Folk traditions are back, with bells on

Morris dancing, folk music and other English traditions are making a comeback. And the new followers are a diverse bunch

Members of the Chapel-en-le-Frith Morris Dancers dance atop the Eccles Pike at High Peak in Derbyshire before sunrise. Photo: LINDSEY PARNABY/AFP via Getty Images

When Morris dancing took centre stage at the Brit Awards earlier this year, the moment arguably became real. Cool Britannia was toast. Merrie England had taken over.

The signs are everywhere, not just on the village green and in Ye Olde Timbered Inn, way out in the sticks. At the Brits, the all-girl Boss Morris troupe of Morris Dancers accompanied Grammy-winning indie band Wet Leg in mini-dresses. Up and down the land, nearly 14,000 other Morris dancers cavort most weekends with energy and abandon.

Countless wassails are being held. That ancient English ritual involves mulled cider or ale, and songs that implore the pagan gods for bountiful harvests. There are riotous “Jack in the Green” spring parades. The one in Hastings, south-east England, attracted its largest audience last year in nearly half a century. Mummers plays, tra…