Morris Dancing is a traditional English form of folk dancing. It has been practiced for hundreds of years. The dances are usually performed at festivals such as May Day, Whitsun and Christmas.
The name may refer to the possibility of the form of dancing coming to England from the Moors of North Africa; or it may have been called 'Moor-ish' simply because the dancers sometimes painted their faces black.
The lively dancing is accompanied by an accordion player, a melodeon or fiddle player or a noisy band with a drum; also the dancers wear different clothes depending on the part of the country - often dressed in white with coloured baldrics (coloured belts) across their chests. Six or eight dancers are arranged in two lines or in a circle facing each other. The dancers may carry white handkerchiefs that they shake, or short sticks that they bang against each other as they dance. Some dancers have bell-pads tied at their knees, which make a loud and cheerful rhythm as they dance.
I wonder whether this Carnival stamp was posted on a cruise liner, otherwise I have nothing to add.
I expected to find some stamps from Brazil, but didn't have any relating to the theme. I chose Mexico instead.
Apparently in the Oaxaca Valley each village performs the Dance of the Feather (Danza de la Pluma) on their own Saint's Day.
More carnival stamps at Viridian's Sunday Stamps 10
