In response to Les's question, I don't have specific evidence of Borders Morris blacking up before 1830, but so far as I am aware there is no evidence that they did not either. I don't claim to be an expert on the history of the morris, and I am relying for information mainly on Patricia Bater's M PHil thesis which can be found online. This shows there is evidence of blacking up taking place across a range of customs throughout the country, including the Welsh Cadi Ha. When Les asks "Can we just go for the honest recognition that 'Blackface' in 19C English Folk Arts is almost certainly associated with carnivals influenced by Blackface Minstrelsy from the US into UK Music Hall?" he is almost certainly wrong.

I am not disputing that minstrelsy had an influence, on Border morris as well as other aspects of popular culture. However it does appear that many of the contemporary references fail to make a connection between blacking up for morris and minstrelsy, even when the latter was a fairly new fashion and might be expected to attract comment. Bater also points out that Cecil Sharp also never associated the two genres, although minstrelsy was still popular at the time he was collecting. She also points out that Sharp was told by a dancer that the reason for blacking up was "so that no-one shan't know you,sir", at a time when he would have felt no embarrassment about saying it was to imitate a black person.

To say that blacking up derives from minstrelsy is simply an assumption based on no more than circumstantial evidence, when there are also legitimate alternative explanations. The fact is that we don't know for certain. It is legitimate to question whether it is still appropriate in a modern multi-cultural society, but that is not helped by dogmatic statements on either side.

Bater also discusses Darkie Day, and her conclusions are similar to my own assumption that this is very much a community affair and that any interference by outsiders is unwelcome and likely to be counterproductive.