One of my friends is a Uniting Church Minister & often arranged Church services at Festivals. She would gather together a collection of friends, some Christian, some not, including a couple of Pagans & present a very thoughtful & uplifting service, with great singing & music.

At one particular Festival the local Uniting Church folks didn't let her use their church the following year, they just held their usual service! I assume they let folkies attend.

Another time 2 traditions clashed was at one of the annual Hymn Singing sessions at the National Folk Festival, run by our very own Hrothgar, supported by many of the best unaccompanied singers at the Festival & everyone who lives singing. It's the place where we take the annual Ozcatter pic! It's the best singing session at the festival (well, some would say apart from the late night Stairwell sessions).

We all sing from the same hymn book (a spiral bound alphabetical list of hymns compiled by Hrothgar) & always end up sharing books as the crowd grows. Each hymns is led by a volunteer from the crowd & off we go, lifting the rafters especially when shanty singers like Danny Spooner are present.

One year folks arrived from the Church service, saying that the session was badly programmed cos it clashed with the service. Several volunteered to lead a song, but started by preaching instead of just launching into the hymn as singing session aficionados like my Jewish friend do.

I was sharing my book with a woman who had a lovely voice, and like the other visitors, the strange habit of waving her left hand about her head as she sung. She also wanted to stand up to sing because as she said "I'm a Baptist & we stand up to sing" so what could I say but "I'm a folksinger & we sit down to sing" which reduced my friend (who did not appreciate the religious folks preaching) to giggles.

sandra

(stairwell session? - well, it's an ordinary concrete stairwell between the singing room & the session bar & is the best acoustic space in the whole festival. It's always packed with singers from late evening until the last few can no longer stand or sing!)