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Welcome to the Hunters Moon Morris Website Hunters Moon are a Morris side from Eastbourne who dance in the 'Border' tradition; that is they perform dances in the style traditional to the counties of Worcestershire, Shropshire and Herefordshire. They first performed at the Eastbourne Lammas Fayre in 2001.
Although formed in 2001, Hunters Moon has aeons of experience in dance and music, but perhaps most importantly, all members have a love of folk tradition and values.
Border Morris was largely ignored by Edwardian folk-dance collectors who considerd it a less highly developed form of dancing than its better known cousin, the 'Cotswald' morris, but the style has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years as modern audiences tend to enjoy the raucous exuberance and wild appearance of the dancers. You'll hear and see the names of dances such as: If you fancy giving it a try, either as a dancer or as a musician please contact us with your details and we will invite you along to one of our practices. Heather - Bagman The artwork for the Hunters Moon logo was created by Laurence, one of our dancers, which you can see on our T-Shirts, badges and song books. Order or download these from our merchandise page, where you can also find out details of our new DVD!
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The origin of the 'Border' style 'tatter' costumes and the blacked-upfaces of the dancers is obscure. Attempts have been made to explain the traditional black faces by equating Morris with 'Moorish' (African) dances from the middle ages, but current thinking holds that it was more likely to have been a form of disguise, as the activities of morris dancers and mummers were generally frowned upon by the rural clergy and squirearchy. 