Which one’s Morris?
Next!
Ain’t you hot wearing that?
No, but we do find the truth in July harder to deal with…
Why all black kit?
We like it, and no-one else in the whole wide world has got one like it and if they have, they are imposters.
Why do Vixen wear dresses?
Because they are Ladies.
Aren’t there pictures of Wolf’s Head wearing dresses?
Only in our spare time, and at least we were wearing dresses that time.
There’s worse?
Yes, but all in a good cause M’Lud!
Is it lucky to touch a Sweep’s collar?
Yes it is.
Are you Sweep’s?
Unfortunately for you, no. If you have just touched one of our collars the likelyhood is of a plague upon your house, or at least dirty fingers.
Ah-Ha! So then you must all be Witches/Pagans/In league with Beelzebub and therefore doomed to where all is forks, flames, nudity and madness!!!!
Walton-on-the-Naze you mean? oh right, we see what you mean. No, we are not a coven in any form and don’t practice any diabolical rituals with each other. Sorry to disappoint anyone.
Wolf’s Head and Vixen have no side policy about religion. We don’t need one. It’s true, we do get invited to many Pagan events, but, by the same token we have also appeared at traditional activities of either secular or Christian backgrounds. We all have our own individual range of beliefs and these are tolerated in equal measure. Therefore we never have a situation on practice nights where one half sing ’All Things Bright and Beautiful’ at the other half sacrificing a goat.
At least, not recently…
But Morris Dancing is all Pagan, is it not?
In truth there is absolutely no real historical evidence linking pre-Christian practices to Morris Dancing. It’s a common belief and has its origins in the romantic notions of Victorian ‘gentleman-folklore collectors’, so is in modern parlance, a load of old eyewash! That said, Border Morris Dancing, although a revival from the late 1960′s onwards, it has again become a living tradition; as interest in pagan themes also became more popular during the same period, it has worked its way in. If only to add to the air of mystery regarding Morris Dancing in general.
Are the Black Faces a ‘Black and White Minstrel’ thing?
No, they are not. ‘Minstrels’ originated in the USA in the early 19th century and first appeared in Britain on the Music Hall stage in the years following the American Civil War and thus gave rise to probably the most tedious show on UK television until about 1978.
Some Minstrel music did work its way into the Morris music repertoire however; Prior to the Morris revival in the years before WW1, there was no such thing considered as ‘Morris music’. The original dancers would often use the popular tunes of the day in order to attract donations. Toward the end of the 19th century this included commercially written tin pan alley Minstrel tunes picked up in music halls and from sheet music.
Do you use such tunes?
No, because we don’t like them or the association.
So what is the theory behind the blacking?
The actual origin of blacked faces in the Morris tradition is unrecorded, although the earliest reference we have heard of to a dancer with a blacked face dates from 1609. That would tally with the rise of the south-eastern tradition of Chimney Sweeps dancing on May Day. The black face would have, (in all likelyhood), just not have been washed. The ingrained soot being a badge of the trade. The Kentish tradition of ‘Hoodening’ also involves blacking, but then it’s a wierd one altogether.
Border Morris itself loosely originated in the 18th/19th century in the heart of what became the Industrial Revolution counties. So that would give it a firm connection with the lifestyle of the new urban greasy grafters rather than the previous swede-bashing yokels!
Add to that 19th century characters like Ned Ludd (Industrial activists) or Captain Swing (Rural activists) with their frame breaking/rick burning followers disguising themselves as women or blacking their face to avoid recognition and you have another possible cultural influence.
Speaking of rural types, the blacked face is also a feature of East Anglian Molly, where the iconography of poaching is a popular motif. This may or may not connect the black face with the 18th century anti blacking act, brought in to tackle night poaching in disguise. That and their habit of ploughing up gardens if they didn’t get a donation. A little disguise goes a long way in a small community!
We’ll never know for sure though. It may be all or none of these things.
For our part, we’ve just gothed up the concept a bit!
