What Is The MorrisWhat is the Morris?

Actually, nobody knows ! The answer is lost in the mists of time!! (For many of us this makes The Morris all the more attractive!)

Is it a remnant of ancient fertility rites, or of early Court dances? Is it indigenous to England, or is it part of a pan European culture? Is 'Morris' derived from 'morisco' or 'Moorish'? Robert Graves argues that, etymologically, 'morris' was first written 'maris', "so it is likely that the morris-men were Mary's men". He sees a similar derivation for Robin Hood's 'merry men'. 'Mary' refers to the ancient sea-goddess, Marian (original English spelling of Mary), cf. mer-maid.

No trace of the Morris has been found in recorded history before the reign of Henry VII (1485-1509). A century after his reign ended, we know that the Morris was well established, & Herefordshire had a renowned side, recorded in a contemporary pamphlet ('Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd-Marian, & Hereford-Towne for a Morris Daunce' from Miscellanea Antiqua Anglicana, 1609.):

'The Courts of Kings for stately measures: the Citie for light heeles, & nimble footing: the country for shufflin dances: Westerne-men for gambouls: Middlesex-men for tricks above ground: Essex-men for the Hey: Lancashire for Horne-pypes: Worcestershire for Bagpypes: but Herefordshire for a morris-daunce, puts downe, not onely all Kent, but verie neare (if one had line enough to measure it) three quarters of Christendome.'

There is little recorded material covering the 18th & 19th centuries, & most sides had died out by the time of the Great War. Industrialisation, the lure of Music Hall, & then the ravages of war, took away the younger generation from the age-old rural traditions of ritual dance & song.

In 1899, Cecil Sharp came upon the Morris & recognised the need to save a neglected & dying heritage. He & others (e.g. the English composers Vaughn Williams & George Butterworth) collected songs & dances throughout England, & in 1911 Sharp founded the English Folk Dance Society.

Many clubs sprang up, & in 1934 representatives of six of these instituted the Morris Ring, intended as a federation of all the clubs.

Although the old sides danced their own 'traditions' (i.e. their particular village variants of the dances & tunes), & only at certain times of the year, the usual practice nowadays is to draw widely from the Cotswold and Welsh Border traditions & to dance more or less all year.