Tags
folklore, Green Man, Greenwich, International Workers Day, Jack in the Green, London, May Day, music, Old Royal Naval College, place, ritual, walking
May Day in London and I am celebrating my birthday month in doing something I have always meant to do – following the Jack in the Green as he is brought back to life to celebrate the fertility of spring, the closest we come now to the Green Man and celebrating the originally pagan time of Beltane, a time of regeneration and the beginning of summer. This Deptford Jack is joined by a motley crew of participants, musicians, dancers, anyone who cares to join in, led by Fowlers Troop, a revival of the early 20th century revellers troop of that name, and this year processing from Deptford around Greenwich.
Jack, do you never sleep —
does the green still run deep in your heart?
Or will these changing times,
motorways, powerlines,
keep us apart?
Well, I don’t think so —
I saw some grass growing through the pavements today.
from Jethro Tull’s Jack-in-the-Green lyrics
18th century Jack in the Green in London
Jack in the Green traditions go back much further than the 20th century of course and have been thoroughly documented by Roy Judge in his book on the subject. Latterly associated with chimney sweeps and maybe before that milkmaids and their garlands they are part of the mass of folklore surrounding May Day. Meanings and associations of May Day change over time and are still changing, now being best known as International Workers Day, and despite attempts to diffuse marches, protests and other allegedly dissident behaviour by moving the bank holiday to the nearest Monday this survives. I didn’t manage to fit in the rally from Clerkenwell Green to Trafalgar Square also taking place.
After starting from the Dog and Bell pub in Deptford the Deptford Jack arrives with a fanfare of drums at the Rose and Crown in Greenwich.
Some of the musicians
Other leading characters
The route then goes past Hawksmoor’s St Alfege’s Church, around the back streets to the centre of Greenwich, past the Cutty Sark and through the Old Royal Naval College to the Star and Garter pub in Old Woolwich Road in the shadow of the power station.
On to the Plume of Feathers, which was my favourite pub when I lived in the area as a student at Goldsmiths’ College, and from there through Greenwich Park, past the Queen’s House and on to the Richard I pub in Royal Hill. I can see why it is a royal borough!
More back streets and the final destination , the Ashburnham Arms in Ashburnham Grove where I’m sure I used to know people living in a squat. Time’s have changed.
Jack recovers and another May Day ritual has survived.
Further Information and thanks to:
http://www.deptford-jack.org.uk/
The Jack-in-the-Green by Roy Judge, second edition published by FLS Books, 2000
Excellent! There’s nothing like a good Green Man fest to bring out the Wyrdness in people…
Thanks Steve – glad you found it in the end!
Wonderful, thanks Diana, I lived in London for over 10 years and managed to miss knowing about Jack in the Green… Lovely to read about it now that I live many miles away… Gives me a warm feeling for London and England.
Thank you so much Amanda, and thanks for all your interest.
Great to see these old traditions adhered to – even if they are partially reinvented for the post modern age. Lovely images.
Wonderful post… Thank you for all these beautiful photos filled to the brim with all the exuberance, colour and joy of this magical tradition. And glorious sunshine and blue skies too! Perfect! Happy birthday month, Diana!
Hi Diana. We don’t celebrate May Day here, but I have a small tabletop Maypole made of ribbons that I made when my son was small. My Mom said they used to celebrate May Day with birch bark baskets full of Mayflowers. Jane
Great photos Diana- I had thought of going to see the equivalent procession in Hastings but couldn’t make it. The Roy Judge book is new to me, must check that out – the Hastings J-in-the-G website had surprisingly little on the history, and the modern version only dates from 1983, so would be good to get more sense of the roots (pun intended) of it all. In the meantime, try this (not so keen on the home-made vid, but the song is superb: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7scBwIudT4
Hi,
Roy Judge’s book is probably the seminal work on the traditional Jack-in-the-Green and is probably still available directly from The Folklore Society: http://www.folklore-society.com/publications/books/titles/jackinthegreen.asp
I would also highly recommend Keith Leech’s book: The Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green. It was available from the Tourist Information Centre in Hastings. They can be contacted at hic@1066.net or by phone on 08452741001 They were happy to post copies around the world and take payment by credit card over the phone. (do let me know anybody who tries if that has changed)
I’m the current custodian of The Company of the Green Man. We gather, archive and make freely available information and images relating to the traditional Jack-in-the-Green. The Company also supports current traditions that feature the Jack-in-the-Green in the UK (and worldwide) and assists where possible in the protection, promotion and preservation of traditions involving the Jack-in-the-Green.
I would love to hear from anyone who knows of any other Jacks that parade anywhere in the country in addition to those already detailed on our website and I’m always grateful for any photos videos or accounts of any Jacks both modern or historical
Many thanks
Chris
greenman@virgin.net
Thanks to everyone for the interest and great contributions and comments. Good to know the green within us is alive and well!
And the sun shone!
Wonderful post.
Hastings also has a Jack in the Green festival, also called Green Man festival. Time does change yet certain things keep coming back.
Still a few Jacks-in-the-Green to go out this year including Hastings tomorrow. Details of all the Jacks who currently parade in the UK can be found at http://www.thecompanyofthegreenman.co.uk
Absolutely delightful post and incredible photos, Diana. I was not familiar with the Jack-in-the-Green tradition, and once again, you educate me. As a traditional dissident, I am rather partial to May Day celebrations and parades but have to say Jack-in-the-Green is one I will look across the pond to from now on. Great post!
KM
Hi Dianajhale, Some wonderful pictures of the Deptford/Greenwich Jack! I’m the current custodian of The Company of the Green Man http://www.thecompanyofthegreenman we maintain a free archive of information and photographs about all the current and historical Jacks throughout the UK. I wonder if you could contact me at greenman@virgin.net as I would love to get your permission to add some of your photos to our archive and feature them on our blog and free e-newsletter. I try to attend as many Jacks as I can to get photos for our archive and was at Winchcombe on May Morning this year to see their wonderful Jack-in-the-Green. Sadly after a 3:30 am start I couldn’t make Greenwich this year (I was there two years ago) but hope to return again.There are also many more Jacks yet to come this year, fulll details are available via our website. i would urge everyone to have a look and go out and support their nearest Jack. Many thanks
What wonderful imagery!
A sparkling looking, spring washed day, documented in a lovely fashion. Thanks Diana.
Beautiful post – pastoral London belongs to you…
Very interesting, I’ve never seen this May Day festival, or even heard of this Jack the Green, which seems a little odd; wish our country made more of its people’s cultural heritage, the old rituals of the people, all our pagan roots, and we all learnt about it at school, and not if we just happen to chance upon it. So thank you for the sharing (and by chance educating me!)
Seems lovely with some pagan celebration for spring. And you actually have got spring. Happy, green birthday!
Lovely. Much more welcome than the Oxford revellers.
I see you’ve sensibly omitted the bit at the end where they burn the policeman… Interesting stuff. Thanks.
Diana, thank you – a lovely post and photos. I will put a link from our web page.
dobraszczyk: did you know that they have a Jack in the Green on May Day in Oxford as well as all the morris dancing?
David: we are not into burning policemen! The Greenwich police have always had a really good attitude towards us doing the Jack in the Green.