[originaltext] People still celebrate ancient festivals in different parts o

People still celebrate ancient festivals in different parts of Europe with folk dances and processions, even though in many cases those who take part and put on special costumes are no longer sure what the dances represent. Almost all of them are associated with seasonal procedures that have been adapted to the Christian calendar. There are two main types found in a number of countries. The first, combat dances normally take place in winter or early spring and celebrate the battle between the old year and the new. In Austria, for example, at celebration time, people wear masks and dress up as ghosts and witches, and there are processions of men and women with drums and whips.
    The other main group of dances takes place in early summer, especially at Whit sun or on May Day. In England, there are dances of men in some villages. Groups of trained dancers, dressed in white, dance with bolls on their legs and bodies. They leap in processions in double files, waving white handkerchiefs or green branches. In some places, there are men with animal masks or a Jack-in-the-Green, a man dressed in leaves who stands for the new vegetation of the summer.