The Holly Man
Holly Man copyright © Damian Frost
David Risley sent us this picture of his latest manifestation of the Greenman at the Lions part Twelfth Night festival that took place on 4th Jan. For this festival the Holly man, his winter guise, was rowed up the Thames and landed at the Bankside where much Wassailing ensued. The picture is by Damian Frost.
Book of the Month – February
Our book of the month for February is “In Search of the Green Man” by Peter Hill
It is available via The Company of the Green Man’s Amazon bookshop by clicking on the picture above or using THIS LINK
If you buy your green man books via our Amazon links you pay nothing extra but a small referral fee may go towards the Company of the Green Man. This helps us to keep our website and membership free for all our members. In fact anything you purchase from Amazon after going through one of the links may be eligible to earn us a small referral fee so please consider doing so whenever you are planning to shop at Amazon.
Historical Jack-in-the-Green – February
Each month I publish a newspaper article that featured the traditional Jack-in-the-Green along with a picture or photograph from the archive. Each of these articles is a fascinating window into a bygone era. For more information about the Jack in the Green both current and historical visit our main website at: www.thecompanyofthegreenman.co.uk
May 1st 1832: A WET MAY-DAY
The rain of yesterday morning wholly damped the spirit of the May-day. Melancholy and miserable looked “Jack-i’-the-green,” as his laurels dripped over his black forehead ; one of these spectacles in Whitehall was a sad lesson to that sport which so frequently ends in mourning. The chief sweep and his lady, in all their glistening finery (by the way, they understand the jeweller’s rule of contrast admirably, setting “barbaric pearl and gold” in black), slinked along one side of the street in the manner of an ejected dog, beneath (oh, march of intellect!) a silk umbrella ; close behind came a Falstaffian regiment of beardless sweeps, melancholy, miserable, and muddy, vainly striving to look sedate and sober – your wet day is a great gin provoker – and the rear was brought up by “Jack” – at least “the green,” moved along but danced not, neither did it rejoice as of old on May-day ; twirl gave it none, and but that it did move, bore no other sign of tenancy.
The True Sun, 2 May 1832, page 1.
The picture featured this month is May Day in London by Samuel Collings (1784)
Green Man
My thanks to Albion James for sending us this wonderful picture. You can see more of his work here:
The Company of the Green Man 