Morning Les - "send" button stuck?

What Derek says needs to be taken seriously, and having only just read his post I thank him for it.

I also thank Borchester for her explanation. I didn't see the train of thought. Now I do: it is that John Kirkpatrick invented Border Morris and also the blackface part of it (which it therefore not "traditional").

But there seem to be two flaws with this. I discount the "sweep" theory since while apparently at least in Rochester the sweeps did celebrate their one day a year holiday, but they were not carriers of the dance tradition (if any).

The two flaws are these, in my view.

Sharp refused to collect Anglian molly dances (stating them to be "degenerate". If they were then already in blackface, that considerably reduces the likelihood that the source of that blackface tradition (if there was one) was minstrelsy. If that is so of Anglian molly, it must make us suspect the assertion that blackface border is rooted in minstrelsy. Against this, "Molly" as a name was (was it not, and by way of contrast to "Moll Flanders"?) widely used as a name for black female slaves, so the term "molly" might (but it's a bit of a stretch from that to "is") although not rooted in mistrelsy still connote casual racism.

Secondly, it has above been stated that other traditions have "guised" by use of other colourings, and if that is true then if there was a border tradition it makes it more likely that the border tradition included guising by the use of black - whether coaldust or burnt cork.


To muse further on the Kirkpatrick aspect, the date of his apparent invention gives us a likely explanation for the appearance of some Anglian molly moves in border (which would strengthen the argument that blackface is a longstanding tradition albeit not in border). I am left puzzled why anyone would suddenly wake up and think "I've nothing to do today. I know, I'll invent a fake tradition".