The Jack-in-the-Green: A May Day Custom

by Roy Judge x + 200 pp.

The Jack-in-the-Green: A May Day Custom. Second Edition. By Roy Judge. London: FLS Books, 2000. Pp. x + 200. Illustrations.

Roy Judge's The Jack-in-the-Green: A May Day Custom was first published in 1979. The book contains a mass of print-data combined with over forty plates depicting the Jack-in-the-Green and other May Day figures. This recent revision includes new evidence and an entirely new section on recent interpretations of the Jack-in-the-Green, both in the context of increasing interest in festivals that include the figure and in its relationship to the related phenomenon of the Green Man.

The book is organized in three parts: the first is an historical survey of evidence for the figure in the eighteenth century, including information about other related May Day traditions. It explores possible connections to the milkmaid's, the bunter's and the chimney sweep's garlands (made out of silver or pewter plate later festooned with flowers or greenery). Judge's evidence suggests that the Jack-in-the-Green probably began as an independent figure sometime around 1770, in addition and unrelated to the two versions of the garland (the "head-borne" and the "chair-borne"). He believes that the Jack-in-the-Green is associated with these garlands because of physical similarities and an early association with the term "the garland," but that there is not enough evidence to suggest that the Jack evolved from the garland (26-28). In addition to offering evidence about the origin of the figure, he also traces its development to 1830 at which point the Jack-in-the-Green had evolved into the leader of a group of May Day figures played by chimney sweeps.

The second section is an analysis of the material from 1830--1900. Judge offers descriptions of the tradition and evidence to document its widespread occurrence. He also examines the association with the "climbing boy" and concern over the sufferings of small children and how that added to popular interest.

The third section is an examination of the decline of the figure and its subsequent revival in recent decades. Judge traces a diminuation both in the number of mentions of the Jack-in-the-Green and in the quality of the descriptions: what in earlier periods were eyewitness accounts, in the later period are more often reminiscences. He attributes the decline in part to the removal of climbing boys from the public eye as concern for their welfare increased, and in part to a change in standards of conduct and morality. Judge traces this latter change through descriptions of regulations against the rowdy celebrations and also through descriptions that suggest an interest in creating a more Arcadian version of May Day celebrations. In the late nineteenth century the Jack-in-the-Green was revived in this tradition as a romanticized figure. In the late 1970s, when May Day, which had not been a Bank Holiday since 1871, was revived, folk groups including Morris Dancers recreated the figure of the Jack-in-the-Green, particularly in places where an older tradition of the Jack could be traced.

In his final section on "Interpretations," Judge points out that there is no evidence available today that suggests that the Jack-in-the-Green is older than about 1770. He traces the interpretations that suggest that the figure is related to ancient pagan belief in a "spirit of vegetation" to Frazer's The Golden Bough. He argues that Frazer has no evidence for this connection and characterizes it as an example of the creation of a "past-as-wished-for" which is a common trap of folklore. He traces the effect of Frazer's leap through the 1940s when it became widely accepted that the Jack-in-the-Green was intimately related with the Green Man, foliate heads on roof bosses in church architecture, Robin Hood, and the King of the May, and that all of those figures could be traced to ancient pagan fertility rituals. His argument has implications for much of traditional folklore theory, which linked current customs and beliefs to ancient precursors. This analytical section comprises about one half of the book; the other half is dedicated to a gazetteer of dated references to the Jack-in-the-Green, organized by location. At the end there is a map showing the geographical distribution of these references.

Leslie G. Kaplan
University of Pennsylvania