Oh, and It's traditional. The answer to the second question is yes, please. Also, certain members of the side find that they cannot face bright sunlight in the morning after the night before. The dancing members of the side wear waistcoats covered in yellow and blue rag strips. A hundred years ago, Border Morris dancers used to pin paper strips to their ordinary clothes, but found this was too dangerous because children used to set the paper alight.
Rags are less flammable.
The musicians tend to wear black tail-coats without the rags. We think this is because they are too lazy to sew any on. Some members of the side have to wear braces to keep their trousers up. This is necessary due to an absence of waist. The rest of us wear braces as well so that they won't feel self-conscious about this.