The Britannia Coconutters Dance, Easter Saturday 2012, Bacup, Lancashire, England

The Britannia Coconutters do their famous clog dance from morning til dusk all round their home town of Bacup in Lancashire, England every Easter Saturday.
The custom of blackened faces is said to come from a pagan or medieval superstition done in order to disguise the dancers from being recognised by evil spirits afterwards, or it may reflect the coal mining connections of the area. The costume and dances are said to have come from the Moorish pirates who, having settled to work in the Cornish coal mines, brought their mining skills to the Lancashire area when these mines opened in the 1800's. The origins of many a British Morris Dance was in fact from these Moorish Pirates, the word "Moorish" becoming corrupted to "Morris" over the years.
More info on the Coconutter's website: www.coconutters.co.uk/

[@nickwyatt3243]

Brilliant! I hope the tradition carries on indefinitely. It's as much of a cultural jewel as the Lewes processions. We need to remember all of them.

[@elainerichardson6688]

brilliant I love the coconutters have from being small growing up in Backup it always felt special to see them long may they go on xxx

[@anaisbarrosodgh5790]

Zw2247

[@joline2730]

Elaine Richardson : If you lived there you should know how to spell it then 🤔

[@sophiew1967]

Your spelling is bizarre..

[@sophiew1967]

Lol.is that bizarre or what..maybe the inbreeding is affecting her ability to spell.properly 😂😂

[@hedgemist691]

@@sophiew1967 Nasty

[@tipptoggy]

Terrific tradition, hope its shines on the lads this Easter. I remember the Nutters practicing in the Dog and Partridge in 1963, no black faces then, just grime from the mills. But when they turned up in the full Monty at Easter it was, and still is, magical .

[@anaisbarrosodgh5790]

ETdte3

[@jonty7750]

a really great performance Grandad is 90 this year he remembers watching them as a young lad the men were in them days working at Far Owd Meadows Coal Pit and some from Deerplay Coal pit...interesting times....

[@FJMLAM]

Absolutely Brilliant routine. Long live these fabulous customs

[@DKO-f7l]

I was reading about this in The Best of A. A. Gill and just had to see it with my own eyes. He writes: "To say you couldn't make up the Coco-nutters would be to deny the evidence of your astonished eyes" (p. 185). But generally Gill is sympathetic, if gobsmacked. "Morris men from southern troupes come and watch in slack-jawed silence. Nothing in the civilised world is quite as elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling as the Coco-nutters of Bacup. What are they for?" (185).

[@ryanyerkess]

Loved watching then when I was younger

[@julianwalker1546]

Great quality video of a great Morris side!

[@jandeville325]

I love watching these guys!

[@FCWatford1]

The Coconut Dancers - great stuff!

[@jonty7750]

soon be Easter 2014, thowt it wernt gonna be allowed bein as council and police were against it, peeple power wins, see thi all on't day lads !

[@shandywarhol4444]

I rember these guys.... Don't they dance from pub to pub! Lol! Kx

[@Trallalinda08]

extremely crazywonderfuldon'teverstopit ...

[@jonty7750]

so Peter is yours a "Police State", ? If this were the case in Bacup thi would av t' lock all the town up else thi would dismantle it a brick at a time !

[@tinyraymond]

oh dear, why do they paint their faces? are they doing a parody of miners?

[@dorothyward5881]

so there gaffas did not know who they were thy did not get holiday pay if you did not work no pay even if it was a compolsive holiday

[@amybaker4654]

If you read the description above,it gives some possible explainations for the black face and the costume.Many of these dances go back to the pre Christian era and mummers.

[@herringfly]

"oh dear", imagine a Britain populated entirely by snowflakes.

[@SquirrelMonkeyCom]

@@amybaker4654 The same lame excuse people use to defend Zwarte Piet in my home country.

[@wfcoaker1398]

@@SquirrelMonkeyCom It has nothing to do with race. Stop trying to rewrite history according to your sociopolitical narrative.

[@aaronfunk1664]

I think that is the whitest thing I have ever seen.

[@elainebooth6835]

😃😀

[@Gggg-cq1ih]

Hahaha these deluded pentioners...smh So the clothes are meant to represent the Moors (Black men) at the time but not the black faces? Lol

[@elainebooth6835]

Not the Moors, the miners wearing traditional Morris dancing clothes and Lancashire clogs.

[@YorkyOne]

​​@@elainebooth6835 Unfortunately, the reality is that they are a street version of the early 1800's touring theatrical troupes who performed the 'Pas de Coco' on stage. They really are meant to be Polynesians or Africans - but as imagined in the 1850's.

[@peterpiperpicked4785]

Long live our traditions--never stop dancing. Its important to keep this stuff alive its our history

[@paleharbour]

Watching this always cheers me up. They are very funny. Long live the nutters !

[@normannokes9513]

Great fun with no offence intended

[@strollby4800]

Brilliant, most enjoyable, raises the spirits to hear and watch, thank you

[@pippameadowcroft]

my boyfriend was in this aha🎉

[@niceuneasy]

Love it keep it up guys 😂😂👌👍🙏

[@321scully]

They should be at The Strawbear Festival in Whittlesea Cambs. They are very good. A long dance.

[@Katmando376]

Racist

[@ericlees7518]

@@Katmando376 NO INDEED NOT RACIST THESE ARE THE MEN WHO WORKED IN THE COAL PITS DAYS GONE BY WITH THE GRIME OF COAL ON THEIR FACES THIS WAS THEIR WAY OF RELIEF OF WORKING DOWN THE PIT mmmmmmm

[@duckiebrown]

Such an old English Tradition, long let it live

[@YorkyOne]

The origins of the dance are the theatrical troupes who toured Britain and the Continent in the early to mid 1800's. One of these groups was the immensely popular Chiarini Family who performed the 'Pas de Coco'. The Halifax Guardian of August 1838 notes that they performed the 'Cocoa Nut Dance' and the local children could be seen imitating the dance in the street. The dance has nothing to do with moors or miners but is a street version of a theatrical performance with the costumes and black faces an early 19th century imagining of what Polynesian's or Africans looked like. The earliest Rossendale Valley coconut dancers were the Tunstead Mill Nutters formed in 1857.

[@DaveBassington-yu3nl]

All our traditions being snatched away from us while being forced to acknowledge every other buggers, I’m sick of it..

[@321scully]

Long live harmless and entertaining british folk customs!

[@cjwaywell]

This particular dance has to be the ultimate in traditional dance and the song just seems to stay with you forever after you have first heard it. Watching this brings a joy to my heart every time I see it and it absolutely makes me proud to be a Lancastrian. How the heck do they remember all of those moves, it amazes me every time that I see it.

[@Katmando376]

Racist

[@rjmun580]

They're daft as a brush, the whole lot of 'em - may they go on for ever.

[@MotorHead-d6w]

Wassail lads excellent.

[@MairyHinge]

Jeez! The Notting hill carnival has changed....

[@djwsam575]

i will learn the chorégraphie to an old ( very old) friend actually she like dance like an egyptian in the st Georges street but that is the real st Georges dance

[@321scully]

Today in the Daily Mail newspaper the Morris Dancers club have decided to ban the Coconutters because they are refusing to stop blacking their faces because of racialism. I hope the Coconutters will keep dancing, we can't destory everything to do with british tradition because of this damned 'racism'.

[@Katmando376]

They are racist

[@roseroberts2055]

@@Katmando376 It's not racist. This is how coal miners looked after coming out of the mines. They were grafters and I have no time for people who put a ist on the end of everything because of political correctness. Have you done a physical job in your lifetime.

[@johncartwright8154]

@@roseroberts2055 Same here in the land of Border Morris. A local side and others have bowed to pressure and use green paint in the face of criticism of this ancient tradition. Here it is believed faces were blackened to disguise the dancers who were skiving off work, or due to sinful activities and frivolities such as dancing during the Puritan era being banned. No racial slur intended.

[@luckybag6814]

@Kat Mando - no they're not racist, you're just ignorant. The black face here is a primitive form of mask, comparable to the white painted face found in sub-saharan cultures, Australian Aborigine culture and elsewhere. But it may be racist of you to make an offensive judgement of a cultural practice without first taking the trouble to understand or learn about it in context.

[@vanmanwales1590]

@@Katmando376 Thikco. You don't know the origin.

[@Peter-yg7ze]

If these guys did there dance in Stockholm , they wold end up in jail faster than anyone can say frogpoop ! Our democracy does NOT work in Sweden , do anyone have spareparts to us so we can repair it ? ?

[@yaldbg]

Oh!

[@rushy79]

Peter Eriksson Why would they end up in Jail if you don't mind me asking?

[@Peter-yg7ze]

Simon Rushton If you use google translate and read about Sweden of today ou will understand ! Read this : translate.google.se/translate?sl=sv&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=sv&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Favpixlat.info%2F&edit-text=&act=url The "avpixlat.info report things very open , the old media does NOT !

[@_Lattae_]

It's a carnival thing in bacup that's why they r aloud to do it

[@Wotsitorlabart]

@@_Lattae_ There is literally no law to stop them blacking up their faces so no one is 'allowing' them to do so.

[@telfulcher1711]

england at its best,keep away the do gooders and bigots

[@ericlees7518]

YUS INDEED mmmmmmm

[@its.elleomg.guys.woahhhhh]

My great uncle does this every year!! bless him

[@pippameadowcroft]

my dad does too❤

[@QUILLHD21AX]

The last time I went to Bacup, they kept my passport! Nevermore!

[@johnnybhoy9578]

i think its brilliant what they do, but when I look a there dance and routine, for some reason I see Spike Milligan

[@crwydryn]

Long live our traditions--never stop dancing.

[@rumlad1]

Good manly passtime

[@ernieburke3695]

Is it true that the KLF/ JAM"S are plotting an acid rap Cocconutter collaboration video with Cardi B for her next release 2021 ?

[@lesquis]

Tumble weed moment 😂

[@AndyMJF]

Hi genuine Question? Why are they called the coconutters? Thanks

[@wrathchild68]

The miners used to wear coconut shells on their elbows and knees to protect them hence the black face. They are miners!

[@Wotsitorlabart]

@@wrathchild68 It seems unlikely that 19 century miners would have access to or have the money to buy coconuts. Most likely made from wood, perhaps?

[@trailersic]

@@Wotsitorlabart Maybe they were carried to the north by swallows

[@marclewis2500]

😂

[@daveenglish2]

Definitely a dance tribute to the Greeks - who invented homosexuality.

[@trishbemrose7947]

the filming of the dance is quite good :D

[@calflo7584]

I love clogging.

[@SimcoeAce]

Poetry in motion.

[@kriswesterman2644]

Deffo not a dangerous activity! Keep it up.

[@gabbye4986]

They should all do this kind of physical activity more often.

[@IceCreamCookie]

What is with the rod?

[@jimmywalker1568]

Ice Cream Cookie fishing

[@_Lattae_]

Ice Cream Cookie it's not fishing it's to direct them in case they forget

[@calflo7584]

Maybe he chooses a random clogger. Maybe...

[@geordie114]

Great Tradition and fun,And keep the Black face.Ignore the PC Liberal wet lettuces.

[@MorningtonCrescent]

Not liberal, but of the Left.

[@sophiew1967]

Royston Vasey lives !

[@MairyHinge]

Hello Dave?

[@m0nkeyboot]

I too love this aspect of English Country tradition. However they are an 18th Century commemoration of Captain Cook and the voyages to the South Sea Islands.

[@Katmando376]

Racist

[@roseroberts2055]

It was about coal mining and nothing to do with that.

[@elainebooth6835]

Howard Palmer- No they aren't! It's a mining tradition.

[@m0nkeyboot]

It may have become one but where do you think it started? Barnsley ? Not many coconuts there.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​@@m0nkeyboot You do realise, don't you, that they aren't real coconuts but are formed from the tops of wooden bobbins?

[@jimmywalker1568]

O the gay English

[@mistral55]

Jimmy Walker Jealousy will get you nowhere...... ;)

[@jimmywalker1568]

mistral55 if you are English you should now what gay used to mean

[@jimmywalker1568]

Jimmy Walker bad spelling know not now its all for fun bye for now the gay or happy Scot

[@joegill3612]

Gay Gordon?

[@geordie114]

Jimmy Walker No, It`s just you hoping.

[@BigBenteBingBong]

Well this is very wrong

[@patgeorge1]

Those who look for offence will find offence (Scousers chapter 4 verse 6)

[@keithshatwell989]

What bollox!

[@davidfarrimond8891]

Why? Because you don't understand that miners had dirty faces? Stay behind your desk and enjoy your ignorance.

[@Wotsitorlabart]

​​​@@davidfarrimond8891 Assuming the early dancers were miners rather than mill workers, labourers etc, would they have gone out dancing covered in pit grime? Of course not - they would have had pride in their appearance The blacking up because they were originally all miners story is nonsense.