The sun rose this morning. That’s my job done for the year.

[alex_beecroft]

On May Day morning, about 4.30am, the stalwart members of Coton Morris Men and the Ely and Littleport Riot rolled out of bed, put their bells on and journeyed to Ely Cathedral. There they performed the ancient dances of their folk, starting in the icy darkness before dawn, to encourage the sun in its journey into the sky.

Thus, though their hardy musician suffered a painful numbing of her fingers such that the music became a great labour unto her sore hands, still they capered on until with a great burst of golden light, behold

The sun arose upon Ely cathedral, and also upon all those other places in the world, such as Harrogate, and Ipswich and Shingay-cum-Wendy. Then, seeing that the regular rotation of the earth and the celestial bodies had been preserved, the dancers cried the ritual words, “blimey, I’m cold. How about breakfast?” And there was great rejoicing.

Mirrored from Alex Beecroft - Author of Gay Historical and Fantasy Fiction.

Comments

[sharpiefan]

Will you be at the Sweeps Festival in Rochester next weekend?

(Only possibly the biggest gathering of morris dancers in Europe if not the world, and lots of fun.)

[alex_beecroft]

Sadly not. We'll be dancing at the Ely Eel fair instead. We keep meaning to come to Rochester, and we keep not managing it. One of these years we'll get there, I'm sure.

[sharpiefan]

Boo!

'Nother time, then!

[darkemeralds]

Nice work! And what a splendid shot of the cathedral in the mists of morning. How lovely.

[alex_beecroft]

Thank you! Yes, this is a dance-out that always wrecks my sleep for a week, but it has its compensations. The sound of a violin in the dark and the sight of sunrise. For all I'm being facetious about the sun thing, it is a sacrifice of sorts that brings its own rewards.