By BILL LOCKWOOD
Special to the Eagle Times
PUTNEY, Vt. — In matching costumes with sleigh bells tied to their shins and the accompaniment of an accordion, flute and drum, the Putney Morris Men and their companion troupe of women, the Putney Mountain Morris danced in the arrival of May, an annual tradition since 1981.
A half dozen dancers — each in the respective teams — dance intricately choreographed almost drill team precision routines, some with stout sticks they bang together or handkerchiefs they wave in the air.
A couple years after their formation, they started scheduling their first performance of the day at sunrise on Putney Mountain. Fred Breunig, fiddler, dance teacher and the Squire, or leader, of the group, says they draw a crowd of about 80 spectators consistently on the mountain every year.
There is also a second performance in the parking lot by the Putney Town Hall at a more civilized hour, though this year it was at 6;45 a.m. A smaller-but-enthusiastic crowd turned out to view that. Dancer John Todd says he has been involved for 20 years,
“It’s an infection.Once you catch it, it stays with you.,” he said.
Several years ago, a now-former member, Mike Little, said, “Spring wouldn’t come if the Putney Morris Men didn’t dance.”
He added, “Where else can you put on bells and go out in public?”
The women’s team was added to the Putney group in 2009.
Morris Dancing is found in western tradition, with origins that predate written history.
Breunig sees it as a “folk thing.” As to the exact history, he feels that “when you come down to it, it doesn’t matter.”
The Morris Dancing groups in New England see their roots in England.
The first known written mention is of a seven-schilling payment to Morris dancers in London in 1448. An Englishman and folklorist, Cecil Sharp, spearheaded a revival in the early 1900s in England.
Dancing is tied to the solar calendar of events. May 1 is one of “the cross quarter days,” half way between the solstice and the equinox, as is Ground Hog Day, or Candlemas, in February.
Breunig sees the dancing on May 1 as one of many visiting customs like Christmas caroling that tend to happen at specific times of the year. Morris teams perform similar rituals all over the world on the first of May.
Spring and May rituals have been tied to fertility.
The Putney presentation always includes the traditional May Cake.
Breunig dancing in the role of “the fool” stabbed a flat round carrot spiced cake with a sword then cut squares, which he passed around to the crowd.
The cake, baked following traditional specifications, tasted gingery and just out of the oven fresh.
Eating it is said to bring luck and fertility, though the luck has been played up more in recent years.
“If you don’t have a cake and a fool, what’s the point of dancing?” Breunig says. As well as being leader and dance teacher for the group Breunig dances the role of the fool. It is an additional dancer, dressed differently and more colorfully, who acts as a link between the audience and the dancers. The fool is announcer and jokester who dashes between dancers and also dances along with them. Breunig says the fool “provides the pinball that can go anywhere.”
He is in contrast with dancers who move as a whole group together rather than as individuals. Traditionally the dancers perform at other times of year as well, May fairs, harvest festivals, and to commemorate locally significant historic events like royal visits in England.
The Putney group performed a dance called The Putney Ferry. It commemorates a known historic event when the ferry that once crossed the Connecticut River between Putney and Westmoreland, NH capsized while transporting a circus elephant that didn’t want to cross.
Breunig wears a captain’s hat as he dances the fool role in this dance. Breunig learned his first dance in 1971. A couple years later he attended a summer dance camp run by the Country Dancing Song Society in Pinewoods, Massachusetts.
The Pinewoods Morris Men had been formed during the early camp years, and in the late ’60s they started making an annual performance tour. Breunig was dancing with a Marlboro, VT team in 1973 when he saw an “explosion” of Morris Dancing in New England and beyond. He says the first “Morris Ale”, or gathering of groups, was in 1975. Since their creation Breunig has been the Squire and danced as the fool for the Putney Morris being the “public face” of the group. Many of the dancers have been doing it for years. There seems to be quite a dedication to the Morris dance tradition. And the bottom line appears to be that no matter what one thinks of ancient rituals and beliefs the audience and dancers were all having quite a bit of fun.
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