It’s so un spring in Vermont, with snow, sleet, freezing rain and driving wind. Yuck! May Day is just two weeks away, so I’m trying to think warm, sunny thoughts.
Have a number of friends that are/were Morris
dancers, which is a May Day tradition in certain parts of the world. When I
lived near D.C. it was great fun to go out and follow the local Morris team
through Georgetown stopping at various bars along the way. Now living in
Vermont, there is the Marlboro Morris Ale.
The earliest reference of Morris dancing comes
from about 1448. By the early 16th century Morris dancing was
already a fixture at Church festivals. In medieval
and Renaissance England, the churches brewed and sold ales, including wassail.
These ales were sold for many occasions, both seasonal and sacramental - there
were christening ales, bride's ales, clerk, wake and Whitsun ales - and were an
important means of fund-raising for churches. Hence the reason the big Morris dancing gathering in
Vermont is called the Marlboro Ale. Learn more about the history of Morris dancing.
As
you’ll see from the videos below there are lots of ways to perform Morris
dancing. Flying ribbons, jangling bells, flashing hankies, banging sticks,
swords, clogs and rapper all make up different styles of Morris dancing. They
are generally accompanied by live musicians playing drums, pipes accordion and
sometimes fiddles.
Well watch this video to not only learn the
history but also to learn the basic steps:
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