A Morris dancer taking part in the May Day festivities has said that they paint their faces black simply in order to protect their identity and not for any racial purpose.
The long-standing Morris dancing tradition in Oxford was recently criticised by students for causing offence, due to some of the dancers taking part in the annual Folk Weekend event painting their faces black.
In an article recently published by the Oxford Student, some students reported that they found the dancer’s decision to “black up” offensive.
Cherwell spoke to Jeff, a Morris dancer on the streets of Oxford. We questioned him why he decided to paint his face black and whether he realised that this could be seen as offensive. He said, “I black my face so that no one knows my identity, it’s an old tradition based on Pagan beliefs.
“Some people think that us painting our faces is racist but it’s not like that. It’s about hiding from the church, or it used to be, because they considered it a pagan ritual and in the past people were ostracised if they were seen taking part.”
When asked why he got involved in Morris dancing, he commented, “It’s not to do with religious beliefs, I’m not religious. I saw the group dancing at Halloween and I thought that could be a bit of fun. It’s a very social activity and we often hang out in the pub after we’ve been dancing.”
In a post on the Facebook group “Skin Deep”, there was some discussion of the controversy. The post included a photo of Morris dancers in Oxford who had “blacked up” for the weekend’s folk festival and May Day festivities.
There were a number of comments on the post about the controversy surrounding this and its possible offensive nature.
One student posted, “In my opinion regardless of the origins of the tradition the fact remains that it could be associated with ‘blackface’ which in any other context is seen as very racist so I don’t think it’s okay.”
Roger Comley, the Morris Ring area representative for the South Midlands, told Cherwell, “There are many different troupes of Morris dancers, some who paint their faces black and some who do not.
“There are a number of different reasons for this and no one really knows where the tradition came from.”
He also noted, “It is seen particularly in the Welsh troupes because traditionally those involved were miners and charcoal burners who had to protect their identity by painting their faces black because they did not want the owners of the mines to know that they were taking part.”
The exact origins of the face-painting are debated, as are the origins of the Morris dancing tradition itself.
