The True Origin of Morris Dance
Published 1 - April - 2002 local California time.
Over the years there has been a large amount of discussion and speculation about the origins of Morris Dance. With the recent discovery of the journal written by one William Morris, one of Sir Francis Drake's officers, and after over one hour of research the True Origin of Morris Dance can be stated with certainty.
Drake's Voyage
On the 15th day of November, 1577, Master Francis Drake set sail from Plymouth, England. Storms forced him to put into Falmouth Haven, Cornwall. The weather having cleared he left Cornwall on the 13th of December with 5 ships on a "trading expedition to the Nile". The ships were the, Pelican (120 tons), Elizabeth (80 tons), Benedict (80 tons), Marigold (30 tons), and Swan (50 tons).
When they reached Africa the true nature of the voyage was revealed to the Officers and Crew. They were to sail to the Pacific coast of the New World and assist any sinking Spanish ships they should encounter. By the time they reached the Pacific Ocean, in September 1578, the fleet was down to the, newly renamed, Golden Hind. The Elizabeth turned back to England, the Swan and Benedict were scuttled, and the Marigold went down with all hands.
The Golden Hind
from a Broadside circa 1595
For the next 5 and a half months Drake raided at will along the Pacific Coast. While raiding along the coast Wm. Morris observed the natives in Lima and Valpariso dancing with large leather pads with small bells, attached to their legs. Being keen on dancing he traded for a set of pads. His trading being assisted by the natives dislike of their Spanish oppressors.
Having found a number of sinking Spanish ships Drake rescued their cargo. Finding his ship awash with the jetsam from the sinking Spanish ships the Golden Hind sailed out of Spanish waters in April 1579 heading North. Having found a harbor in what is now Northern California the Golden Hind put in for repairs. During the next 5 months the crew established friendly relations with the natives. Among other activities the crew taught the natives to dance in the English style. Thereby being the first to introduce English Dance to Californians.
After the repairs were completed and the ship provisioned the Golden Hind made for the Orient. While traveling through the islands of the South Pacific and South China seas Wm. Morris observed, and recorded, the natives dancing with bamboo sticks and feathered rattles. He wrote that they were using the sticks to hit, themselves, each other, their sticks, and each other's sticks. Seeing the possibilities Wm. Morris brought a number of bamboo sticks on board.
After leaving the Indonesian archipelago the voyage ended with their arrival in England in the fall of 1580. On the final leg of the journey Wm. Morris tried to get the musicians on board to play some of the native dance music they had heard. Eventually giving up, he started fitting the steps he had learned into English dance music. That caught the fancy of the officers and crew. By the time they landed in England they had worked out several dances.
With his share of the booty from the trip William Morris purchased land near the town of Fieldtown and settled into the life of a Gentleman Farmer. He started teaching the local men how to dance this new dance. With the increasing mobility and trade of the time "Morris" dance spread quickly with each town developing it's own style.
English dancers, not having any locally grown bamboo, started using sticks of various types of wood. The debate continues to this day over which wood is best.
As a side note. While I was doing the research for this page I ran into, The Turbid Theories of Samuel Bawlf. This theory claims, among other things, that Drake landed in British Columbia and that Richard Hakluyt wrote most of Shakespear's plays.
The folks in B.C. have claiming that for years. Get over it. Drake landed in California. And I thought that Bacon wrote Shakespear's plays.