Photos of Hastings Jack In The Green 2019

Photos of Hastings Jack In The Green & The Crowning of The May Queen. 2019

Oh the wonder of being in a new town. Years of growing up in the big smoke and now I’m in a relatively small city by the sea, in which weird English customs reign supreme and dictate much of the energy and movement of the town.

In this post, Jack In The Green, Hastings annual celebration of the coming of summer, sits next to the crowning of the May Queen as apparently the two are related. It’s a particularly busy time of year for the Morris Dancers of Hastings, who pop up at pretty much every event, as well as the various community groups and societies in the area.

It’s all nature and community and community and nature (the young May Queen made a great speech about caring for the environment), generally framed and buffered with a whole lot of music, dancing and merriment - making it feel all that more normal and familiar for a girl that grew up with the dancing, merriment, music and community of events like Notting Hill Carnival.

The older I get, the more I realise how passionate people are about keeping tradition and custom and community alive. It’s not a bad thing if it gets people out and interacting with each other in creative ways.