Morris dancing

I don't know if this is peculiarly British thing, but I'm guessing that it probably is. Morris dancing. As illustrated in the photo above. It involves men and women dressing up and hanging all sort of ornaments, mementoes, bits of cloth and stuff like that off their clothes. Then tucking their trousers into their socks and attaching bells to themselves. Finally they all dance in circles and bank little pieces of wood together. Usually while making what can best be described as whooping sounds. It's quite 'special' as the French would say.

I'm not exactly sure where this practice comes from, having never been too involved in it myself, but I'm pretty confident it's 'religious' and probably pagan. And it normally happens in villages (dare I say where the communities are very 'close'). Having taken the piss a little bit just then, I do have to say it seems relatively harmless and I guess it keeps people out of trouble.

At the week-end when the above group were dancing I had the pleasure of watching the faces of many foreign tourists who came round the corner to discover these whooping adults. There were many who took photos, all had a slightly surprised expression on their faces, and many looked slightly worried. Is this uniquely British?