Masking with the Armagh Rhymers: Liminality and the Ritualesque

In this paper, I explore the use of masks by the internationally acclaimed performance group, the Armagh Rhymers. The Armagh Rhymers are a charitable nonprofit comprised of talented musicians, dancers, and amateur actors who perform for children and adults in Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, and overseas. Their performances are based on the mumming tradition, a masked, rhyming folk-drama tradition based on combat, death, and resurrection that was brought to Ireland from England in the seventeenth century. The group founded in the late 1970s to bring schoolchildren of Protestant and Catholic faiths together in one room during the Troubles, a period of intense sectarian violence that affected everyday life for all of Northern Irish society. To entertain audiences throughout the year, the Armagh Rhymers’ expanded their repertoire to tell stories and to acknowledge the ritual calendar and special places. My fieldwork from 2022 sheds light on the creation of their masks and the liminal experience of performing in a mask. The masks are spectacular, sculptural and memorable. Not only that, but the interactive nature of the Armagh Rhymers’ performances brings audience members into the narrative in a way that encourages play. I argue that the liminality of performing in the Armagh Rhymers’ masks, and the ritualesque elements that audience members participate in, allow for the transcendence of the self. This feature of transcendence and entrance into a play frame allowed for social healing in their early years, creating lifelong positive memories of neighbors from the other side of the sectarian divide.