So what are Morris dances? Basically they are fertility dances, that would be danced at certain times of the year to help ensure that the crops would grow. ”How could dancing make the crops grow?” I hear you say. The answer is they do not. But go back in time by thousands of years and ask yourself this. How would you know what time of the day it was and how would you know what time of the year it was, without the aid of a clock or calendar? Well…well come on think ??????? that's it, you would work off the SUN. As the sun rose in the sky over Manchester you would know it was dawn, as the day progressed the sun would get higher in the sky, until at mid-day it would be overhead, then in the evening it would set over the Isle of Man. (always assuming you were in Southport)!
Now the longest day is around the 23rd June, as the year progresses the days get shorter and the sun gets lower in the sky at mid-day until you get to the shortest day around the 23rd December. Now you and I know this is an annual cycle but the ancient Britons did not. So as the weather got colder and colder they thought the sun was loosing it's power and they would light bonfires in November to try to revive the sun. Unfortunately this did not usually work and the weather got colder, then they would call on the services of the SWORD DANCERS.
These were magical people and they performed their dance and made a sword lock at the end of the dance, this represented the sun and they held it aloft to represent the suns rebirth. Well every year without fail the sword dances worked. Day by day the sun rose higher in the sky and gradually got warmer and warmer. This is why the New Year starts just after the shortest day. Nothing to do with the Bible and Christianity, they just took over all the folk festivals from Pagans and called them by their current Christian names. If you do not believe me ask any religious person, why do you have a best man and a bridesmaid at a wedding? I would be surprised if they had an answer. But the Pagans used to have two men and two women that were dressed the same so that evil spirits would not know who was getting married. Makes you wonder doesn't it.
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