For the Friar and Nun dance, Google gives several references. Here is an article: http://www.pbm.com/~lindahl/lod/vol4/friar_and_nun.html. It does not explain the name but does say that the dance can be quite lengthy if there are many couples taking part, and that the initial instruction is "Do thus to all, the rest following". So keep boggling.
Will


c.oates@... wrote:

Hi Will, There's a dance called The Friar and the Nun? I didn't come across that, but did find a late 15thC text of the rude carol (composed by a Cambridge scholar) and a 1540ish vulgarisation of the same (and apparently Shakespeare mentions 'the Friar and the Nun' in 2 plays). As you say, the mind boggles imagining the steps! C From: Dr Caroline Oates The Folklore Society, c/o The Warburg Institute, Woburn Square London WC1H 0AB, tel. 020 7862 8564 The Folklore Society Library and Archives are stored at University College London Library, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT --- On Fri, 26/6/09, Will Ryan <w.f.ryan@blueyonder.co.uk> wrote: From: Will Ryan <w.f.ryan@blueyonder.co.uk> Subject: Re: [TalkingFolklore] "The Fairy and the Gnome" RIP To: TalkingFolklore@yahoogroups.com Date: Friday, 26 June, 2009, 2:37 PM Caroline, Well spotted. I hope the dance of the same name is not equally indecorous. I have been trying to imagine the steps. Will Caroline Oates wrote: Re the query a couple of years ago re "the faere and ye Nome" in an English inventory of 1553/4, asking if anyone knew a story about "the Fairy and the Gnome"--having recently seen a photocopy of the manuscript, the words look much more like "the frere and ye None", i.e. The Friar and the Nun, a very popular bawdy carol. Caroline