If it gets people dancing it can't be bad, but it does sound un peu pretentious. I liked the bit towards the end about how the Long Man side are doing it "to have fun and keep the tradition alive". Bor-ring!

While I'm about it, that article makes a definite association between big scary important life-and-death stuff, on one hand, and young wouldbe pagans dressed in black on the other - poor old hanky-waving Long Man, all middle-aged(!) and church-going(!!) and dancing to entertain(!!!). I blame that Cecil Sharp, if he hadn't come along and prettified the tradition we'd all be sacrificing goats on Beltane Eve just like our ancestors did...

Well, tush and also pish, in the immortal words of Robert Robinson. Christenings, weddings, funerals - churches are (or used to be) the settings for some of the deepest and most powerful human experiences. As for middle age, it comes to all of us (if we're lucky) - and most people have seen a hell of a lot more of birth, death, love and loss at 50 than they had at 25. If something happens when people perform together (and I think it does), then it's going to happen just as much among people who've already lived a bit.