Morris dancers - # 126

This is another sight, rare in Richmond, that I was lucky to catch a couple of weeks ago: Morris Dancers outside a pub on Richmond Green.

Don't laugh! This is very English, ancient, going back to pagan times, celebrating many ritual formalities from a time when man was in closer touch with the earth. Therefore it's important to keep it alive.

Two troupes were gathered. The Green and White are more usual; the "Black Faces and Red Coats" are less usual and look more sinister but very impressive, and had a different dancing style, though of course typical. No doubt they represented a different "force of nature".
Here you can see a typically decorated hat, snapped through the pub window.

The pictures are not very "artistic" or technically well executed - I was running low on battery and it was more important to capture an event that is now rarely seen around London and the suburbs.

Click on the photos to enlarge - it's worth it.