Sheffield City Morris have been to a number of folk dance festivals abroad and many have had a "folk mass" as part of the festival.

These have taken many forms but each group attending can perform part of their "religious/semi-religious" repertoire if they so wish. We usually sing one of the "Sheffield" carols because they have nice harmonies and we can sing them fairly confidently.

Other groups have set off fireworks the size of small mortar bombs (a Guatemalan group in France to clear the devils out of the way); played tunes (which we have also done - we played the tune written for the Pope's visit to Ireland), and so on. We have danced (farandole type dance with representatives from each group playing in the band) and had sermons with universal appeals for peace - speeches of Mandela and Martin Luther-King, and we have taken bread and wine in Hungary at the end of a service.

I do hope this helps to give you some more ideas.

Regards,

Dave
www.collectorsfolk.co.uk