Morris Dancing

Visit a village or country town during a spring weekend and you may well come across a troupe of Morris dancers.

They perform folk dances that once held ritualistic and magical meanings associated with the awakening of the earth. The present form of the Morris dance dates back at least to the 15th century and is believed to be named after the Spanish morisca, meaning a Moorish play or dance. Abingdom Morris dancers in Oxfordshire can trace their roots back to 1560 where an entry in the accounts of the parish church states:

'For two dossin of Morres belles: 1s'
(For two dozen Morris bells: one shilling)

The dancers' costumes consist of white trousers and shirts, sometimes topped with a colourful waistcoat, with a pad of bells worn around the calf of the leg, and a hat made of felt or straw, decorated with flowers or ribbons. The bells and ribbons are said to banish harm and bring fertility. The dancers often carry sticks which are used to strike the sticks of other dancers and the ground, the latter symbolising both seed-planting and the impregnation of Mother Earth. Morris dancing was once an all-male tradition but nowadays women dancers take part too.

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