The coat of ‘tatters’ hides your body shape – particularly when you’re dancing. It was a very effective disguise then, and it still is now now. And they’d round off the ensemble by sticking pheasant feathers in their hair, to proudly proclaim that they were poachers too. Morris dancers in coal-mining towns and villages on the Welsh border would smear their faces in coal dust, wear black hats and black coats with strips of cloth sown onto them, and then go out to dance and collect money. I had always understood that there were no racist connotations to Border Morris dancing, and that the tradition came from a time when busking was considered to be begging, and begging was illegal. There is actually a lot more on Border Morris specifically, including the black-face aspect: Not a great deal is known, actually, but the famous events are there: early references by disgruntled medieval monks a performance for Henry VII William Shakespeare’s most popular actor going out on a Morris dancing bender known as the ‘nine days wonder’ frowned on by the Puritans decline in the Industrial Revolution championed by Cecil Sharp in 1899 revival in 20th century. If you want a potted history of the Morris then the Wikipedia page is probably a good start:
And my point is that it has been done in different ways, in different political climates, for different reasons, again and again and again. Morris dancing has been around since the 15th century. And I’m sure I will again.Īnd I think that for anyone who is serious about celebrating English traditions, it’s a very important question to ask, so I’m going to ask it again: I don’t recognise the people in the photo above (that’s kind of the point of the face paint, as it happens) but I’m sure I will have danced out with Foxs Morris, and had a drink with them and played tunes with them. We usually dance at Banbury Folk Festival. I’ve been part of a Morris side-specifically the kind that black up: Border Morris-for about 7 years now. An official spokesperson for the Prime Minister said that “I don’t see it as something on which any kind of comment is needed.” And apparently the Prime Minister agreed.īut I do. It’s a proud British tradition, dating back to the 16th century. The Telegraph says that it isn’t, and congratulates the Prime Minister for ‘doing his research’.
Twitter is going a little crazy for it right now, unsurprisingly. Since then the Guardian picked up on the story. The Morris dancers had their faces blacked. Saturday morning I saw an article in the Telegraph about a photo of David Cameron posing with some Morris dancers in Banbury.
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