Tribes react to Morris dancing

[editor]

I can't embed the content but it's worth a look as it's rather lovely

Tribes react to Morris dancing
Nomadic Kazakh's from western Mongolia, islanders from the Solomon Islands and animal herders from Ethiopia are shown BBC news footage of Morris dancing.

BBC Two - Tribes, Predators & Me, Web exclusive: Tribes react to Morris dancing

 

[cupid_stunt]

That is fucking brilliant!

 

[kabbes]

"We should be migrating. But we're watching TV."

Modern life summed up in two pithy sentences. Good work, tribal dude.

 

[cupid_stunt]

Just remembered a conversation with an old mate, when he first told me he was a Morris dancer. I was like - WTF?

His reply was, 'I like getting pissed, and making an arse myself'.

 

[kabbes]

I was invited to join a troop this summer. I said no though. Try anything once except incest and country dancing.

 

[Santino]

The World Famous Hammersmith Morris Men put on a decent show.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I was invited to join a troop this summer. I said no though. Try anything once except incest and country dancing.

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Just remembered a conversation with an old mate, when he first told me he was a Morris dancer. I was like - WTF?

His reply was, 'I like getting pissed, and making an arse myself'.

They seem to be the kind of people whose lives consist of drinking obscure ales, growing facial hair and playing Dungeons & Dragons type games.

Best avoided on all fronts.

 

[lefteri]

There was a Morris dancing festival going on in swanage when I was there the other weekend camping - I was disturbed by the number of troops that were in blackface, about a third of them

 

[campanula]

Loads of them in East Anglia, lefteri - Molly Dancers. Whole face blacking is sometimes changed to a black strip across the face (it's a disguise thing for ploughboys and has some subversive roots). As a shit dancer of any sort, can't say I fancy it.

I admit to liking country dancing and ceilidhs...and confess to a few weeks of line dancing (still shit at them all though, but it isn't so blindingly obvious in Strip the Willow).

 

[TheHoodedClaw]

I like the companion video Tribes React to Polar Bears too

BBC Two - Tribes, Predators & Me, Web exclusive: Tribes react to polar bears

 

[UnderOpenSky]

That's way cooler then goggle box.

 

[camouflage]

"We should be migrating. But we're watching TV."

Modern life summed up in two pithy sentences. Good work, tribal dude.

Is it me or did he say that in a "that's three minutes of my life I'll never get back" kind of way.

I've always wondered what people from tribal cultures around the world would think of each others ways if they could get to know each other. For instance, what would Amazonian hunter-gatherers think about the Saan people of the Kalahari, or what would Indigenous Australians think of the Inuit and so on. They could check-out each others hunting techniques and wildcraft and camp-building methods, compare creation myths and animist rituals, get hits of each others entheogenic preparations and have their Shamans get together for chats and compare notes. What would the Bedouin nomads think of Mongolian nomads? Good times had by all if you ask me. The thing about our world is that most information gets routed via the dominant cultural centre, if it get's routed at all.

 

[cupid_stunt]

I've never seen Morris Men 'blacking-up', IME both in Somerset & Sussex, is that a thing in some places?

 

[lefteri]

Must admit I thought

I've never seen Morris Men 'blacking-up', IME both in Somerset & Sussex, is that a thing in some places?

it was a fairly fringe thing after reading about it on here but there were several troops at this event

 

[mx wcfc]

I'm pretty sure Morris Men gather in "sides" rather than "troops".

 

[lefteri]

I'm pretty sure Morris Men gather in "sides" rather than "troops".

I'm sure you're right, I copied troops off another post above as I know f all about morris dancing

 

[Bahnhof Strasse]

Local to me they disguise, but don't black up...

 

[weltweit]

I know a morris dancer whose troup blacks up.
When I asked if that was not a little dodgy he became very defensive.

 

[tim]

Is it me or did he say that in a "that's three minutes of my life I'll never get back" kind of way.

I've always wondered what people from tribal cultures around the world would think of each others ways if they could get to know each other. For instance, what would Amazonian hunter-gatherers think about the Saan people of the Kalahari, or what would Indigenous Australians think of the Inuit and so on. They could check-out each others hunting techniques and wildcraft and camp-building methods, compare creation myths and animist rituals, get hits of each others entheogenic preparations and have their Shamans get together for chats and compare notes. What would the Bedouin nomads think of Mongolian nomads? Good times had by all if you ask me. The thing about our world is that most information gets routed via the dominant cultural centre, if it get's routed at all.

Most "tribal people" from the groups above that I've met have access to TVs and social media and so are as likely as anyone else to watch documentaries on other "tribal folk". They are people living in the 21st century not precious exotic creatures living in a wildlife reserve.

 

[editor]

I've never seen Morris Men 'blacking-up', IME both in Somerset & Sussex, is that a thing in some places?

Greening up:

And blacking up

And other variants:

Hastings Jack In The Green: The Grand Procession, High Street, Hastings England UK, Monday 7th May 2012

 

[Beermoth]

Some of my family are into morris dancing - though none of them black up or have blacked up afaik. Some of those tribespeople look as bemused as I did when I first saw morris dancing.

Just remembered a conversation with an old mate, when he first told me he was a Morris dancer. I was like - WTF?

His reply was, 'I like getting pissed, and making an arse myself'.

That's basically the reason my cousin got into it. Our mutual aunt (sadly no longer with us) said to him: 'you like dancing and getting pissed, right? Why not combine the two?'

 

[camouflage]

Greening up:

And blacking up

And other variants:

Hastings Jack In The Green: The Grand Procession, High Street, Hastings England UK, Monday 7th May 2012

None of those Hastings-dwellers look like they are painting themselves to look like black people or whatever. They look harmlessly ridiculous if you ask me. Watch out for giant wicker men though.

 

[editor]

None of those Hastings-dwellers look like they are painting themselves to look like black people or whatever. They look harmlessly ridiculous if you ask me. Watch out for giant wicker men though.

I don't think any Morris men/women try to look like black men. Even the ones with black faces.

 

[skyscraper101]

Exactly they're not really blacking up in the dodge sense, its just painted bodies like any other colour. I find it hard to get angry about stuff like this when it's clearly not some kind of racial misappropriation.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

There was a Morris dancing festival going on in swanage when I was there the other weekend camping - I was disturbed by the number of troops that were in blackface, about a third of them

 

[editor]

Brixton has its own Morris dancers now

Brixton Tatterjacks Morris perform guerrilla gig at at the Lambeth Country Show

 

[Miss-Shelf]

Whatever the roots of blackface in morris troups, the association with other racist stereotyping blackface is too close to argue that morris blackface has a place in contemporary UK culture

 

[editor]

Whatever the roots of blackface in morris troups, the association with other racist stereotyping blackface is too close to argue that morris blackface has a place in contemporary UK culture

PC gone mad!

There's an interesting history to the practice:

Disguise
Blackface and disguise, often in a pagan themed context have their own history which intersects with morris tradition. There is evidence from the 1450s onward of the blackening of faces with charcoal as a means to evade identification, and in association with pagan themes. In the Kent and Essex enclosure riots of 1450–51 men cross-dressed as 'Queen of the Fairies'[16] (similar to the related Doamna Zînelor, of the Călușari) including those wearing blackface.

Border Morris - Wikipedia

 

[Miss-Shelf]

PC gone mad!

There's an interesting history to the practice:

yes that's why I said whatever the roots of it - I'm aware there are some long standing roots. Which may or may not have been about depicting/reacting to Moorish people. Cultural practices don't remain historically static so will take on resonance with other associated practices eg blackface which is an offensive practice.