Great British Loonies: Part 1 of a very occasional series

There's a long tradition of Great British Loonies and, after being reminded of them during an extremely pleasant dinner in Wadebridge with some friends from 'oop North, I'd like to introduce you to one such bunch - The Britannia Coco-nut Dancers. Affectionately, and appropriately, known as the Nutters, they are a troupe of Lancastrian clog dancers who perform every Easter in Bacup, dancing 7 miles across the town, and have been doing so since around 1850. Their name refers to the wooden nuts worn at their knees, waists and wrists, which are made from the tops of bobbins. These are taped together like castanets as a percussive accompaniment to the dance, the nuts on the hands striking the nuts on the waist or knees in an intricate and dextrous rhythm. They wear white turbans with blue plumes, dark jerseys and trews, a white baldric, red and white skirts, white hose and black clogs. Why do they black their faces? No-one knows for definite but common explanations are that it's either due to the origins of the dance in the mining community, a reference to the dancers' ancient origin as Barbary pirates or as a disguise to ward off evil spirits. Of course, in today's climate, they are often accused of being racist but this is vehemently denied by all concerned.

If you are wondering what they look like in action, there's a Youtube clip below for your enjoyment and probable bewilderment. But before that, here's a wonderful description from A.A.Gill that appeared in the Sunday Times a few years ago:

The dance begins with each Nutter cocking a hand to his ear to listen to something we human folk can’t catch. They then wag a finger at each other, and they’re off, stamping and circling, occasionally holding bent wands covered with red, white and blue rosettes that they weave into simple patterns. It’s not pretty and it’s not clever. It is, simply, awe-inspiringly, astonishingly other. 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.

Elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling? Come on, admit it. You want to see them now, don't you?. And here they are.  - The Britannia Coco-nut Dancers. Yep, elementally bizarre and awkwardly compelling hits the nail on the head.