Morris dancers refuse to stop blacking up their faces as it’s a ‘Lancashire tradition’

A group of Morris dancers from Lancashire have continued to perform after being kicked out of the national body for refusing to stop blacking up their faces.

Members of the Britannia Coconut Dancers, based in Bacup, have insisted that blacking up their faces is simply a part of a clog-dancing tradition that dates back more than 100 years, and is not an act of racism.

Most Morris dancers claim that the origin of blacking the face goes back to farm labourers who wanted a disguise from their bosses while begging and busking during the winter. However, it is also believed that the blacking up of their faces was an attempt to mimic North African dance routines. 

And, amid the Black Lives Matter protests last year, the scrutiny surrounding the traditional black facing of Morris dancers only intensified, with some groups even swapping the black face paint for blue face paint to avoid any racial misconceptions. 

The Britannia Coconut Dancers / Facebook

Despite the tensions, however, the Lancashire-based Britannia Coconut Dancers danced while wearing full black face last weekend on October 3rd with the full support of the Lancashire BME Network. 

Jonathon Prasad, an anthropologist from the Lancashire BME Network, told Lancashire Live that he had ‘spent a number of years working on cultural traditions and identities’, and said on the dance group: “From our point of view, as an organisation, we don’t object to blackface in this context as we recognise its a rich cultural tradition linked to Lancashire.”

He added that he had worked around Morris dancers and the Morris dancing tradition a few years ago and looked into the ‘cultural background’ of their decision to paint their faces black.

He said: “The cultural background of it is that the mill workers who were quite poor had to earn extra income, so one of the things they did was they painted their face black so their employers wouldn’t know that they are dancing for extra money.

“It’s also linked to a whole pagan ritual as well about not wanting to be attached to evil spirits.

The Britannia Coconut Dancers / Facebook

“From our point of view, as an organisation, we represent this rich diversity of Lancashire’s cultural traditions and we actually support it.

“We want to break down barriers between communities rather than erecting them, we’re trying to bring minorities up to the same standards, it’s levelling up.”

Jonathon continued by saying that the Lancashire BME Network are ‘supportive’ of the Britannia Coconut Dancers, so long as people don’t seek to ‘divide communities’ by saying their performances are racist, stressing that ‘we’ve never seen it as a racial thing.’

He said: “It celebrates a Lancashire that we are all part of and that we should be engaging with. In the same way when we talk about the Pendle Witches, some people are frightened by it, some people aren’t, but it’s an integral part of Lancashire and we celebrate that and all its cultural traditions.”