Irish Translation Forum

That's great! That looks like so much fun!

Just a question: why is it called Morris dancing?

oisin718 wrote:That's great! That looks like so much fun!

Just a question: why is it called Morris dancing?

There are actually two schools of thought on that. The first holds to the theory that the dance form came to England during the Moorish Conquests in Europe and was originally intended to be a form of sword exercise for bored mercenaries. That group claims that "Morris" is a corruption of "Moorish" (there are groups in England that still dance in black face, so that's a good possibility). The other school of thought is that these dances sprang from old pre-Christian fertility rituals, and that the word comes from the Latin "Mores" ("custom"). The truth, of the origins at least, likely falls between the two...there are definite elements of battle maneuvers in some Morris dances, but there's also definite fertility symbolism. My guess is that there was always some form of ritual dance of this sort and that the mercenaries adopted and adapted it to suit their own needs...and I guess the name will just have to remain a mystery.

What I find interesting is that Morris has also become associated with the Church of England. Traditional days for Morris dances include Easter, Whitsun (Pentecost), and Christmas...often taking place AT the village church. I'm thinking of asking the Episcopal church I sing at if they'd like to have the kids come dance on Pentecost...it would be fun for the kids, and a neat cultural thing for the church.

It really is fun...both to watch and to do. There's a real element of comedy to it (which is one reason the kids enjoy it so much). We do one dance, "Shepherd's Hey," which the kids call "Barney meets Morris" because between the "silly song" ("I can dance, I can sing, I can do most anything. I can whistle, I can play, I can do the 'Shepherd's Hey'") and the clapping, it looks like something the kids on the Barney show would do. There's another dance, called "Buffoon", that looks like something the Three Stooges would do (complete with nose tweaking!). And, of course, the keyboard dance gets a laugh out of everyone this close to the Silicon Valley.

Redwolf