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The Hastings JITG festival has been going strong now for several years, and keeps getting bigger and better. The festival occurs over the May bank holiday weekend, and is a mixture of morris dancing, a drum 'battle', and a procession around the old town culminating in the slaying of the Jack in the grounds of the castle ruins. People often ask me what the Jack is - I usually reply with tongue in cheek that it's a giant walking bush. The Jack symbolises winter and is ritually slaughtered to release the spirit of summer. Pieces of the Jack are distributed to the crowd, and these should be kept until autumn when they should be burned - November being the perfect timing for this.
The Dorset Buttons Men's Rapper Sword Dance team - Not your normal hanky waving morris team, great entertainers. The dances the men's team perform originate from the mining villages of Northumberland according to their website.
Morris dancing as a combat sport - watch out for those thumbs boys!
and girls...
I don't fancy yours much...
The drum 'battle' on Hastings beach - makes sure the neighbours are awake!
The procession starts in the old fishing harbour famous for its tall net huts (seen in the background). The Jack and his entourage lead the way through the town. The Jack is accompanied by 'bogies', sweeps, and the strange character of the drummer. He can't drum, he can't dance, in fact nobody knows why he's there at all :^)
The giants...
The Jack is drummed down the hill to the stage to be slain, thus killing winter and releasing the spirit of summer.
Once the Jack has been slain (he's in there somewhere), the pieces (leaves) are distributed to the eager crowd.
