In his 1583 work The Anatomie of Abuses in England, Phillip Stubbes lamented “the horrible Vice of pestiferous Dauncing”, the “bawdy pipers and thundering drummers… their liveries of green, yellow or some other light, wanton colour… their bells jingling, their handkerchiefs swinging about their heads like mad men”. Stubbes wasn’t happy about the proliferation of Morris Dancing in England and Wales, folk performances first noted in the late 1400s - and they still use props like swords, bells and tambors just as they did in the 15th Century. One site makes the remarkable claim that “it wasn’t until 1908 that Morris Dancing really took off in the United States” (Americans can’t get enough Morris Dancing to this day). The weird bit is how the activity got its name along with some of the more outre practices related thereto.
© 2025 John Oliver
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