Isca Morrismen Tradition Articles
May Day
The following two articles were recently published following the side's traditional May morning performance in Caerleon Ampitheatre on May 1st 2002 and are reprinted with due acknowledgement:-
South Wales Argus - An Article by Mike Buckingham
© Article is Copyright 2002 Newsquest Media Group - A Gannett Company
Fun with Bells on!
Dancing that goes back to before records began was coupled with cans of beer to celebrate the arrival of May Day. Mike Buckingham joined the celebrations in an historic corner of Gwent.
"The sun should be up in a minute" the foreman said. "I expect".
Assured that the universe was going to run more or less to plan the Isca Morrismen drained their tins of Tetley's Creamflow and took their positions for a little number with the snappy title of "A Bean Setting" From Headington.
Wasn't there something unusual about drinking cold cans of beer in the chill hour before daybreak on May Day? I asked a Morris dancer who was sitting this one out. "There certainly is," he replied. "We normally drink real ale."
Within the space of a minute I had been introduced to two of the abiding attractions of Morris dancing.
The first is indulging in a ritual of great antiquity, a mystical pagan revel to greet the oncoming of spring.
The second is a legitimate opportunity to consume vast amounts of real ale in country pubs.
Ragged clouds were just being tinged with pink as I arrive at Caerleon's amphitheatre. Bells and ribbons were being fastened about white-socked calves, shaggy coats made from strips of rag shrugged on and Monmouth caps, a type of mediaeval bobble-cap, donned. Dr Gareth John was tuning up his fiddle, and in the amphitheatre itself an accordion wheezed its way into an old country tune.
Once, just once, in their 26 years of existence, the Isca Morrismen saw in May Day atop Twm Barllwm, an idea that was not persisted with due to the impracticality of climbing a small mountain in Morris dancing gear whilst lugging the beer and other necessities. In the eerie pre-dawn light this ancient place of gladiatorial combat seems entirely appropriate.
The Morris dancers do not take themselves too seriously but they are serious about what they do. The dancing is fun, but not funny.
"We are keeping alive a tradition that was already old by the Middle Ages. There are all sorts of theories as to how Morris dancing came about," says the Squire (Chairman) Les Chittleburgh of Cwmbran.
There is certainly a link with ancient ritual relating to fertility. A theory is that the `Morris' might be a corruption of `Moorish' from the time of the Crusades.
Japanese woman Napsu Yo, a keen supporter, has by this time been whisked into the centre of the dancing men. One of the gleefully laughing spectators is a young black woman with marvellous dreadlocks. I know for a fact that photographer John Briggs, one of the dancers, is from Minnesota. So what's the link with `our' past? It seems an odd thing to say when `we' come from Hengoed and Hiroshima and all points in between, and, rather than being blacksmiths or thatchers, cordwainers or swineherds, are computer engineers, social workers, teachers, sales reps and local government officers.
And then, just as the sun breaks over the lip of the amphitheatre and the dancing reaches a crescendo, it all falls into place.
It's the world we have created and not the dance that is the transient thing. So long as the sun rises and sets people - all people - will feel a deep, primaeval urge to emulate its movement and to celebrate the warmth and growth it brings. I expect.
Caerleon Net - http:///www.caerleon.net - An Article by Merlin
Isca Morrismen's Dance at Sunrise in Roman Arena at May Day
5.15 am. May 1st 2002 photos © CAERLEON NET
Bells jingling, the Isca Morrismen made their way into the Roman Arena; the sky just beginning to hint of the sunrise to come.
Not a solemn occasion, this. The Isca Morrismen were here to see in May Day; this was the first event of their calendar - and they meant to do it in style. The cans of ale would see to that! One of the 'side' even took his own pewter tankard. The men refuelled between dances, and it seemed that in no time the sun had risen way above the horizon and the crimson sky became daylight blue.
The boys made their way to the Ffwrwm for a celebration breakfast. May Day was underway, ordinary folks' alarm clocks would soon sound off another day. Lucky people, these Morrismen. Their clocks tick with the earth's clock. They are in tune with the passing of the seasons; and they laugh and dance.
The group (correctly termed 'Side') was formed in 1976 and first welcomed May Day in the arena in 1978, this will be their 25th year. Bad weather, frost, rain... won't thwart them. Only once have they not set foot in the arena on May Day since '78 - that was when the Foot and Mouth outbreak closed the monument - undaunted, they performed outside.
