Morris Dancing

Morris Dancing is an English folk dance tradition performed by teams of dancers, typically with bell pads, handkerchiefs or short sticks, at seasonal calendar points, most associated with May Day and the change of seasons into summer. Its earliest secure documentary references date to the late fifteenth century, and while its ultimate origins and exact original religious content are debated, it has long been read, alongside maying customs generally, as part of a broader seasonal folk-ritual complex marking the turn of the agricultural year, and it continues to be actively performed by morris sides today.