Jack in the Green

[gandalf2004]

Hi all

We already have a Green Man thread running just below this message, but I'd like to spin off some branches from there.

I would like to examine the individual characters/heroes/deities from Green Man one by one. The first will be Jack in the Green.

My messages should provide a starting point for research for those who would like to know more about different aspects of Nature figures related to the Green Man.

Jack in the Green

Websites

BBC - Jack-in-the-Green Celebrations, Hastings, UK

Bristol Jack in the Green

Craig Brandon - May Day Photos 2004

Culture.UK - A Day Out with jack and the Bogies

Digital Tradition Mirror: Jack in the Green

The Dirt on Jack in the Green

Encyclopedia of the Celts: Jack in the Green

Fowler's Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green

The Green Man - Jack in the Green

Harberton Navy - Hastings Jack in the Green 2005

Hastings Traditional Jack in the Green

Hellblazer - Jack in the Green comic strip

Jack in the Green 2005 - Hastings - Photos for sale

Jack in the Green Men's Morris Dancing

Jack in the Green Poem

Jack O' the Green Series - Wall Plaques

Jethro Tull Lyrics - Jack in the Green

Journal of Folklore Research: The Jack-in-the-Green: A May Day Custom

Keith Leech - Green Bogie

Mad Jack's Morris

News Shopper: The Jack in the Green

Otherworld Illustrations - Jack in the Green

Paganism in British Folk Customs

Planet Fusion - Jack: Wild Speculation and Dubious Etymology

Sharpe Designs - The Green Man - Jack in the Green, the Old Man of the Woods, Green George

Spirit Visions - Martin Herbert: Jack in the Green painting

Stuffe and Nonsense: Jack in the Green Plaque US

Swamp Thing Chronology - featuring Jack in the Green

Twisted Tree: Bristol Jack in the Green Report May 2004

Visit Hastings: Jack in the Green Slideshow

Who is Jack?

Wikipedia - Jack in the Green

Books/CDs

Cygnus Books - Green Jack CD

Fowlers Troop and the Deptford Jack in the Green: A History of an Old London May Day Tradition by Sarah Jane Crofts and Paul Gross

Hastings Jack in the Green by Keith Leech

Jack in the Green by Allen Atkinson

The Jack in the Green by Roy Judge

Jack in the Green is Tasmania 1844-73 by Keith Leech

Jack in the Green: A May Day Custom by Roy Judge

Yours

Gandalf

[treegod]

I don't know much about the name "Jack in the Green", my first encounter with it was going to the Jack in the Green in Hastings (been there twice ). Where does the term come from?

[DJ Droood]

Ahhh...very good...I looked at this one a couple of times, and pondered "Jack in the Beanstalk" for a few moments, and may have answered this post on Sat...well done.

[mwyalchen]

I suggest a look at Ronald Hutton, "Stations of the Sun".

[DaRC]

I'll run off to my books...

[DaRC]

oh my copy of Stations of the Sun has gone awol presumed tidied....

What is interesting is that my folklore books from the early 70's don't mention the Green Man or Jack-in-the-Green which seems to indicate a growth in interest over the past 30 years. As far as I can remember Jack in the Green came from late medieval/early-modern Mayday customs usually based around anonymity and collecting charity.

Suffice to say that Jack was a term for the unknown everyman, a quick witted fellow who usually defeats Giants or Devils - there are many legends, such as that of Jack o'Kent who persuaded the Devil to build a bridge across the Monnow for the price of the first soul to cross it. Once the Devil had built the bridge Jack threw a bone across the bridge...
and the Devil became the owner of a dog's soul.

[Corwen]

Yes, the 'Jack' stories resemble the Coyote or Brer rabbit stories, he is the foolish wise man in that sense. The origins of the Jack-in -the-Green figure, covered in undergrowth would seem to be genuinely lost in the mists of time, though as you say it was often used in guild processions and later in money raising customs. It does resemble other folk disguises like straw bears and the tatters often worn by mummers. It is a kind of ritual anonymity that possibly functions on a practical level (though I find it hard to believe that people wouldn't have been recognised in small communities) but more likely the anonymity gives the wearer freedom to embody archetypal forces, in the way that masks do in many of the worlds theatre traditions. IMO the time of year when the Jack is brought out, along with the symbolism of vegetation etc would seem to make him symbolic of the vegetable life of the earth.

[mwyalchen]

oh my copy of Stations of the Sun has gone awol presumed tidied....

According to Hutton, Roy Guest's study (in 1979) concluded that the Jack in the Green developed from mid-seventeenth-century milkmaids dances, which were adopted by ragpickers and sweeps during the eighteenth century. Originally, the milkpails were decorated with flowers; by the 1690s the pails were being replaced by a wooden frame worn on the head. By the end of the eighteenth century the milkmaids and ragpickers had abandoned the dance, but the sweeps had started to make a frame of green boughs, and this had become standard by the 1830s.

As ever, Hutton prefers the documented view, and seems happy when people conclude that the evidence is for recent developments; but I've seen the Roy Guest work quoted widely, and it does seem to be the most respected study.

On another theme, here's a tune for the Jack of the Green:

Jack of the Green small.JPG

(20.8 KiB) Downloaded 536 times

[DaRC]

ahh great - thanks mwyalchen

[Corwen]

I have to disagree with Ronald on this one, similar things dance out all over Europe (often on Saint George's Day) and they can't all be descended from the dances of seventeenth century English milkmaids...

[mwyalchen]

Corwen, can you tell us more? give examples?