Jack in the Green

For the last three days the Old Town has been reverberating with jingling bells and the cracking of clashing wooden poles as Morris dancers by the bucket load celebrated Jack in the Green. This is a May Day celebration when winter is over and summer begins.

It’s a striking combination of cultures: Pagan, post-punk, tourists, booze-ups, political May Days, beer festivals, fireworks, dancing, drumming bands and Morris dancers.

Later this afternoon the Grumpy Vegan walked along the seafront to see the thousands of bikers who came from across the country every year on this day. Here’s a link to the useless local paper, The Obscurer, for photographs of bikers galore.

Hastings, once again, shows itself as such an unusual town with two concurrent events attracting polar opposites of attendees.