Britannia Coco-nut Dancers

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The Nutters performing in 2005 Bacup Coconut Dancers (65105358).jpg
The Nutters performing in 2005

The Britannia Coco-nut Dancers or Nutters are a troupe of Lancastrian clog dancers who perform every Easter in Bacup, dancing 7 miles (11 km) across the town. [1] There are eight dancers and a whipper-in, who controls the proceedings. [2]

Lancashire County of England

Lancashire is a ceremonial county in North West England. The administrative centre is Preston. The county has a population of 1,449,300 and an area of 1,189 square miles (3,080 km2). People from Lancashire are known as Lancastrians.

Bacup town in England

Bacup is a town in Lancashire, England, in the South Pennines close to Lancashire's boundary with West Yorkshire. The town is in the Rossendale Valley and the upper Irwell Valley, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) east of Rawtenstall, 6.4 miles (10.3 km) north of Rochdale, and 7 miles (11 km) south of Burnley. At the 2011 Census, Bacup had a population of 13,323.

Whip tool traditionally used by humans to exert control over animals or other people

A whip is a tool which was traditionally designed to strike animals or people to aid guidance or exert control over animals or other people, through pain compliance or fear of pain, although in some activities, whips can be used without use of pain, such as an additional pressure aid or visual directional cue in equestrianism. Whips are generally of two types, either a firm stick designed for direct contact, or a flexible whip that requires a specialized swing to be effective, but has a longer reach and greater force, but may have less precision. There are also whips which combine both a firm stick and a flexible line, such as hunting whips.

Contents

History

Some say the custom was brought to the area by Moors who settled in Cornwall in the 17th century, became miners and then moved to work in quarries in Lancashire. A similar performance occurred in Portuguese-speaking communities such as the Afro-Brazilian "Dança do Coco", [3] a dance form precursor to the iconic Brazilian Carnival dance troupes, it is also present in the French-speaking communities dances – the Danse des Coco – are performed in Provence. [4] This troupe was formed as the Tunstead Mill Nutters in 1857 when it was one of a group of five which performed in the Rossendale valley. According to the Burnley Gazette, a man named Abraham Spencer (1842–1918) was one of the founders back in 1857, at only 15. They passed on their tradition to workers at the Britannia Mill in the 1920s. Their dances feature floral hoops or garlands; the musical accompaniment is provided by a concertina or the Stacksteads Silver Band. [2] [5]

Moors medieval Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta

The term "Moors" refers primarily to the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily, and Malta during the Middle Ages. The Moors initially were the indigenous Maghrebine Berbers. The name was later also applied to Arabs.

Cornwall County of England

Cornwall is a county in South West England in the United Kingdom. The county is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar which forms most of the border between them. Cornwall forms the westernmost part of the South West Peninsula of the island of Great Britain. The furthest southwestern point of Great Britain is Land's End; the southernmost point is Lizard Point. Cornwall has a population of 563,600 and covers an area of 3,563 km2 (1,376 sq mi). The county has been administered since 2009 by the unitary authority, Cornwall Council. The ceremonial county of Cornwall also includes the Isles of Scilly, which are administered separately. The administrative centre of Cornwall, and its only city, is Truro.

Brazilian Carnival annual festival in Brazil

The Carnival of Brazil is an annual Brazilian festival held between the Friday afternoon before Ash Wednesday and Ash Wednesday at noon, which marks the beginning of Lent, the forty-day period before Easter. During Lent, Roman Catholics and some other Christians traditionally abstained from the consumption of meat and poultry, hence the term "carnival", from carnelevare, "to remove meat."

Costume

Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins. [6] They are protective work gear for the hands and knees, essential in mining work involving crawling. The waist nut is a spare in case of breakage or loss of the others. These are tapped together like castanets as a percussive accompaniment to the dance, the nuts on the hands striking the nuts on the waist or knees in an intricate and dextrous rhythm. [7] They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black clogs. [8] [9] [10]

Bobbin A spool or cylinder around which thread or yarn is coiled.

A bobbin is a spindle or cylinder, with or without flanges, on which wire, yarn, thread or film is wound. Bobbins are typically found in sewing machines, cameras, and within electronic equipment. In non-electrical applications the bobbin is used for tidy storage without tangles.

A jersey is an item of knitted clothing, traditionally in wool or cotton, with sleeves, worn as a pullover, as it does not open at the front, unlike a cardigan. It is usually close-fitting and machine knitted in contrast to a guernsey that is more often hand knit with a thicker yarn. The word is usually used interchangeably with sweater.

Baldric belt worn over one shoulder, typically used to carry a weapon (usually a sword) or other implement such as a bugle or drum

A baldric is a belt worn over one shoulder that is typically used to carry a weapon or other implement such as a bugle or drum. The word may also refer to any belt in general, but this usage is poetic or archaic.

Blackface

In 2014 Bacup Coco-nutters 2014 1.JPG
In 2014

Their faces are blackened. This is popularly explained as either due to the origins of the dance in the mining community, [11] a reference to the dancers' ancient origin as Barbary pirates or as a disguise to ward off evil spirits. [8] Theresa Buckland's (1990) research discusses the linkages between the tradition and minstrel shows. She argued, "The 'disguise' function of the costume has most likely been influences by Cecil Sharp's [1911] interpretation of the black face [...] which has been repeated in various publications and ephemera of the English Folk Dance and Song Society ... The dancers have been exposed to information from these publications, whether first-hand or further removed." [12] The issue caused controversy in 2014, when local politician Will Straw was photographed with them. He defended the custom: "... it’s traditions from the past which give communities a sense of common identity for the present and the future. May the Coconutters continue for many years to come." [13] [14]

Blackface form of theatrical makeup

Blackface is a form of theatrical make-up used predominantly by non-black performers to represent a caricature of a black person. The practice gained popularity during the 19th century and contributed to the spread of racial stereotypes such as the "happy-go-lucky darky on the plantation" or the "dandified coon". By the middle of the century, blackface minstrel shows had become a distinctive American artform, translating formal works such as opera into popular terms for a general audience. Early in the 20th century, blackface branched off from the minstrel show and became a form in its own right. In the United States, blackface had largely fallen out of favor by the turn of the 21st century, and is now generally considered offensive and disrespectful, though the practice continues in other countries.

Barbary pirates

The Barbary pirates, sometimes called Barbary corsairs or Ottoman corsairs, were Ottoman and Maghrebi pirates and privateers who operated from North Africa, based primarily in the ports of Salé, Rabat, Algiers, Tunis, and Tripoli. This area was known in Europe as the Barbary Coast, a term derived from the name of its ethnically Berber inhabitants. Their predation extended throughout the Mediterranean, south along West Africa's Atlantic seaboard and into the North Atlantic as far north as Iceland, but they primarily operated in the western Mediterranean. In addition to seizing merchant ships, they engaged in Razzias, raids on European coastal towns and villages, mainly in Italy, France, Spain, and Portugal, but also in the British Isles, the Netherlands, and as far away as Iceland. The main purpose of their attacks was to capture Christian slaves for the Ottoman slave trade as well as the general Arab slavery market in North Africa and the Middle East.

Minstrel show blackface performance

The minstrel show, or minstrelsy, was an American form of entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by white people in make-up or blackface for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and all-black minstrel groups that formed and toured under the direction of white people. Minstrel shows lampooned black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.

Membership

One long-standing member of the troupe is Dick Shufflebottom, whose service of 50 years was celebrated in 2006 and who continued as an active member in 2013, aged 76. [15] The youngest member of the troupe at that time was Gavin McNulty, age 26. [16]

Performances

The main annual performance is on Easter Saturday, [A] but rehearsals take place weekly throughout the year and form a social occasion. [17] In 2013, the annual performance was threatened by public sector austerity as the police and local authority threatened to withdraw support for the traffic management and security at the event. [16] [18]

United Kingdom government austerity programme

The United Kingdom government austerity programme is a fiscal policy adopted in the early 21st century following the Great Recession. It is a deficit reduction programme consisting of sustained reductions in public spending and tax rises, intended to reduce the government budget deficit and the role of the welfare state in the United Kingdom. The National Health Service and education have been "ringfenced" and protected from direct spending cuts, but between 2010 and 2019 more than £30 billion in spending reductions have been made to welfare payments, housing subsidies and social services. The effects of United Kingdom austerity policies have proved controversial and the policies have received criticism from a variety of politicians and economists. Anti-austerity movements have been formed among citizens more generally.

Review

In 2014 Bacup Coco-nutters 2014 2.JPG
In 2014

AA Gill, writing in The Sunday Times , described them as bizarrely compelling: [19]

The dance begins with each Nutter cocking a hand to his ear to listen to something we human folk can’t catch. They then wag a finger at each other, and they’re off, stamping and circling, occasionally holding bent wands covered with red, white and blue rosettes that they weave into simple patterns. It’s not pretty and it’s not clever. It is, simply, awe-inspiringly, astonishingly other. Morris men from southern troupes come and watch in slack-jawed silence. Nothing in the civilised world is quite as elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling as the Coco-nutters of Bacup.

Recordings

A five-minute black-and-white film, shot in 1930, with a new musical accompaniment, is included in the DVD Here's a Health to the Barley Mow, issued by the BFI in 2011. [20]

A 2-minute and 18-second excerpt of the music used for the dancing, recorded in 1972, is included on the album The Voice of the People, Volume 16: You Lazy Lot of Bone Shakers – Songs & Dance Tunes of Seasonal Events, issued by Topic Records. [21] Topic included this recording as Track One on the second CD in their 70-year anniversary boxed set Three Score and Ten .

See also

Notes

^A Easter Saturday here refers to the term's meaning in common usage, the day before Easter Sunday, properly known as Holy Saturday, not the more accurate use of the term Easter Saturday which designates the Saturday following Easter Sunday.

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Coconut species of plant

The coconut tree is a member of the palm tree family (Arecaceae) and the only living species of the genus Cocos. The term "coconut" can refer to the whole coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which botanically is a drupe, not a nut. The term is derived from the 16th-century Portuguese and Spanish word coco meaning "head" or "skull" after the three indentations on the coconut shell that resemble facial features.

Morris dance A form of English folk dance usually accompanied by music

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Britannia national personification of Britain

Britannia has been used in several different senses. The name is a Latinisation of the native Brittonic word for the island, Pretanī, which also produced the Greek form Prettanike or Brettaniai, which originally, in the fourth to the first centuries BC, designated a collection of islands with individual names, including Albion or Britain. In Modern Welsh the name remains Prydain. By the 1st century BC, Britannia came to be used for Great Britain specifically. After the Roman conquest in 43 AD, Britannia meant Roman Britain, a province covering the island south of Caledonia. When Roman Britain was divided into four provinces in 197 AD, two were called Britannia Superior and Britannia Inferior. Britannia is the name given to the female personification of the island, and it is a term still used to refer to the whole island.

Whitsun name used in the UK for the Christian festival of Pentecost

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Borough of Rossendale Borough and Non-metropolitan district in England

Rossendale is a district with borough status in Lancashire, England, holding a number of small former mill towns centred on the valley of the River Irwell in the industrial North West. Rossendale combines modest size urban development with rural villages and is immediately south of the more populated town of Burnley, east of Blackburn and north of Bolton, Bury, Manchester and Rochdale, centred 15 miles (24 km) north of Manchester.

The Cloggies

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Nantgarw tradition

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References

  1. ↑ Roy Christian (1967), Old English customs, Hastings House, p. 26
  2. 1 2 "Bacup Britannia Coconut Dancers", A dictionary of English folklore, Oxford University Press, 2000, ISBN   978-0-19-210019-1
  3. ↑ "Dança do Coco", O Portal de Notícias da Paraíba, Nordeste e Brasil. WSCOM.com.br. Retrieved 2016-02-11.
  4. ↑ Nigel Allenby Jaffé (1990), Folk dance of Europe, pp. 108–109, ISBN   978-0-946247-14-1
  5. ↑ Kenneth Fields (1998), Lancashire magic & mystery, p. 100, ISBN   978-1-85058-606-7
  6. ↑ Brian Shuel (1985), The National Trust guide to traditional customs of Britain, p. 46, ISBN   978-0-86350-051-0
  7. ↑ Kerridge, Roy (24 April 1981), "The giants of Rossendale", The Spectator , 246: 13, ...their intricate coconut routine, beating up a brisk castanet-type rhythm by patting their hands, with discs on their palms, onto the discs on their waists and knees...
  8. 1 2 Jeremy Hobson (2007), "Britannia Coconut Dancers", Curious Country Customs, David & Charles, p. 60, ISBN   978-0-7153-2658-9
  9. ↑ Suzanne Cassidy (June 4, 1989), "England's Merry Morris Men", The New York Times
  10. ↑ T Buckland (1986), "The Tunstead Mill Nutters of Rossendale, Lancashire", Folk Music Journal, 5 (2), ISSN   0531-9684, JSTOR   4522204
  11. ↑ Pauline Greenhill (1994), Ethnicity in the Mainstream, McGill-Queen's, p. 119, ISBN   978-0773511736, ISSN   0846-8869, The practice is often explained away as a representation of miners' blackened visages
  12. ↑ Buckland, Theresa Jill (1990). "Black Faces, Garlands, and Coconuts: Exotic Dances on Street and Stage". Dance Research Journal. Congress on Research on Dance. 22 (2): 1–12. JSTOR   1477779.
  13. ↑ Beth Abbit (24 April 2014), "Straw defends 'Nutters in Twitter picture row", Rossendale Free Press, archived from the original on 27 April 2014
  14. ↑ William Langley (27 Apr 2014), "Meeting the dance troop who say 'blacking-up' is a badge of pride", Sunday Telegraph
  15. ↑ "Fifty Years a Nutter", English dance and song, English Folk Dance and Song Society: 113, 2006
  16. 1 2 Jaya Narain (2 February 2013), "'Elf and safety threat to 150-year-old Morris dancing charity event as council insists volunteers go on course", Daily Mail
  17. ↑ Theresa Buckland (1994), Dance history, Routledge, p. 54, ISBN   978-0-415-09030-8
  18. ↑ Andy McSmith (5 February 2013), "What police budget cuts could lead to – illegal Morris dancing", The Independent, archived from the original on 11 February 2013
  19. ↑ "AA Gill meets the morris dancers", The Sunday Times , August 9, 2009
  20. ↑ "Here's a Health to the Barley Mow". BFI. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
  21. ↑ "You Lazy Lot of Bone Shakers". Topic Records. Retrieved 13 February 2015.
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