Equinox Dancing with Hunters Moon Morris

On Wednesday night I got the most random of texts.   "I have two tickets for a morris dancing class in Eastbourne, but the girl I was going with has let me down, do you want to come?"  It was pure surreal.  And as such could not be turned down.  There is no way I would EVER have thought of doing that for a night out.  Its proper Artist's date material.  And the weird and unexpectedness of the whole thing totally engaged me and I was very excited about it.  Total unknown.   Plus very nice to see C.  She went to Burning Man for the first time this year.  I really want to go to Burning Man....

Anyway, I digress.  I picked C up from the station and we followed the printed out google maps to a primary school in the depths of Eastbourne suburbia.  This was a long way from home.  And me and C were into the deepest darkest unknown territory.

I looked up the Hunters Moon Morris on the web.  They do Border Morris which is not often seen, and is wilder and freer than the more common Cotswold Morris - and have the MOST amazing outfits. Not your average Morris then.  No, if Morris did Rock n Roll, these guys were it.



We arrived and a really lovely oldish lady came to greet us, with  a hug and a kiss!  We were warmly welcomed!  The school hall was filled with a proper assortment of folk. Men, women, even a child.  It was Open night so there were about 10 of us total beginners, there to learn a dance. The dance at the top of this blog, as it happens.....



It was, of course, weird.  But it was weird GOOD.  The people were friendly, lovely.  Totally keen on their thing.  Doing what they LOVE.  though a couple of the chaps, - they were still friendly - but they were AWESOME.  I wish I had taken photos, because it is not often you meet people you just want to stare at.  There was this old chap, with a massive beard and long hair in a pony tail.  And piercing blue eyes, who just stood.  With such charisma.  Honestly.  It was like seeing a character from another time  and place.  He stood so tall and proud and still. 

I digress.



The music, was brilliant.  And there must be something ancient and rootsy about the whole thing, because, they all said it was addictive, and it was the best thing they had ever done with their lives, and it was like that.  C and I LOVED it.  WE learnt a dance called The 4th Of September (because that was the date the guy who wrote the dance wrote it) and we did it.  With big sticks.  Its a slightly wild lolloping kind of Morris dance.  And it really did feel good.  In a weird, I have done this before, it totally fits, kind of weird good.  If it weren't so far away and I weren't so involved with learning Yoga and all.  I think I might have upped camp and joined the Hunters Moon.   Like running away with the Gypsies, the wild people.  It was addictive and I really had a great night out.  SO exilerating to do something so radically outside of the ordinary.

C it turns out has a friend who is travelling the country investigating Folklore, which is how she had come across the Hunters Moon.  This Chap is wanting to set up a Museum of Folklore and is fascinating on the subject. 

I love that I have a friend who loves to do adventurous things like that.   I feel so infused with life from that the whole thing.  And also some slightly weird sense that it was proper magic at work



You can see more of the Hunters Moon here and here.