College News, 1932-05-06, Vol. 18, No. 20

              .J
The   College   News
VOL. XVIII, No. 20
BRYN MAWR AND WAYNE, PA., FRIDAY, MAY 6, 1932
Price 15 Cents
Elizabethan Dances   -
Had Festive Origins
Special Dances Were Done to
Ward Off Evils and
Aid Crops
WHOLE VILLAGE DANCED
The folk dances of Elizabethan
times were originally series of figures
arbitrarily suiting the music. As they
developed into a more formalized pat-
tern, many ceremonial and spectacu-
lar dances were presented in connec-
tion with seasonal festivals by spe-
cial�but not in the ordinary sense
professional�performers. These lat-
ter, having a magico-religious function
were done in each village by its own
local team.
Morris dancing was originally done
in the spring, frequently at Whitsun-
tide* It was done by five men and
a boy dressed in girl's habit, who was
called Maid Marian. Also there were
two musicians. Frequently one of the
dancers, more gaily and richly dress-
ed than the others, acted as "fore-
man of the morris." The garments
of the dancers were ornamented with
bells tuned to different notes so as to
sound in harmony. The purpose of
these dances was the expulsion of
evils and diseases from the parish or
district. This accounts for the use
of sticks and bells, together with the
former practice of dancing with
blackened faces (to which the name
"morris," i. e., Moorish, "nigger,"
seems to be due). Thus the origirfof
this dance is attributed to the Span-
ish Morisco and its introduction into
England, to John of Gaunt on his
return from Spain during the time
of Edward the Third. Many authori-
ties, on the contrary, ascribe Morris
dancing to the Gallic tribes or to the
Flemish. Few, if any, vestiges of it
can be traced beyond the time of Hen-
ry the Seventh, about which time, and
particularly in that* of Henry the
Eighth, the churchwardens' accounts
showed the importance of the Morris-
dance in parochial festivals.
The Morris dancing depends large-
ly upon comparatively intricate foot-
work for its charm. Its popularity
during the time of Queen Elizabeth -is
admirably expressed in a tract pub-
lished at that time; mentioning a
"stranger, which, seeing a quintes-
sence of all the picked youth, strained
out of a whole endship, footing the
Morris about a May-pole, and he not
hearing the minstrelsie for the fid-
ling, the tune for the sound, nor the
pipe for the noise of the tabor, blunt-
ly demaunded if they were not all be-
side themselves, that they so lip'd
and skip'd without an occasion."
Sword dancing was done at or near
Christmas � frequently from St.
Stephen's day till New Year's Day�
by teams of men. But as the dance
has survived today the essential part
of the dance is a mimic beheadal, ef-
fected by arranging the swords in
the shape of a hexagon, and a resus-
citation. It is frequently'explained
as a ceremonial of imitative magic,
representing the death of wintcff and
the subsequent devival of a vegeta-
tion-daemon. It is probably a devel-
opment from the Saltatio armata of
the Roman militia on their Festival
Armilustrium, in which young men
went from village to village, dancing
with swords in their hands, entertain-
ing the householders. The Germans,
later, according to historical accounts,
and probably the Gauls and the Brit-
ons had a kind of martial dance which
was exhibited at every entertainment,
consisting of dancing among the
sharp points of swords and spears.
The particular dances being done
this May Day have interesting festi-
val origins for the most part. Peas-
cods is a harvest dance. Selinger's
Round symbolized the beginning of
the world; the dancers went into the
center to touch a stone by which they
represented the sun. The 29th of
May, of no particular ceremonial im-
portance, depends upon the pattern
presented by the dancers as a whole,
(Continued on Page Fourteen)
Effect of May Day
Depends on Costumes
600 Costumes Have to be A*-
sembled Accurate in
Each Detail
COLQ1
RS     MUST     BLEND
Shades of Queen Elizabeth Have Been
Revived in Bryn   Mawr   Country-side
May Day in Merry England Began at Midnight When in Spite of Witches
Village Folk Went to the Woods to Gather the May
SPIRIT   OF   JOLLITY   STILL   WALKS   ABROAD
"Now is the month of Maying
When merry lads are playing,
Fa la la la la la la lu la."
This may well be the "hot-cha" age,
but let anyone deny that there's hey-
nonny-nonny in us yet! If Queen
Elizabeth could return to view May
Day she would, I am sure, feel very
much at home and, seeing herself as
others see her, be greatly flattered.
No doubt she could be persuaded to
reminisce. . . . But not even an auto-
gyro can bring Elizabeth back, and
for an idea of May Day as it was,
though few of us are Peter Stand-
ishes (of Berkeley Square), we must
transforjn our green for ourselves.
Merrie England, even as we, had
its nuisances. On the eve of great
celebrations, especially Midsummer
and May Day, the witches became par
ticularly active and, so we have heard,
wished to raid every cowhouse and
take away the milk. As a protection
against these baleful creatures, who
rode around on broomsticks and pitch-
forks, the herdsmen |ried everything,
even to tying a cross of rowan-tree
wood to each animal's tail with a
scarlet thread. At midnight, however,
all troubles were forgotten in a great
rush for the woods. Lads and lassies,
milkmaids and goosegirls, shepherds
and plowmen, even old men and wives
frolicked all night in the groves and
returned adorned with leaves and
flowers. Some of them even became
literal walking bowers, or Jacks-in-
the-green, encased in�a tall frame of
herbs and posies, with a flag at the
top. They, with the Hobby-horse, who
curvetted and jumped as no horse has
ever done, were great favorites in
the procession, which passed around
the village boundaries, led by Maid
Marian, fairest of the lassies, who
"habited in pretty forest plight," pre-
sided as Queen of the May.   The Lord
was none other than Robin Hood, who
with" Little John, Friar Tuck and
others of his band, contrasted strange-
ly with the chimney-sweeps, who
clutched shovels and brushes as the
milkmaids did their pails, which were
ornamented with ribbons and flowers.
But the greatest treasure to be
brought back from the woods was the
May-pole, which twenty or forty yoke
of oxen hauled, every ox having a
sweet nosegay of flowers placed on-
the tip of his horns. Itself a noc-
turne in greenery, the pole was raised
in the square, with handkerchiefs and
flags fluttering on the top. Where-
upon all fell to dancing about it; all
day long there were sports and games.
The May Queen, who was installed in
pretty state in one of the arbors set
up around the May-pole, watched the
Sherwood foresters engage in quar-
ter-staff bouts. There were also tests
of archery and Morris dances. To-.
ward evening bonfires wire lighted in
the streets and stage plays were held.
In these Robin Hood, along with St.
George and the Dragon, played a
iarge part. So popular was he that'
a certain Bishop, as the story goes,
coming to a certain town on May Day,
found the church door locked. "So,"
he says, "I taryed there half an houre,
and one of the parish comes to me
and sayes, 'Syr, this is a busy day
with us; we cannot hear you. . . . The
parish are gone abroad, to gather for
Robin Hood; I pray you hinder them
not.'"
Yet May Day was not only for the
simple folk. Even Henry VIII and
Catherine of Aragon, one-beautiful
morning, "when the hedgerows were
in bloom with hawthorne," had gone
forth to gather the May. And meet-
ing the heads of the Corporation of
London, together with the officers of
the Guard, dressed in Lincoln green,
they had games and  revels of their
own. Elizabeth, of course, was keen
for May Days. For the year 1559
we even have recorded that forty-two
men in armor were sent by the Iron-
mongers' Guild "to the May game
that went before the Queen's majesty
to Greenwich."
It is indeed hard to understand how
anyone could be averse to such a fes-
tival. Yet there are Puritans in every
age, and none more fervent than in
the Elizabethan times. And so
Stubbes, in his Anatomie of Abuses,
speaks of our dear May-pole as a
"stinkyng idol" about which people
"leape and daunce as the heathen
did." In fact, so" firmly were the
Puritans persuaded- that "Satan,
prince of hell," was/ "Lord of their
pastimes and sportes" that in 166-1
May-poles were forbidden by Parlia-
ment, with the result that a larger
pole than ever before, one 134 feet
high, was set up in 1661 in the Strand,
under the personal supervision of the
Duke of York, flags flying and drums
beating in celebration of the return
of "golden days" in the person of the
Stuarts. It serves them right. Yet
it cannot be denied that May Day ffM
at least of pagan origin and the sweet
May Queen herself a relic of the
Roman festival of Flora, goddess of
Spring-time and Flowers. She em-
bodied the idea of renewal and fructi-
fication, for which the May-pole and
every green thing is also a symbol.
As among primitive peoples fertility
of the crops was often closely con-
nected with men and women, it is
quite possible that the Saturnalia may
haVe been one of the steps in the evo-
lution of May Day. At the same
time, this festival embodies a second
and quite different iojea�that of puri-
fication. In the past the interpreta-
tion of the passing of winter had
some  quite  fearful  consequences.  M
(Continued on  I'atre Twelve)
It will take no experienced eye to
discern in the performances of today
the care that has been taken in the
costuming and the great importance
of that part of the work. In a per-
formance in which one depends most-
ly on mass effects for the success of the
whole�and such a performance May
Day undeniably is�color is a factor
of prime importance, and the actual
designs of the costumes only a slight-
ly less one. The costumers" Mrs. Nel-
son and Miss Marian Black, have
worked out their problems on an
amazingly scientic�or should we say
scholarly�basis, a feat which is all
the more wonderful when one realizes
that upwards of six hundred costumes
have to be assembled, if not actually
made.
The costumes of Queen Elizabeth
and her court are in the tradition of
former May Days, and, although we
are informed that they are rented,
some care had to be exercised in the
selection of harmonious colors, which
is in the last analysis the most com-
plicated and difficult of the costum-
er's problems. The costumes of the
dancers on the green and the village
folk, were comparatively simple, as
many of them were handed down from
former performances, and fall defi-
nitely into one period. The dancers
under Miss Cooper's direction present
a more difficult question, as they are
dressed of necessity in the close-fit-
ting costumes of the Duncan School
of Dancing. Some difficulties were
encountered in making them harmon-
ize with the bright colors of the
groups around them, and yet stand
out, but matters were finally solved
by separating the two types of danc-
ing entirely, so that one tradition
may not be allowed to conflict with
another.
The Masque of Flowers, for which,
the costumes are the most spectacular
and luxurious, was supervised by Miss
Janet Barber, who dances as Gallus
in the performance itself. Miss Bar-
ber follows fairly closely the descrip-
tions of the costumes of a masque
performed before Queen Elizabeth at
the marriage of "two noble persons,"
but the designs themselves are in
-peactically every case original. The
costumes of Silenus, Kawasha, Invi-
erno and the trains of the two gods
are among the high spots of the whole
afternoon, and no account of the cos-
tuming would be complete without
some tribute to Miss Barber for the
designs and to the costumers, proper,
for their execution of them.
The    Midsummer    Sight's    Dream
players   may  easily  be  divided   into
two groups.    One, the court, are clad
in authentic Greek robes of the time
of Theseus, as nearly as they can be
determined.    The Artisans, however,
are wearing what we take to be the
Elizabethan   idea   of   what   a   Greek
rustic   would   wear,   which   all   boils
down  to something very close to an
Elizabethan    rustic    laborer's    garb.
The fantastic little helmets that some
of the group  wear, while they may
look to the uninitiated like a modern
football helmet gone Elizabethan, are
realy   an   Elizabethan   laborer's   cap
gone  Greek.     (Your  error!)     Very
fe\v new costumes have bf*-n used for
the rustic group, .as it was the gen-
eral consensus among the authorities
that the older they were the better,
and by this standard some of them
are  nigh- to  perfection.     Bottom  is
the only offender against this  ideal,
as his costume is vilely recent. When
questioned  on  the  subject  of  newly
made costumes, those in charge noted
�and hoped we would note�that they
had "crinkled" all  the Greek dresses
laboriously  and  that they  were now
models of perfection.
As Yon Like It presents the most
(Continued on Page Fourteen)