Folklore is a strange one really. Ironically I think of neither Folk Song or Morris Dancing (and many of our Folk Customs) as having anything to do with Folklore as such, given that they're self-conscious theatrical revivals far removed from their original Folkloric context, though there are exceptions and they're all great fun. If you had a Folklore of Folk though, it would have to be an ethnological study of the Folk Scene as a whole and would make for an interesting read, but maybe wouldn't appeal to Folkies as such. Channel 4 did something many years ago - I think David Toop was behind it, and it didn't make for pretty viewing really as it nailed the revival as a reactionary post-modernist middle-class indulgence. There's a Folklore: What is Folklore? thread that didn't get very far but still makes for an interesting read.

We get Fluffy Morris a lot in the North West, giving our local paper the choice headline once of Morris Dancers Trash Marine Hall Foyer. Can you ever imagine such a thing from the proper Morris Sides in their non-fluffy (though just as dodgy) kit which seems to grow more paganised every year? Lots of Black Faces too, which we've dealt with at some depth here before (see HERE) but if you look at the sober kit Morris Sides were wearing back in the 1970s and compare them to The Wicker Man cast-offs we see today then a few questions might be begged regarding Morris terms of the Volk Zeitgeist and the current renaissance thereof. Of course this results in Marranzano-twanging storytellers dressing up LIKE THIS although I might crave your indulgence with respect of it being some sort of excercise in living archaeology - and I did win an award for Best Costume that year which I display with pride on the same shelf bending down with my Folklore books, including Johnny Haslett's first volume of Morris Dancer and Rose Queens which is the very pip.