We will not 'cower' to pressure to stop blacking faces, says dance group

Guising is historical reference to being down mines, says secretary

- BY JACK FIFIELD & JON MACPHERSON

BACUP'S Coconutters say they won't cower to pressure to stop 'blacking' up as they performed their traditional dance at Bacup Easter Festival.

They danced through the town last Saturday in front of hundreds of people.

The group, known as 'nutters, which wears coconuts on its knees and dances as a 'whipper in' whips the air, insists the practice is just part of its tradition dating back to the 1800s.

Group secretary Gavin McNulty, 40, joined the troupe when he was aged just 26.

He said: "The whipper-in when we're dancing on the streets dances around us with the whip.

"He's whipping away the evil spirits from the dance area, because they're fertility dances.

"The face guising is all about disguise from the evil spirits, that’s the pagan side of it."

He added: "Obviously, the Coconuts on the knees and stuff we used as protection down the mines, and part of the blacking is that connotation of the mining as well."

The dad-of-three, who works for a company that builds home delivery vans, says the tradition is important to the small town, which has a population of around 15,000.