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

When called upon to play the bear and carry off the maiden fair, he had been sullen and uncooperative, shuffling lifelessly through his paces when he deigned to take part in their mummery at all.

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

To support his new character, he practised some religious mummeries; he was seen worshipping the rising and setting sun.

From Curiosities of Literature, Vol. 3 by Isaac Disraeli

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 Wilfred Scawen Blunt

I, as medicine man and chief sorcerer, went through a great many mummeries, which I managed to make last all the forenoon.

From O'er Many Lands, on Many Seas by Gordon Stables