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Jack O’ The Green: Why is that tree walking?
When winter is finally done with us, any sign of warmer weather is welcome, whether that’s realising you’re going out without the scarf, spotting clusters of daffodils wiggling skyward, or the onslaught of traditional English fetes. May Day traditions mark a turning point in the year, letting us know summer’s on the way. They're also a great reason to head out into the countryside, where some of the best and bizzarest take place. You probably know about the May Pole and associated spiralling dances, but others (not this writer) are more familiar with the Jack O’ The Green – a bushy figure, covered in foliage (Treejazzled?) – and learning this, we simply had to learn more.
Who is that green man in the window?
The records on this go all the way back to the very first mention, in 1770, from the London May Day procession. It began with a tradition in which milkmaids carried milk pails covered in flowers and other bits and pieces as a form of decoration, during their procession. The tradition then became a sort of exaggeration game, with milkmaids trying to outdo one another in a kind of rural English Met Gala. Soon those milk pails were outgunned by decorated pyramids atop their heads, and this rather fetching display was so chic, so avant-garde and frankly so satisfyingly pointy, that it was adopted by other tradespeople – like chimneysweeps. So thrilled with their new outfits, by the turn of the next century, it was mostly chimneysweeps that wore the garbs, and the tradition was slowly exaggerated with more and more floral garnish every year – culminating in a walking bush. Whilst less common than in the 19th century, it’s still held today in some areas thanks to some revivals after the practise mostly died out.
Hit the road, Jack: where can I find this animate-Christmas-tree-nightmare-man?
If you’re not entirely freaked out by seeing a great big bush wander about, and the prospect of their ritual murder, you’ve some options. There are actually around 15 different places in England this tradition lives on to terrify children and adult onlookers alike. As well as a 16th option if you’re in Australia in May. You could head to Oxford, Rochester, Whitstable, or Knutsford – Ilfracombe if you want to stare out into the ocean after, to come to terms with what you’ve seen. But the true winner here, is very clear, and funnily enough, extremely close to home, at least for us. Every year, on the first Saturday of May, in Bristol, a Jack O’ the Green appears as part of a revival just outside M Shed on the harbour – mere metres from our offices – and he leads a procession through the centre of Bristol, up Gloucester Road, all the way to Horfield (nearly five miles away). It is here at the Horfield Common, where Jack’s ‘slain’, being “ripped apart by onlookers” to release the spirit of summer. Yes, really. From there, you’d be well advised to walk down the road to The Inn on the Green – and see about a pint.
