Of Morris minors and men and women

[kalypso_v]

Another mostly illustrated weekend report. I was in Ely briefly yesterday, and passed through a belt of Morris People on my way to the station, part of Ely Folk Festival. I was particularly taken with this group, who are apparently Hemlock Morris from Bedfordshire.

Comments

[sallymn]

My deep love of the Abbey books by Elsie Oxenham means I am fascinated by folk dance (though I have to say, it never quite looks as pretty and ethereal as she makes it out, which is a Good Thing, I think...)

[kalypso_v]

I do not think there was anything remotely ethereal about Hemlock Morris!

[sallymn]

Tell me about it - as I got older and realised just how romanticised the dancing was...

I still like the descriptions in the books, but i don't take them seriously :)

[sollersuk]

"Pretty" and "ethereal" are not words that I would associate with any form of morris or similar, particularly not Border (though garland dancing can be pretty, and I suppose one could say it of some men's sides' floral hats). And given that the earnest middle class recreators of the Folk Dance Revival mostly wore sportswear, I can't think of any time when "ethereal" would be appropriate!

[julesjones]

You were very tolerant of the amount of time stevie_carroll and I spent squeeing at the pretties. :-)

[jhall1]

That post van only needed Postman Pat behind the wheel to be absolutely perfect.

I find that these days Doctor Who trailers speed by too fast for my ageing brain to retain much afterwards, so I don't really need to worry about spoilers.

[kalypso_v]

A friend who was stewarding came up while I was photographing the post van and asked "Is that the car you always dreamed of owning?"

PS If, like me, you couldn't hear exactly all that the girl said at the end in your first three attempts, it's "What took you so long, old man?" This is thought to be a Big Clue.

[jhall1]

Thanks. I'd seen those words mentioned in various places online.

[vjezkova]

Aw, Morris dancing...my friend here on LJ is an expert, she does the dancing and choreography and everything and she knows everything about that.:-)
Woooooow, the cars...really wonderful, oh the Rolls and Buick!
Lovely pictures, thank you! You had really a great weekend!

[kalypso_v]

Yes, these dance Border Morris, apparently. I thought their feathered hats were very fine!

[stevie_carroll]

You found some fabulous cars to photograph that I somehow missed. It was great to see you as well.