Thanks for an excellent contribution Sedayne! The trouble is, as Jones used to say, they don't like it up 'em!

The people who want the faces in the churches to be evidence of pre-christian or pagan beliefs and practises behave and seem to think in the same way as those who see morris dancing and black faces in the same way.

The best collection of evidence is, I think Ronald Hutton's "The Stations of the Sun" (see my previous thread). He finds almost no evidence for a thread of survival of pre-christian anything and massive evidence for the power and influence of organised religion going back at least as far as the printing press.

It seems odd that dancers and musicians who are keen to make up dances and tunes and play all kinds of music, some of which sounds like Dixieland Jazz, cannot relinquish the black face because they say it is "traditional" and possibly pre - something or other and not to be changed.