Today it’s time for Spring to come our way in a very entertaining and amusing way. For Hugh’s Weekly Photo Challenge – Season I’ve been on a little journey on a train somewhere….
It began yesterday, my hubby had gone off sailing for the bank holiday weekend and had inadvertently taken my car keys with him. As you can imagine I wasn’t too pleased, especially as I had to go to Ely to collect my daughter’s prom dress. It had just been altered, the hem only, by a local seamstress. Never the mind we rushed to get the train, but missed it by seconds. So to cheer ourselves up we had some drinks – hot chocolate for me, and a chocolate milk shake for my daughter! The next train arrived and off we went. We had a lovely meal at Grand Central Ely (my daughter’s recommendation,) an authentic American style restaurant right by the waterfront. We sampled their tasty burgers and also had some lovely mocktails, (no alcohol!) We both opted for a Cotton Candy – A sweet blend of coconut cream, pineapple juice and grenadine. It was delicious!
The calories are really piling up – oops – must cut down!
The weather was quite nice so we managed to sit out and had a fantastic view of this:
Morris Dancing!
At the spring Ely Eel Festival:Visit Ely: Ely Eel Festival
This was a bit of an unexpected treat – I hadn’t realised the Festival was on!
As I watched the dancers I grew curious, (a writer’s malady!) Two young men graced this band of Morris Men…. I wondered how does a youngster get into Morris Dancing? Is it passed down the generations? From grandfather to father to son?
Also I wanted to find out more about Morris Dancing. What are its origins?
So I did a bit of a google search and found two very interesting websites, so do have a peruse:
Rattle Jag Morris History of Morris Dancing
‘as with many folk customs, the origins are hidden in the mists of time and coloured by later perceptions, which may or may not have been correct’, Alun Howkins
Quote from The Shakespeare Morris Men :
References to Morris Dancing have been found in literature dating back as far as the 15th century, and even then its was regarded as an old tradition.
Today it is accepted that the Morris was a Fertility Rite, danced in Spring and Summer to ensure a fat and healthy harvest in the Autumn. However this is still a theory -there is no proof, and probably there never will be.
So if the traditions of Morris Dancing are past on from father to son, it has been happening for a very, very long time!
I hope (time permitting,) to do a post for Weekend Coffee Share all about my day out in Ely so keep an eye out for that. Ely is one of those little East Anglian gems of pure quirkiness, they have an Eel Festival!
Don’t forget to pop over to Hugh’s blog to check out his Weekly photo Challenge. Ronovan is currently in residence there, managing Hugh’s blog as Hugh is doing a Spring flit, moving to Wales.
Hope you like my post for Hugh’s Photography Challenge.
Are you a Morris Dancer? Do you know more about it than I do? Do comment I’d love to find out more..
Bye for now,
Marje @ Kyrosmagica xx
With it being May Day today, I was hoping to see a spot of two of Morris Dancing around the Maypoles, Marje, but the rain has put paid to that.
However, glad you shared your photos of the Morris Dancers with us all. They are certainly a very British site and I love the way they have bells attached to their customs so that there is the constant sound of ‘jingles’ during their dance. Such a wonderful happy sight to see.
Yes, aren’t they just. Really enjoyed seeing them and being in Ely for the Eel Festival. An unexpected treat of a day, and the sun shone most of the time too, so what more can you ask for? 🙂
My partner, Lizzie, was a Morris Dancer (though long before I met her). In her case, I think it came about through family members involved in the Folk scene. It certainly doesn’t strike me as something you go and seek out – it’s something that comes to you through your family and friend connections.
She could probably tell you loads about it, but she’s more of a talker than a writer.
Glad you had a good day out, though – even if you couldn’t take the car.
What does your husband sail? (And don’t say: boats.)
Oh, I thought that would be the case! Yes we had a good day out. My husband’s best pal is a keen sailor and sails you guessed right – boats! And my hubby David goes along because he enjoys it too. I’m going on the boat towards the end of June too, so might share some boat related blog posts then!
I’m guessing from your comments that the boat in question is a yacht of some description, and not a dinghy. I haven’t got much experience on yachts yet, though I’ve got a day out in the Solent lined up in two weeks, so that’ll be good.
I’ll look forward to hearing about your experiences in due course.
Yes that’s right, it’s a yacht. He has a bit of a history of falling of them so hope he manages to get back without any mishaps!
I love morris dancers and I’m so happy they’re still about. When I lived in Yorkshire you couldn’t get away from them!! They were in every town and city during the warmer months. Where I live now there is a definite dearth of them – or maybe just not part of the tradition. My friend became a Morris dancer and she loved it and continued for many years – showing us her moves when we met up. So guess you don’t have to ‘inherit’ the post. Thank you for this lovely Spring post, Marje. It’s put in the mood for a jig! See you soon in London!!!😀
Oh, that’s interesting Annika, wonderful to hear that you had a friend who used to Morris dance. Glad you enjoyed my Spring post. See you soon. :))