A Top-down Approach to
Recognising a
Hook Eagle Morris Man
Presented by Richard Walton, Squire,25th March, 1997
HAT:
The Hook Eagle Morris Man wears a black top hat
adorned with feathers. The hat serves the very useful function of
keeping the rays of the sun from turning the top of his head red,
which is a problem that affects most of us in the side. The
feathers are lobster feathers, that come only from a particular
variety of lobster that lives off the north coast of Norfolk. It
is a tradition that the number of lobster feathers on each man's
hat signifies the number of "romantic encounters" that
he has had. It is also a tradition that Morris men are prone to
wild exaggeration.
BLACK FACE:
The question we are asked most often is "why
do you black your faces?", although the question "would
you like a pint?" also crops up very occasionally (although
not as often as we would like). The answer to the first question
is two-fold:
It leaves a very satisfactory mark on the
faces (and other parts) of female members of the
audience; and
When washed off again, it makes us harder
to recognise by the male companions of the
afore-mentioned female members of the audience. Oh, and
It's traditional.
The answer to the second question is yes, please.
DARK SUNGLASSES:
These are a de-rigueur fashion accessory for the
modern man-about-town. Also, certain members of the side find
that they cannot face bright sunlight in the morning after the
night before.
RAGGY WAISTCOAT:
The dancing members of the side wear waistcoats
covered in yellow and blue rag strips. A hundred years ago,
Border Morris dancers used to pin paper strips to their ordinary
clothes, but found this was too dangerous because children used
to set the paper alight. Rags are less flammable. The musicians
tend to wear black tail-coats without the rags. We think this is
because they are too lazy to sew any on.
BLACK SHIRT:
This is so we can wipe the sweat off our
(blackened) faces onto the shirt sleeves without it showing.
BRACES:
Some members of the side have to wear braces to
keep their trousers up. This is necessary due to an absence of
waist. The rest of us wear braces as well so that they won't feel
self-conscious about this.
BLACK TROUSERS:
These are to avoid us being arrested - as might
be the case if we were to wear no trousers at all. Also, I can
assure you that you really would NOT want to see us without
trousers.
BELLS:
A single row of Morris bells is worn around each
leg, just below the knee. The bells serve to frighten off evil
spirits as they jingle merrily to the rhythm of the dance (the
bells, that is). It is evil spirits that are sometimes the reason
for having to wear sunglasses (see above). Bells also serve to
warn of our approach which helps people to avoid us, in the same
way that a bell is sometimes affixed to a cat to warn mice to
keep out of the way.
BLACK BOOTS:
Some Morris sides wear dainty dancing shoes. Some
wear sporty trainers. Anybody can dance in trainers - that's no
challenge at all. Real Men such as the Hook Eagles (stop
laughing) wear big clumpy boots to dance in. This gives us an
excuse for not getting off the ground.
STICKS:
The Hook Eagle Morris man carries his stick
erect, although to keep it out of the way whilst dancing he puts
it over his shoulder. Some of our dances are for men who only
have short sticks, and some are for men with long sticks. We even
have one dance for men who have TWO sticks each! We don't have
any dances for people without sticks, although such people are
welcome to join the band.
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