NORMAN'S NEW YEAR'S NITS-TO-PICK

February, 1995

Here we are at the mid-point of our "traditional" year (September to July) which is also the 13th year(!) of the existence of the Vancouver Morris Men (that means 13 years of Graham's inspired leadership) and 9th year of my own participation (forgetting for a moment my little "holiday" of the last few months, now in abeyance, I hope). The Winter's hoopla is behind us, and we shall inexorably move into the Spring, beginning with Candlemas on 2FEB95, then Pancake Day (a.k.a. Mardi Gras) on 28FEB95, Mothering Sunday 20 days later, 26MAR95 (Oh yes, and Welsh St. David's Day on the first day of MAR95 for Paul and I), Pace-egging on Easter Saturday (15APR95, a mummer's paradise), faux-Morris May Day on a Monday morning (a serious challenge for you working stiffs, and maybe another reason to re-assess our early morning cavorts), real Morris May Day on real (as opposed to Victoria Day/Bank Holiday) Whitsuntide, 4JUN95 (the same day as one of our Children's Festival Gigues. Perfect!!), followed closely by post-Corpus Christi (15JUN95) proto-Morris, pre-"Morris-as-we-now-it" pageants (a la Coventry, York, Chester, etc. "Mystery Plays") in the form of the pageant-parades on Kits Day (10JUN95) and Point Grey Day (24JUN95, dates and gigues yet to be confirmed).

Of course, this "heritage" list doesn't include our other fabulous functions such as the Mission or Vancouver Island Festivals of July (yet to be confirmed), and our monthly dance-outs, now expanded to North Vancouver's "Granville Island", Lonsdale Quay. (How about the other end of the Sea-bus Sky-train route, New Westminster's Quay?) I assume that the landlords of the North Van Quay have been dutifully informed about our arrival (and liability coverage), and that we are not accidentally acting as black-leg (i.e., scab) Street Performers that day.

All this talk of our "morris year" gets me to thinking about the morris "year"s I've read about in England. Just about every group we met in 1990 and 1994 have the same size brochure that we hand out, with the usual bafflegab about the origins of morris (note: Graham's text is the best yet) and entreaties to join. BUT the one big difference is their extensive list of "public" engagements, which usually begin on May 1st (yes, boys, even the English are guilty of faux-morris!) and end about September. It seems that the majority of their performances are once-a-week affairs at dozens of country(?) pubs, with extremely rare repeats. I assume that their once-a-week regimen shifts easily back into their once-a-week private practices following their last dance-out.

Is this a template for ourselves? Granted we don't have the luxury of rural heritage-encrusted pubs to visit, but we might be able to come up with a summer-long itinerary covering a lot of the Lower Mainland people-places, making us even more "visible" in the public eye, and removing us from the tedium (and over-exposure?) of repeated Granville Island visits (as some would have it). Warning: many members of the above English teams told me that they rarely have everybody at all the gigues. The sheer quantity of their numbers militated against the expected no-show rate. Another consideration may be the distance required to travel to the many venues, but don't bother telling our Coquitlam and Surrey members about that.

As many of you know, I am hunting down the origins of morris which I believe are rooted in Misrule. Some (read, "Rick") would have me in imminent, ever-present danger of forcing the (sparse) facts to suit my theory, so I am stepping fairly gingerly through the literature. However, all my reading to date has not made me wary, or doubtful of my "theory". As a matter of fact, you might be interested in reading the stuff I've been pouring over so we can compare notes. Starting from the most recent, I am chewing through a book that was recommended to me by a UBC prof who specializes in 17th and 18th English century labour history! Ex-Brits will remember something about this in their distant high-school memories of the Luddites, men who traveled about the country-side wrecking sewing machines that were replacing them in their jobs. Although this prof knows nothing about morris, he instantly recognized it as a form of labour misrule after I described it to him. He is familiar with another form of "plebeian protest theatre" called "Rough Music" (cf. the Tin Can/Ran Tan Band), so I shall expand the concept to "Rough Music, Rough Dance, Rough Play (i.e., mummers)". It didn't cross his mind for one nano-second that morris was a vestigial fertility cult. These "protestors" were so pesky that a law was created in 1723 called the Black Act, that prohibited the use of Blackface, among other things, one hundred years before minstrelsy! Many of them were also in the habit of dressing in women's clothes, as can be seen in the wonderful picture of Ned Ludd shown here. As you can see, he is not "cross-dressing" (a la transvestites), or particularly disguised, but maybe acknowledging and emulating the power and presence of the many ferocious women who initiated the Food Riots just previous to the Luddites. Anyway, the book that was his must-read was E. P. Thompson's Customs in Common (VPL: SOC 305.56 T46c). Warning nr. 2: its a tough read, but worth it. The book also shows us how morris has way more to do with May 1st as International Labour Day (cf. tanks rumbling down Moscow's Red Square) than with Cecil Sharp's early morning fertility ritual. Yes, boys, we are emulating the "voice" of the English working stiff as he fights back. (If you detect a faint wiff of Marxist thought, you're waking up and smelling the coffee. Scholars in this area of research are often called neo-Marxists.) Another fabulous consequence of this conclusion is that we no longer find ourselves in the extremely uncomfortable position of excluding women when we identify morris as "England's National Dance" (and English ethnicity), a most dangerous statement, fraught with angry and bitter reprisals. Essentially, the "living national dance" of England is Country Dance (exported to Scotland, Ireland(?), France ,i.e., le contredance, and America, i.e. square dance), and morris is a spectacular and fascinating native variation, a parody of this basic fact. Mummering, on the other hand, does not appear to be a parody of an identifiable theatrical convention, but it is most certainly a misrule event in its performance. Perhaps the parody lies in the fact that the guy who gets stabbed comes to life again. Something to think about.

How can I call NW morris a jovial parody? Or even Cotswold? They are danced with such serious earnestness, even military demeanor. Well, parody does not necessarily have to be jovial. But more important, I think the dancers have become to full of themselves and forgotten their roots. Still, I'm not for a moment suggesting that "parody dance" should be comprised of the opposite of precision and energy, only the opposite of the social, mixed-sex context.

Well, I've hashed that theme till its black and blue. Let me leave you with two long-winded quotes, laboriously "processed" by my hunt-and-peck skills.

Molly dancing at May Day festivities in Hitchin, Herfordshire!

"First came two men with their faces blacked, one of them with a birch broom in his hand, and a large artificial hump on his back; the other dressed as a woman, all in rags and tatters, with a large straw bonnet on, and carrying a ladle; these are called "mad Moll and her husband": next came two men, one most fantastically dressed with ribbons, and a great variety of gaudy coloured handkerchiefs tied round his arms from the shoulders to the wrists, and down his thighs and legs to his ankles; he carried a drawn sword in his hand, leaning upon his arm was a youth dressed as a fine lady, in white muslin, and profusely decked from top o toe with gay ribbons: these, I understand, were called the "Lord and Lady" of the company; after these followed six or seven couples more, attired much in the same style as the lord and lady, only the men were without swords. When this group received a satisfactory contribution at any house, the music struck up from a violin, clarionet(sic), and fife, accompanied by the long drum, and they began the merry dance...Mrs. J...assured me that women were not permitted to mingle in these sports" (Helm, The English Mummers Play, p.54-55).

And read this fabulous description of what I consider to be a complete Border (? Molly?) team, from North Wales near Cheshire, called Cadi Ha, named after the Cadi or Kate, the shemale. They danced in the summer, around St. John's (i.e. Midsummer) Eve!

"They dressed generally in white, with rosettes of ribbons of every colour adorning all, except two, which were called the fool and cadi (or sometimes Megan. NS). These two characters were like Pwnch and Shuan in "Mari Lwyd" (the horse play found in S. Wales), as regards their dresses and form, that is, as man and wife, dressed in rags and their faces covered in soot. One man carried the summer branch, which was decked with everything beautiful"

"There were twelve men in the party: eight dancers dressed in baggy white trousers, white shirts and straw hats and wearing knots of blue or pink ribbon to denote their side of men or maid (cf. the Bacup dancers! NS); then there was Bili the clown, with a tail coat, white waistcoat, and silk hat, and Cadi, his wife who was dressed in a black skirt, red shawl and gaudy hat with a white veil and carried a parasol (exactly like that guy in Saddleworth! NS).

"There might be eight men, or more, dressed in beribboned shirts and hats carrying white handkerchiefs. They sometimes blackened their faces "so no one should know us', though this was 'not the custom'. (Wil Fidler talking to Maud Karpeles.) A branch bearer carried a branch of gorse, which had to be in flower. A jingle was sung in Welsh to a version of "Nobody's Jig" (i.e., "This is it, and that is that"! NS)

"The dancers stand in two lines of four men on one side and four "maids" on the other facing. The Master stand at the end of the men's lines, while Bili and Cadi stand apart, Bili at the end nearest the Master and Cadi at the other end. The men do a sort of patter step in their place while Bili and Cadi advance between the two lines of dancers...the men and the maids cross over.. (and so on).

(EFDSS, vol IX/1 and N. Jaffe Folk Dances of Europe)

And finally, a real jewel from a local paper, the Courier, reviewing a movie based on the history of the Nootka:

"Two years ago, Mowachaht elders were determined not to be wiped out, and set a course for cultural revival, a first step that began simply - with singing, dancing, and learning old songs."