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A Jack in the Green in Kingston, Surrey in the mid 1970s
A Jack in the Green in Kingston, Surrey in the mid 1970s

A Jack in the Green (also Jack in the green, Jack-in-the-green, Jack i' the Green, Jack o' the Green etc) is a participant in traditional English May Day parades and other May celebrations, who wears a large, foliage-covered, garland-like framework, usually pyramidal or conical in shape, which completely covers their body from head to foot. Kingston upon Thames is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. May Day occurs on May 1 and refers to any of several Public holidays In many countries May Day is synonymous with International Workers' Day, or Labour The name is also applied to the garland itself.

Contents

History

A chimney sweeps' Jack in the Green dances with the "Lord and Lady of the May" (probably both played by men) in 18th-century London
A chimney sweeps' Jack in the Green dances with the "Lord and Lady of the May" (probably both played by men) in 18th-century London
A Bogie at Jack in the Green, Hastings
A Bogie at Jack in the Green, Hastings

In the 16th and 17th centuries in England people would make garlands of flowers and leaves for the May Day celebration. After becoming a source of competition between Works Guilds, these garlands became increasingly elaborate, to the extent that it covered the entire man. A guild is an association of craftsmen in a particular trade The earliest guilds were formed as confraternities of workers This became known as Jack in the Green. For some reason the figure became particularly associated with chimney sweeps; there are several explanations thereof, but none has been proven conclusively [1]. A chimney sweep is a person who cleans Chimneys for a living History The occupation of chimney sweep is considered to be one of the oldest in the world as

By the turn of the 19th century the custom had started to wane as a result of the Victorian disapproval of bawdy and anarchic behaviour. The Lord and Lady of the May, with their practical jokes, were replaced by a pretty May Queen, while the noisy, drunken Jack in the Green vanished altogether from the parades. A practical joke or prank is a stunt or trick to purposely make someone feel foolish or victimized usually for humor The May Queen or Queen of May is a term which has two distinct but related meanings as a mythical figure and as a holiday Personification.

Jack in the Green was revived in Whitstable, Kent in 1976 and continues to lead an annual procession of Morris dancers through the town on the May Bank Holiday. Whitstable ( is a seaside town in northeast Kent, southeast England KENT (1400 AM) is a Radio station broadcasting a Adult Standards/MOR format A morris dance is a form of English Folk dance usually accompanied by music A bank holiday is a Public holiday in the United Kingdom and also in the Republic of Ireland. A separate revival occurred in Hastings in 1983 and has become a major event in Hastings Old Town calendar. Hastings is a town on the coast of East Sussex in England; it is also the administrative centre for the Borough of the same name Hastings Old Town, is an area in Hastings roughly corresponding to the extent of the town prior to the nineteenth century Ilfracombe in North Devon has had a Jack in the Green procession and celebration since 2000. Ilfracombe is a Seaside resort and Civil parish on the north coast of Devon, England with a small Harbour, surrounded by It is supported by local schoolchildren, dancing around the May Pole on the sea front, and by local morris men and dance groups from in and around the district.

Jack is a colourful figure, almost 3m (nine feet) tall, covered in greenery and flowers. In Whitstable, he is accompanied by two attendants, almost invariably drawn from the ranks of Oyster Morris, representing the legendary figures of Robin Hood and Maid Marian. Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where Maid Marian (short for maiden usually named Lady Marian Fitzwalter of Leaford (first mentioned c In Hastings, he is also accompanied by attendants, here known as Bogies, who are completely disguised in green rags, vegetation, and face paint. The attendants play music, dance and sing as they guide Jack through the streets to celebrate the coming of Summer.

Revivals of the custom have occurred in various parts of England; Jacks in the Green have been seen in Bristol and Deptford and Knutsford, among other places. Bristol ( ˈbrɪstəl is a city, Unitary authority and ceremonial county in South West England, west of London Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in south-east London. Knutsford is a town and Civil parish within the Borough of Macclesfield, Cheshire, England, located south-west of Manchester Jacks also appear at May Fairs in North America.

Observations

Amongst modern "folkies" and neo-pagans the Jack in the Green has become identified with the mysterious Green Man depicted in mediaeval church carvings and is widely felt to be an embodiment of natural fertility, a spirit of the primeval greenwood and a trickster; by extension he is linked to such mythological characters as Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Robin Hood, the Green Knight and others. Folk music can have a number of different meanings including Traditional music: The original meaning of the term "folk music" was synonymous Neopaganism or Neo-Paganism is an Umbrella term used to identify a wide variety of modern religious movements particularly those influenced by historical A Green Man is a Sculpture, Drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. In Mythology, and in the study of Folklore and Religion, a trickster is a God, Goddess, spirit, man woman or anthropomorphic Puck is a mythological Fairy or mischievous Nature Spirit. Puck is also a generalised personification of land spirits Puck is a mythological Fairy or mischievous Nature Spirit. Puck is also a generalised personification of land spirits Robin Hood is an archetypal figure in English folklore, whose story originates from medieval times but who remains significant in popular culture where Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a late 14th-century

Similar characters to the English Jack in the Green were known in parts of Europe and Russia, and may be still. Russia (Россия Rossiya) or the Russian Federation ( Rossiyskaya Federatsiya) is a transcontinental Country extending Some were involved in mock sacrifice, where the leafy framework was thrown or ducked into a pond or river (sometimes with the person still inside it). These festivities were variously associated with Easter Monday, St George's Day (23rd of April), May Day, and Whitsuntide. Easter ( Greek: Πάσχα Pascha or Pasxa) is the most important religious feast in the Christian Liturgical year. In Christian hagiography Saint George is one of the most venerated saints in the Anglican Church, Eastern Orthodox Church, Oriental Orthodox Whitsun ( Old English for "White Sunday" is the 49th day (seventh Sunday after Easter Sunday. Occasionally the disguise was straw rather than leaves, a link with the straw bears of German Carnival (and the sole English example, the Whittlesea Straw Bear), suggesting these particular figures personified Winter rather than Spring or Summer. Carnival is a festival season which occurs immediately before Lent; the main events are usually during February and March Whittlesey (historically known as Whittlesea - the name of the railway station is still spelt this way - or Witesie) is an ancient Fenland Folklorist Sir James Frazer cited many examples in The Golden Bough. Folkloristics is the formal academic study of Folklore. What actually constitutes folklore is disputed even within the discipline but generally folklore focuses on the The Golden Bough A Study in Magic and Religion is a wide-ranging comparative study of Mythology and Religion, written by Scottish anthropologist Sir

Other related figures in Britain include the Burry Man of South Queensferry and the Garland King of Castleton, Derbyshire, who parades on Oak Apple Day. Queensferry (often referred to as South Queensferry to distinguish it from North Queensferry) originally a Royal Burgh in West Lothian is now part This article is about the English village in Derbyshire For other uses see Castleton. Oak Apple Day was a holiday celebrated in England on 29 May to commemorate the restoration of the Monarchy in Great Britain and

Trivia

British progressive rockgroup Jethro Tull recorded a song called Jack-In-The-Green on their Songs From The Wood album. Progressive rock (often shortened to " progressive " " prog " or " prog rock " is a form of Rock music that evolved Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967-1968 Their music is marked by the distinctive vocal style and lead Flute work of front man Songs from the Wood (1977 is an Album by Jethro Tull and is officially considered the first of a trio of Folk rock albums ( Songs from

Pianist Jools Holland wrote a track called "Jack O The Green" in conjunction with Suggs (Graham McPherson) of Madness after Suggs witnessed an ancient ceremony in Whitstable, where the coming of Spring is celebrated with the Jack o' The Green parading through the streets to an old English folk melody. Julian Miles "Jools" Holland OBE, DL (born 24 January 1958) is an English Pianist, Bandleader Graham McPherson (born on 13 January 1961 in Hastings) better known as Suggs, is an English Singer, actor former radio DJ and TV personality Madness are an English pop / Ska band from Camden Town, London, that formed in 1976 Whitstable ( is a seaside town in northeast Kent, southeast England Having heard this each year Suggs was captivated by it. On holiday in Tuscany he saw a band of local musicians gather with traditional Tuscan instruments in a small village square. Tuscany (Toscana is a region in Italy. It has an area of 22990 km² and a population of about 3 Their own Green Man appeared and much to Suggs' surprise they played the same tune. Their collaboration takes the folk melody, creates a variation on it, and sets them to ska rhythms. Ska ( pronounced /ska/ or in Jamaican Patois /skja/ is a Music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and which was the precursor

"Jack in the Green" is the name of Painting No. 10 in the Masquerade (book) by Kit Williams. Masquerade is a children’s book written and painted by Kit Williams, which sparked a worldwide treasure hunt by concealing clues to the location of a jewelled Kit Williams (born April 28 1946 in Kent England) is an English artist illustrator and author best known for his book Masquerade The main character, Jack Hare, appears in disguise on each page of the story: in this picture he is a transparent green jelly in a shop window; this is a pun on Jack in the Green and the moulded shape of the jelly itself bears a vague resemblance to a Jack in the Green.

A character called Jack in the Green has appeared in a number of comic books, including Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days, Swamp Thing Vol. Neil Gaiman's Midnight Days is a 1999 compilation of new and previously released stories written by Neil Gaiman and published by the Vertigo The Swamp Thing is a Fictional character created by Len Wein and Berni Wrightson for DC Comics and featured in a long-running horror-fantasy 2 #47 and Hellblazer: Lady Constantine #s 1, 2 and 3. Hellblazer is a contemporary horror Comic book series published by the Vertigo imprint of DC Comics.

See also

Illustrations

Bibliography

External links

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