — including Swedish, English, and German midwinter masking traditions brought by settlers — merging over the 1800s into organized neighborhood clubs that formalized into the official city-sponsored parade around the turn of the 20th century.