Jack, the English Trickster/Fool

As I’ve explored various European traditions over the years- Irish, Scottish, Greek, Norse/Germanic- I’ve found aspects of each that are familiar to my cultural world-view, background and upbringing, as well as aspects that I struggle with as they feel too foreign & alien. But I can’t deny who I am- and while I was raised to think of myself as proudly Irish/Scottish, my culture is mostly English and German in origin.

I’m starting to experiment with the idea looking at possible pagan roots behind English folk culture- fairy tales, ballads and legends. One that comes to mind is there are seemingly countless stories, songs and nursery rhymes with characters named Jack in them. They are not necessarily the same figure- Jack being a nickname for John is a kind of “everyman” archetypal young Englishman- even their flag is called the Union Jack. But what they generally have in common is that Jack is a trickster, a thief, and a fool. The series of graphic novels- Fables features various characters from fairy tales and nursery rhymes, including Jack, who is a composite of many of these tricksters.

Jack & the Beanstalk, Giant-Killer are the most well-known fairy tales. There are many that are traditionally told in the Appalachian Mountain region of the U.S. and some of these likely have roots in England and Scotland.  Here is a web page of Jack Tales, and another specifically for the Appalachian stories.

Jack of all trades, but master of none- a saying, once again referring to Jack’s foolishness.

In cards the Joker is sometimes called Jack, corresponding to the Fool in a Tarot deck.

Jack-in-the-box- a wind-up toy, when Jack pops out, he usually depicted as a jester.

Jack in the Green- figure in May Day parades & pageants- a person (or effigy) covered in garlands & greenery, and pulls pranks. He is sometimes identified with the Green Man, Puck/Robin Goodfellow, and the Green Knight in Arthurian legend. He also appeared in other spring celebrations: Easter Monday, St. George’s Day (April 23) and Whitsuntide (Pentecost)

Jack Frost- a spirit of winter, who paints the leaves red, orange and yellow in the fall, and patterns of frost on windows.

 Jack o’ Kent– wizard/magician who often beats the Devil in bets & games. (this is another common folk theme)  Stingy Jack also fools the Devil- this is an Irish legend said to be the origin of the Jack o’ Lantern

I’m not sure where this is going, but like Jack I’ll have fun wandering off exploring it.  I’m curious what other people have done,  spiritually and/or magically with English folklore.

This post is part of the Pagan Blog Project

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