Some English folk dances are danced with swords or sword-like objects, displaying themes such as human and animal sacrifice for fertility, battle mime, and defence against evil spirits.
Or just for fun.
There are several types. In linked-sword dances, each performer holds the hilt of his own sword and the point of that of the dancer behind him, the group moving around each other to form patterns. Versions from the North-East of England are known as Long sword (stiff wooden swords) or Rapper sword (flexible steel swords).
Sword dances are widely distributed through Europe - e.g. in northern England, Basque territory, and Spain, and they are sometimes performed as part of a folk play, such as the English mummers plays. In the dance the swords are interlocked at one point, forming a "rose," or "lock," that is held aloft and may be placed around the neck of a performer in mock decapitation. When the dance is linked to a mummers' play, the "beheaded" falls "dead," to be revived by a "doctor," a fool, a man-woman, or other subsidiary character.
These dances have been said to be rooted in ancient vegetation rites of death
and renewal, possibly in sacrifice of a leader to ensure fertility. They seem to
be associated with the turn of the seasons, and even today they are believed to
bring luck or well-being. In the absence of hard evidence, some now think the
connection with ancient rites was merely a fashionable turn-of-the-century
theory.