Tuesday 4 May 2010

Jack in the Green Festival

May Day is a busy old day here........the modern majesty of thousands of motorbikes one end of town........and in the 'old town' is the Jack in the Green festival.....basically an updated version of a pagan fertility celebration.
The festivities last 3 days ending on May Day with the crowning of the May Queen in the ruins of Hastings Castle.
On Monday there were processions through the narrow old town streets........Jack in the Green groups from all over the country come to join in........Morris dancers.......drum groups......hundreds of spectators......including some of the bikers.

And someone with a very eco friendly hat!!!!!
We had a great day.

17 comments:

Maria Ontiveros said...

Wow! Those costumes are fantstic! And your pictures really capture the feel of the town square.
Rinda

pinky said...

More excellent photos, these are going to make great layouts eventually. Looks like a great festival.
Pinky

downrightcrafty said...

wow this looks brill

ps please check out last weeks random winners for Winter Wonderland

Hugs Kate xx

Margi said...

WOWSER, reminds me of Mardi Gras here in the U.S. with all those awesome costumes! Looks like so much fun!

Unknown said...

Wioo hooo this seems so much fun, and so many people too, I'd have loved to be here :)

humel said...

Oh, of course :-) Great photos, Jacky! xx

SallyB said...

Hi Jacky...My goodness I have never seen anything like this on May day anywhere that I have lived!! It looks fab and what a great opportunity to try out some new photographic skills!!!
It's good to show things like this to blog friends all over the World...

debs14 said...

Morris dancers are so typically British aren't they? Where else would you get grown men dancing in the streets with bells attached to their legs?! I love these old customs, looks like the May festivities are well and truly alive and kicking in your part of the world.

Denise said...

Wow, what a great mix of photos, as Deb says,where else would you get men dancing with bells attached to their legs! You've really captured the atmosphere of it x

Tracy said...

It all looked great and I bet it was fun, fab photo's Jacky.
Happy crafting
Tracy x

Elizabeth said...

Wonderful photos! Looks like everyone was having a rousing good time. Loved the guy with the deer on his head.

Amy said...

What a contrast! It looks like a great time though :-)

Sian said...

We don't have Morris dancers here, so I loved looking at these photos. You've done a great job of capturing the festival atmosphere and you could get some fab layouts from these pictures I bet!

Sarpreet said...

This looks very interesting - looks like you had a lot of fun

Becky said...

Wow, fantastic photos! Wish we had celebrations like that round here!

Susie Sugar said...

Great photos Jacky looks like a lot of fun ,
Hugs Susie xx

Anonymous said...

That looks like so much fun. May Day comes and goes here without much notice.