Editing Blackface (section)

==== Folk culture ====
{{main|Blackface and Morris dancing}}

South Western English traditional [[folk play]]s sometimes have a Turk Slaver character, probably from the [[Barbary pirates|Barbary Coast Slave raids]] on Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Somerset in the early 17th Century by "[[Salé Rovers|Sallee Rovers]]" (where the English were the slaves captured and taken by force to North Africa). This character is usually played using a black face (or brownface).

Throughout the country, the Turkish ([[Saracen]]) Knight character (probably harkening back to the [[crusades]] during the [[Middle Ages|Medieval era]]) in traditional English Mummers' plays was played in blackface (or brownface), though less often in the modern era.<ref>{{Cite journal|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1259473|title=The Turkish Knight in English Traditional Drama|author=Newall, Venetia|year=1981|journal=Folklore|volume=92|issue=2|pages=196–202|doi=10.1080/0015587X.1981.9716206|jstor=1259473}} See, for example, p. 197: "[H]e is referred to in a variety of ways. For example: Turkey Champion, Turkish Champion, Grand Turk, Black King of Morocco, Black Morocco King, Saracen Knight, Turkey Snipe (a common corruption of Turkish Knight), Morocco Dog, Prince of Paradine or Black Prince of Paradine.... The play from Antrobus in Cheshire represents the Black Prince with blackened face."</ref>

Various forms of [[folk dance]] in England, including [[Morris dance|Morris dancing]], have traditionally used blackface; its continuing use by some troupes is controversial.<ref name="Buckland">{{cite journal | last1 = Buckland | first1 = Theresa Jill | year = 1990 | title = Black Faces, Garlands, and Coconuts: Exotic Dances on Street and Stage | journal = Dance Research Journal | volume = 22 | issue = 2 | pages = 1–12 | jstor = 1477779 | doi = 10.2307/1477779 | s2cid = 193009637 }}</ref><ref name=RFP>{{citation|url=http://www.rossendalefreepress.co.uk/incoming/straw-defends-nutters-twitter-picture-7026569 |title=Straw defends 'Nutters in Twitter picture row |newspaper=Rossendale Free Press |date=April 24, 2014 |author=Beth Abbit |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140427163545/http://www.rossendalefreepress.co.uk/incoming/straw-defends-nutters-twitter-picture-7026569 |archive-date=April 27, 2014}}</ref><ref name=T14>{{citation |title=Meeting the dance troop who say 'blacking-up' is a badge of pride |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/10789789/Meeting-the-dance-troop-who-say-blacking-up-is-a-badge-of-pride.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220111/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/features/10789789/Meeting-the-dance-troop-who-say-blacking-up-is-a-badge-of-pride.html |archive-date=January 11, 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |author=William Langley |newspaper=Sunday Telegraph |date=April 27, 2014}}{{cbignore}}</ref> Some interpretations trace the original invention of blackface back to [[Blackface and Morris dancing|specific morris traditions]].

[[Molly dance]]rs and [[Guise dancing|Cornish Guise Dancers]], traditionally associated with midwinter festivals, often use blacked faces as a disguise. The Molly dancers wished to avoid being identified by the landlords and petty nobles, who were also usually the local magistrates, when they played tricks on those who failed to be generous enough in their gifts to the dancers. The Guise dancers (disguised dancers) also wished to avoid any punishment for their mocking songs embarrassing the local gentry.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Guise Dancing {{!}} |url=https://www.cornwallforever.co.uk/year/guise-dancing |access-date=2022-08-27 |website=Cornwall For Ever! |language=en}}</ref>

Some traditional mummers groups perform the English folk play "St George and the Turkish Knight" with the entire cast, including Father Christmas, and all the white, English characters in mummers' blackface.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.winterbourndownbordermorris.co.uk/videoboxday.html|title=Video boxing day|website=www.winterbourndownbordermorris.co.uk|access-date=October 15, 2022|archive-date=March 19, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319062703/http://www.winterbourndownbordermorris.co.uk/videoboxday.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In [[Bacup]], Lancashire, the [[Britannia Coconut Dancers]] wear black faces. Some{{Who|date=December 2013}} believe the origin of this dance can be traced back to the influx of Cornish miners to northern England, and the black face relates to the dirty blackened faces associated with mining.

In [[Cornwall]], several [[Mummer's Day]] celebrations are still held; these used to be sometimes known as "Darkie Day" (a corruption of the original "Darking Day", referring to the darkening or painting of the faces) and involved local residents dancing through the streets in blackface to musical accompaniment. As late as 2014, at least one festival ([[Padstow]]) featured such songs as 'Old Uncle Ned', which includes the lyrics "He's gone where the good niggers go".<ref>{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 – The Untold – Harmless Tradition? |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/2rLzDFR653mHgzFzXKpfpDB/harmless-tradition |access-date=2022-05-18 |website=BBC |language=en-GB}}</ref>

The traditional [[Chimney-sweeps (folklore)|wedding day chimney sweep]], that is considered to be good luck, sometimes has a partially blacked up face to suggest smears of soot. This depends on the performer but it was, and still is, unusual to have a full blackening. Though the complete covered "greyface" is known.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jf0GWgPIPeU| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211030/Jf0GWgPIPeU| archive-date=2021-10-30|title=Charlie Brush- wedding chimney sweep – YouTube|website=www.youtube.com| date=September 27, 2011}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

These two traditions, of chimney sweep and folk dancing, coincide in the sometimes lost traditions of (chimney) sweepers festivals. [[Medway Council]] supports the Sweeps' Festival, revived in 1981, now claimed to be "the largest festival of Morris dance in the world". It takes place in [[Rochester, Kent|Rochester]] around May Day and features a [[Jack in the Green]] character. Originally the chimney sweeps were little boys, and they used the day to beg for money, until this [[Child labour#Britain|child labour was outlawed]].<ref>{{cite web|title=History of the Sweeps Festival|url=http://www.medway.gov.uk/leisurecultureandsport/events/sweepsfestival2017/historyofthesweepsfestival.aspx|website=Medway Council|access-date=June 17, 2017}}</ref>

On [[Guy Fawkes Night|Guy Fawkes' Day]] 2017, participants in the [[Lewes Bonfire]], the best known of the [[Sussex Bonfire Societies|Sussex bonfire tradition]], decided to abandon black face paint in their depiction of [[Zulu people|Zulu]] warriors.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Booth|first1=Robert|title=Lewes bonfire society ends tradition of blacking-up|url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/nov/05/lewes-bonfire-society-ends-tradition-criticised-for-being-racist|work=The Guardian|date=November 5, 2017}}</ref>

On July 3, 2020, the [[Joint Morris Organisation]] announced that all three constituent bodies, representing the vast majority of Morris Dancing in the United Kingdom, would be actively moving to eliminate the use of full-face black makeup from their membership.<ref>{{cite web|title=Calling time on full-face black makeup|url=https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/2020/07/03/calling-time-on-full-face-black-makeup/|website=The Morris Federation|date=July 3, 2020|access-date=July 4, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200704162413/https://www.morrisfed.org.uk/2020/07/03/calling-time-on-full-face-black-makeup/|archive-date=July 4, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref>