A DAY OUT WITH JACK AND THE BOGIES
                                                                                                           By JUSTINE SALMON

We’d decided not to do much over the May Bank Holiday but, as the weather had been good on the Sunday, we decided that a trip to the seaside with our two young sons would be no bad thing for the following day. So, on the morning of Monday, May 1st, we set off in the pouring rain. Not for us a nearby beach; instead we headed south, and after a 150 mile journey arrived in Hastings at the Jack in the Green Festival. And as we drove into the town the sun came out, a parking space miraculously appeared, and we rushed to join the festivities.    

May 1st is one of the most important dates in the Pagan calendar – the start of summer, celebrated by the Celts as Beltane, and by the Romans who cut down a tree, decorated it with ribbons and flowers and dedicated it to Flora the goddess of flowers, gardens and spring. More recently the 18th Century Works Guilds would compete with each other by carrying garlands on their heads, and the chimney sweeps outshone everyone when their garlands eventually covered the whole man who then became known as Jack in the Green.      

This tradition used to be very strong in Hastings and in 1889 there were at least two groups who paraded their Jacks in the Green. Sadly Victorian morals intervened and by 1900 the tradition had disappeared. Customs were ‘prettified’; drunken revellers cavorting around maypoles were replaced with young children skipping around smaller maypoles with long ribbons imported from Europe; and the raucous King and Queen of the May, very similar to the Yule Lord of Misrule, were replaced by the somewhat tamer May Queen. And so the tradition was sanitised and the Jack in the Green effectively strangled. 

In 1983 sense once again prevailed and a local morris team, Mad Jacks, revived the custom. It’s now one of the major events in the town, lasting the whole weekend and, combined with the massive motorbike gathering on the Bank Holiday Monday, brings most of Hastings to a standstill. There are ceilidhs, concerts, a celebratory church service, the crowning of the May Queen and of course lots of Morris dancing in the streets.       

We managed to squeeze in among the gathering crowd ready for the start of the procession.     

First to appear were the Bogies – now I used to think a bogie was something to do with trains or noses, but delving into the matter further I’ve discovered there’s a whole herd of Bogies. I found a range of definitions of the word from ‘An evil or mischievous spirit; a hobgoblin’ to ‘Mischievous but harmless spirits who live in darkness and semi-darkness’. According to www.pantheon.org  ‘They can be found in cellars, barns, attics, cupboards, hollow trees and caves.’  Hence the more modern Bogie-man.       

The Bogies I encountered at Hastings seemed to fit the definitions well enough. Dressed from head to toe in green, some with horns, intricate leatherwork, cloaks, tatters, garlands, and green skin, with many of them beating drums, they were gathered to cheer the Jack in the Green on his way. The noise gradually grew to ear splitting levels with at least 25 drummers standing right next to us building their rhythms in an attempt to call the Jack in the Green outside and onto the streets (I thought perhaps he’d spent the night in the pub but it turns out they’d all been up since dawn seeing in the May, so I guess he was having a well-deserved nap). The Jack in the Green wasn’t only accompanied by the Bogies, but was also joined by a mass of mainly local Morris sides. Mithargo, Hannah’s Cat, Hunter’s Moon, Rabble, Copperfield Clog, Clerical Error, Mad Jacks Morris Men and Women and more. The dance teams were interspersed with more drumming Bogies and a selection of giants including one built by Raven’s Morris – there was even a Salsa band to add to the cacophony.           

The procession wended its way through the old part of Hastings, through narrow streets packed with spectators who, if not paying enough attention, were daubed with green – I don’t think I’ve seen so many green noses in one place before. 

The procession seemed to go on forever. We followed the crowd to another part of the town and watched it all go past again. Every so often morris teams stopped to dance and we were even entertained by a purple fire-breathing man who doubled as a morris man. When we thought the procession had finished we retired to a quiet fast food restaurant where, towards the end of our meal, we watched a team of morris men danced in then out again, much to the delight of the customers.     

The dancing continued in the street outside and eventually ended up in the castle. We joined the queue of spectators and eventually packed ourselves into the castle grounds. We had a chance to chat to some of the Bogies – there were the local Hastings Bogies, who are part of the Hastings Bonfire Society who celebrate Bonfire Night in a similarly rousing way. They were joined by The Gay Bogies – a great bunch of guys – as well as numerous other assorted Bogies who just turn up for the weekend to join in the celebrations.          

We were entertained for a couple of hours by the dance teams performing on stage. The MC was interrupted more and more frequently by increasingly noisy Bogies with short bursts of drumming and cries of “Bogies” from their vantage point up a hill. By half past three it was time for the Bogies to carry out their final duties. The Jack in The Green was accompanied down the hill and onto the stage where he was ceremonially dismembered to release the spirit of summer from beneath his greenery. The leaves from his covering were then distributed to the eager crowd so they could take home a little bit of the Jack to ensure their own good fortune for the year to come.          

If you feel like joining next year’s celebrations, keep your eye on www.jack-in-the-green.co.uk

Back