Silver and Green
Silver and Green
Upon the First of May,
With garlands fresh and gay
They nimbly their feet do ply
In honour of th’ milking paile
The Milkmaids Life c 1630
A garland of a very different kind was paraded by the milkmaids of London and the Home Counties. Their ‘Garland’ was an arrangement of trays, plates, and other silverware sometimes carried for them by a porter. Frequently escorted by musicians, the milkmaids danced through the streets and would call at the houses of their regular customers to collect tips.
May Day was also observed by Chimney Sweeps as their holiday and they would parade through the streets. It became quite usual to see the Milkmaids and the sweeps in procession with each other. A wonderful painting of the Milkmaids’ Garland in the Victoria and Albert Museum clearly shows milkmaids dancing accompanied by two chimney sweeps and a peg-leg fiddler.
Samuel Pepys notes having seen the Milkmaids' Garland in May of 1667 and there are numerous other accounts from the 17th century. During the 18th century, the Milkmaids were accompanied by Chimney Sweeps, musicians, imps, clowns, a Lord and Lady and a Jack-in-the-Green.
Look the garland dances!
When was such a wonderscene?
O! I find as it advances
There’s a Jack within the green
Jack-in-the-Green was a curious addition and was a man entirely encased in a pyramidal framework covered with green leaves.
Later, it was he who carried the garland of silver flagons and dishes on his frame. Regular reports are found of the participants ending their day with ‘drunken behaviour and vulgarity’ and there are frequent comments of general public disapproval as well as direct court action. The parade gradually became more subdued, probably with the decline of the young chimney sweeps resulting from the 1840 Act of Parliament forbidding the use of ‘climbing boys’ who risked life and limb cleaning chimneys. Reports of the Jack-in-the-Green character continue up to the First World War and there have been a number of revivals in the past twenty years – often by Morris sides.
