The first time I joined in the Hastings Jack in the Green celebrations was just after COVID. The celebrations were a muted affair that year, but I had forgotten about the event and turned up in Hastings expecting nothing out of the ordinary. What I found was a town festooned in ribbons, and dozens of green men mooching about the narrow streets of the old town. I was beyond intrigued.
Jack in the Green is a traditional May Day celebration. His origins are not entirely clear, but he may have been part of May Day celebrations for many hundreds of years in different formats. By the 18th century, the figure of “Jack” began to emerge among London’s chimney sweeps. On May Day, sweeps would decorate themselves with garlands of leaves and flowers, transforming into walking towers of greenery, the “Jack in the Green.” They would parade through the streets, dancing, collecting coins, and celebrating a brief moment of festivity in otherwise hard lives. Although some say that Jack is alo in fact a reference to when our ancestors worshipped trees.
May Day festivities and traditions date back to the Roman era and were also celebrated by the Celts as the Beltane Festival. Traditions celebrate the arrival of summer, fertility and nature. This has always been celebrated in a variety of ways, including dancing round a Maypole, the crowning of a May Queen, revelry and dancing, and with processions, led by Jack in the Green. Although, it is also worth remembering that in centuries past, May Day celebrations have been banned!
Over time, the tradition faded, only to be revived in the late 20th century as part of a broader rediscovery of folk customs. Today’s celebrations often weave together those historic roots with older, more symbolic figures, most notably the Green Man, the leaf-covered face found carved into medieval churches across England. The Green Man is an ancient and mystical figure that in England dates back to at least the 12th century and represents fertility, rebirth and growth.
Hastings Jack in the Green
Nowhere in Sussex, and arguably nowhere in the country, does the Jack in the Green tradition feel quite as alive as it does in Hastings. Each year, over the early May bank holiday, the narrow streets of the Old Town are filled with drummers, dancers, giants and figures dressed in leaves, ribbons, and bells.
At the heart of it all is Jack himself: a towering figure entirely encased in foliage, moving slowly through the town, accompanied by an unruly, joyful procession. Morris dancers weave in and out, drums set the rhythm, and the air feels charged with something that is both festive and faintly untamed.
The culmination comes on West Hill, beneath the ruins of the castle, where the crowd gathers for the symbolic “slaying” of Jack. It is a curious moment and Jack’s leaves are shared among the crowd, symbolising the turning of the seasons and the coming of summer.
The Jack in the Green Hastings celebrations are a riot of colour, tradition, music, dance, people, mysticism and more. It’s also a very unique Sussex experience with an earthy connection and wholesome nod to the past whilst fully embracing the spirit of May Day traditions: fun, frolics and feasting. And I, for one, will be there.
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