top of page
Search
hastingshistories
Jun 24, 20227 min read

Who is Jack in the Green?

Updated: Aug 24, 2022

A pagan god, a chimney sweep and a morris dancer walk into a bar…


Evening Jack, said the barman.


Most people in Hastings will have heard of Jack-in-the-Green. He’s the centre-piece of the annual mayday festivities known for dancing through the streets of Hastings with his mischievous bogie guardians. So it feels a bit redundant asking who he is then, surely?


Well, no. The origin of the custom itself isn’t necessarily widely understood. I must admit, until about a year ago I knew next to nothing about the history behind the festival despite having long since decided that it was “the best day of the year”. I had a vague sense that it felt old and was probably pagan in origin – a sentiment shared by many attendees.


My podcast explains in detail the actual origin of the festival: it’s a working class, urban tradition that was started by the chimney sweeps in order to collect money to see them through the quiet season of their employment. The aim of this blog is not to re-tell the whole story of Hastings Jack-in-the-Green; give the podcast a listen if that’s what you want! Instead, I will be exploring his origin and evolution in a bit more detail.


Jack’s Roots

The earliest record of a ‘Jack-in-the-Green’ is from the Morning Chronicle of 2nd May 1775: “Jack of the Green had made his garland by five in the morning, and got under his shady building by seven…”. That’s not to say that there wasn’t one before that – but it wouldn’t have been much before. These customs, however small, would have left some kind of historical record.


Jack was, essentially, a very elaborate Garland carried by the chimney sweeps. It seems possible to me that the sweeps took inspiration from the milkmaids. The image below shows an early milkmaid’s garland from 1735. They would be covered in silver plate and ribbons and would have been danced around the streets during May celebrations. Over time the garlands became bigger and more elaborate, including the addition of leaves and flowers, until eventually they covered the entire person. Sound familiar?


There is no concrete evidence that Jack directly evolved from the milkmaid’s garland. Roy Judge, the first person to carry out a systematic historical investigation of Jack, dismisses this idea as superficial. However, these groups would have been out and celebrating at the same time and it’s almost certain they would have been influenced by each other. We might not have the evidence of Jack’s direct ancestry but do know he was created by the sweeps in the context of 18th century pageantry, which contained many a garland.


However, there is an argument that dates Jack’s origin much further back. He has been linked with the longer and more complex ‘Green Man’ tradition. The Green Man is a mythical figure used as a symbol of rebirth, nature and springtime. James Frazer in his 1890 work ‘The Golden Bough’ makes the claim that Jack is 'actual representation of the spirit of vegetation’. This idea became influential and was taken further by Lady Ragan in her 1939 article ‘The Green Man in Church Architecture’ – she specifically linked Jack with the Green Man claiming both had their roots as pre-Christian deities. Her work is based on a combination of Frazer’s argument and her research into foliate head carvings. Below is an image of a foliate head, or ‘Green Man’, found in a medieval church – can you see the link?


Now, it’s possible to get very lost in this complex debate! Roy Judge cuts through it by pointing out that there is no concrete evidence that Jack has pagan roots or is a version of the Green Man. Both Frazer and Ragan’s arguments are based on ‘unjustifiable assumptions’, according to Judge, and trying ‘to seek for connections back into an immemorial past’. I can, however, completely understand why many people have made the link.


Chris Walton has an excellent website called ‘The Company of the Green Man’ where he traces the Green Man back to medieval whifflers. A whiffler was someone who walked at the front of important processions to clear a path - often dressed in leaves. They would have been a common sight in late medieval celebrations and the tradition was still alive in the 18th century. Indeed, the Hastings Jack is guarded by a variation on the whiffler – the infamous bogies!


You can go back further – foliate heads go far beyond carvings on Christian Churches. They were often found on Roman art depicting the gods such as the one below. These were very likely to have pagan origins.


So – could Jack be pagan? I personally don’t think so, there is no evidence to support this claim. I don’t think the fact that Jack is made of leaves is enough to say convincingly that he is actually the representation of a pre-Christian god. It’s certainly possible the sweeps drew inspiration from what they saw around them – garlands, whifflers, carvings, green men. But that doesn’t mean that Jack is any of these things.


There has, however, been a lot of links made today between Jack and other traditions. Anyone who has attended Jack-in-the-Green will have seen for themselves the huge variety of characters that follow him, many of whom are consciously linking their dress back to older traditions. Jack himself might not be pagan – but he’s got a lot of pagan mates!


Jack’s Evolution


The first record we have of a Jack-in-the-Green being paraded is from the late 18th century London. Since then, he has been sighted all over the country surrounded by a whole host of different characters. Whatever his origin, it’s clear that he has taken on a number of different meanings over the years.


Initially, Jack meant beer money! Perhaps that’s a little unfair, but essentially Jack would be danced from pub to pub by chimney sweeps in an attempt to gather donations. May marked the end of the sweeps seasonal work, meaning many sweeps would either have to find alternative employment or struggle to make ends meet during the summer. Jack offered the opportunity to gather some money to help through the difficult summer months – although much of that money would end up being spent in the pubs as they paraded.


To some people, Jack was also symbolic of the awful treatment of young children working in the chimney sweeping industry. The plight of these young workers is well documented – low pay and very dangerous work led to a miserable existence for many. The sweeping boys would often follow Jack and dance with him – this would illicit sympathy from the onlookers who would often give money to the boys. This was one of the only ways the children would have been able to afford new clothes for the next season.


Whilst Jack is closely associated with celebration and merriment, his very existence is also a reflection on failings of industrial capitalism to provide decent living conditions for the working classes. The sweeps and their young helpers had some of the most difficult urban jobs and for many people symbolised the darker side of the industrial revolution. The fact that they were compelled to parade to supplement their income is evidence of the poverty they faced.


Jack can also be understood as a response to the urban environment that the sweeps inhabited. His leafy exterior and floral accompaniments would have offered a pleasing contrast to the dirty and crowded streets of industrial cities. Some of the characters that would join him can also be read as being slightly subversive. An example of this is the ‘Lord and Lady’ – often grotesque caricatures of the aristocratic elite who would dance alongside him. Whilst on first impression Jack may seem to be from a rural idyll, he makes sense as the product of an urban setting.

To the Victorian elite, Jack meant lower class debauchery. His parades formed part of working-class culture and often became drunken revels – therefore it’s hardly surprising that the supposedly refined Victorian upper-class looked at them with distain! Newspapers at the time would feature letters describing with disgust the events of the parade, often written by more ‘respectable’ members of society. Towards the end of the 19th century a layer of more senior chimney sweeps formed – master sweeps who would employ a number of others and aspired to join the growing middle classes. These sweeps would actively distance themselves from Jack, fearing that the association could hold back their plans to rise in society.


Jack’s decline can also be linked with the growing 19th century reform movement. The 1875 Chimney Sweepers act banned children from working in the industry, meaning the parade no longer benefitted from the sympathy that these boys would invite. The growing trade union movement was winning improved wages and conditions for the lowest in society, especially from the 1880’s, so perhaps the conditions that created the need for sweeps to parade was disappearing. By 1900 Jack-in-the-Green had effectively disappeared from the streets. I would argue that rise and decline of the tradition was closely linked to the urban conditions of industrial capitalism.


As I’m sure we are all aware – Jack would return! Whilst there are sporadic reports of Jack appearing throughout the 20th century, the real revival started in the late 1970’s. In 1976 the Labour government introduced the early May bank holiday. This coincided with a renewed interest in Morris dancing – and Morris dancers, never ones to miss a chance to put on a show, decided that adopting Jack would provide a focal point for their May bank holiday festivities.


In Hastings this revival was spearheaded by Mad Jacks Morris and Keith Leech, who discusses the revival in far more detail in the podcast. What matters is that Jack was back! Newly adopted by Morris sides across the country, Jack-in-the-Greens would once again become a common site on Mayday. The tradition continues to evolve. Today, Jack is joined by a host of other performers, drummers, community groups and characters. There are still references to the sweeps and a number of Morris sides – but the modern parade offers much more.


The many faces of Jack.


To many people, the modern Jack means community. It means celebration, dancing and the opportunity to enjoy a huge range of performances. It’s true that a lot of groups who today come to support Jack have pagan influences – so whilst there is no evidence to suggest pagan origins there is every reason to associate the modern festival with paganistic culture.


Jack is a cultural vehicle that people can imbue with their own meaning. Jack has meant many things to people over the years, and I hope the tradition will continue to evolve. It must if it is to remain relevant. Whatever Jack means to you, I hope you’ll be dancing with him next May!


Further Reading

61 views

Recent Posts

See All

Comments

bottom of page