The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #161296 Message #3834695
Posted By: David Carter (UK)
25-Jan-17 - 04:21 AM
Thread Name: blacked up morris dancers abused in uk
Subject: RE: blacked up morris dancers abused in uk
Sajid Javed, as usual, is running his mouth when he doesn't know the answers. Nobody knows whether that tradition had any racial connotations. Look at the Wikipedia entry, and follow some of the links, people who know or knew far more about this than you, I, or Sajid Javed, disagree on this. Same with Zwarte Piet, although the suggestion that he is going to carry the naughty children off to his home in Spain is a bit of a clue, don't you think.
No I am not a Morris dancer, I do know Morris dancers, not ones who use blackface though. But I did once see the Witchmen. They present themselves as pagan, they used blackface then but I don't know whether they still do. Skilled dancers, reasonable musicians, but very, very disturbing. Knowing how it affects some people I would not now watch a blackface side.