You can't go black face and get away with it nowadays--even if the incentive to do so is lost behind a shrouded history of a greasy suburban town called Bolton.
The Britannia Coconut Dancers, a 157-year-old Lancashire dancing troupe tradition, were most recently slighted for painting their faces black as part of an old ritual.
The Nutters, as the dancers are known, were unphased by the criticism and claim that this is merely the expression of the ritual, a façade that is clearly misunderstood by the greater public.
They may have Twitter to thank for that as the wonderful world of the Interweb knows no bounds--or perhaps the traditions of old English folk culture.
Origins of the dance troupes seem foggy but there's apparently a brief detailing that the participating dancers seem to maintain.
Per Telegraphe, the troupes were often composed of working class men, normally miners, who sported a blackened face from soot and dust after long hours in the mines. The aesthetic of it was supposedly an honor when hitting the bars for a tall drink after their day of labor.
Insults have been flung across the board, however, from The New York Times to multiple anti-racist organizations calling for a disbanding of the group entirely.
Dick Shuttlebottom, an 80-year-old dancer who debuted 57 years ago with the group was confused at the nasty allegations and commented by saying, "Some people just want something to complain about,"
"It never crossed my mind that putting a bit of something on your face would cause any trouble," he continued.
The practice isn't anything that has warranted such a backlash since it began. Though the group may not remove their black faces, they compromised by cleaning off the black paint from their hands, claiming the paint made it too difficult to grab their pints.
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