please excuse what may be considered thread drift here.

wysi, this is a wonderfully interesting topic, and prompts me to stray a little into my recent sihting of a group of uk morris men- bradshaw mummers.

one of the main parts of their performance is a mumming play about king george & the slaying of the dragon.

some of the actors are blacked up, but NOT for racist reasons.

for example,there's a moor [from morocco]

i've seen other morris sides in uk who blacken their faces, and ask would this have arisen in a similar fashion to the minstrels?

thanks again for this thread

mr happy