mummery

But what was once the norm can now seem a kind of ableist mummery, which this production attempts to sidestep by offering a Richard with no physical impairments at all.

From New York Times ● Jul. 11, 2022

Typically, contemporary novelists speak reverently of their form, as if the result were some kind of sacred object, so Alice’s position has a refreshing lack of mummery.

From Slate ● Sep. 1, 2021

“You know what that means,” is all he offered, and, after an evening of portentous headgear mummery, this hint at abdication should not be taken lightly.

From Slate ● Dec. 20, 2019

It's all mummery and flummery, and conducted with a winning amateurishness.

From The Guardian ● Oct. 1, 2012

But he was sick of mummery, so instead he grimaced, signed^ and handed the scroll back to Brown Ben.

From "A Dance with Dragons" by George R. R. Martin

Nor was it ''mere timidity or fanaticism or calculated hardness: it was a deep and speculative thing: hatred of all shams, scorn of all mummeries, a bitter, merciless pleasure in the hard facts.

From Time Magazine Archive

He grew cold to newsmen, turned his press conferences into funereal mummeries, finally began canceling them altogether.

From Time Magazine Archive

The carnival mummeries were general in Northern Germany, when masks swarmed through the streets; the favourite costumes were those of Turks, Moors, and Indians.

From Pictures of German Life in the XVth XVIth and XVIIth Centuries, Vol. II. by Freytag, Gustav

The intervals of the performances will be filled up by the solemn mummeries of the celebrated clerical buffoon, the Reverend Timothy Twist, assisted by a Deathless Clown from Drury Lane, and other available talent.

From Punch - Volume 25 (Jul-Dec 1853) by Various

How sweet in truth Heaven is, its floors of sandal wood, Its old-world furniture, its linen long in press, Its incense, mummeries, flowers, its scent of holiness!

From Satan Absolved by Blunt, Wilfred Scawen