Punch said:
ex_colonial said:
Howler said:
A glorious tradition, hailing back to a bygone age, participants revelling in connecting the past with the present. Cheering crowds, uniquely British, celebrating 600 years of Morris history.......
......or a bunch of cnuts
http://www.themorrisring.org/
ooer, could cause lots of complaints from our "POLYCHROME" brethren, the lot I saw on the video clip were "blacking up"!! Surely enough to bring down the wrath of "Trevor Phillips" & his racial equality team!
Was the term "Morris" not actually derived from a form of religious celebration originally known as "Moorish", and brought to the British Isles from the region now known as Spain ( then Islamic and peopled by Moors!!!!) by itinerant immigrants?
Are there any true historians of this now harmless form of entertainment out there?
The Moors were defeated & kicked out of Spain in the 13th c.
I live in Morocco and know of NO moorish dance akin to the "morris mens". Unless it is a type of "Moussem", ( a religious festival in honour of a local "saint", where some dance to "gnaoua" music into a trancelike state), There are many other forms of music here some with Arabic roots, some Berber and in the South, Sarhawi which has a lot of sub saharan influences. An important one is ""ANDALUSIAN", some of which is akin to "flamenco" music, there are hot debates as to whether this developed in Spain or Morocco!
As for "blacking" up to resemble Moors, most Moroccans are of a "cafe au lait" hue. Although Moulay Ismael did import over 100,000 sub saharan Africans to provide him with a strong army in the 17th c. These became his "Black Guard" and help defeat not only rivals to the throne but Berber uprisings & forays by some European powers, helping him unite what we now call Morocco! He gave these black Africans, Berber women as wives, this can be seen in the darker hue's of some of todays Moroccans!