Morris dancing - the name taken from 'Moorish' - supposedly originated amongst the Moors in Spain many years ago [how long? I don't know]. It came to England a good 300 - 400 years ago - mentions of it are found in Tudor and Stuart texts - and it is a very stylised, traditionally male, form of country dancing. There are a lot of tie-ins with folk lore - the fool with his bladder, the horse [ie. an interruption with a horses head] and various other elements; the dancing on the whole is done with bells around the ankles and sticks in the hand. That's as far as my knowledge goes, although I've watched Morris troops of varing degrees of competence many times as a child [the penalties of being brought up in the Cotswolds]. Now let the experts come and put me right on detail as usual!