Green Man

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For other uses, see Green Man (disambiguation).
A modern interpretation of the Green Man as a garden ornament carved in stone.
A modern interpretation of the Green Man as a garden ornament carved in stone.

A Green Man is a sculpture, drawing, or other representation of a face surrounded by or made from leaves. Branches or vines may sprout from the nose, mouth, nostrils or other parts of the face and these shoots may bear flowers or fruit. Commonly used as a decorative architectural ornament, Green Men are frequently found on carvings in churches and other buildings (both secular and ecclesiastical). "The Green Man" is also a popular name for British public houses and various interpretations of the name appear on inn signs, which sometimes show a full figure rather than just the head.

The Green Man motif has many variations. Found in many cultures around the world, the Green Man is often related to natural vegetative deities springing up in different cultures throughout the ages. Primarily it is interpreted as a symbol of rebirth, or "renaissance," representing the cycle of growth each spring. Some speculate that the mythology of the Green Man developed independently in the traditions of separate ancient cultures and evolved into the wide variety of examples found throughout history.

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[edit] Types of Green Man

A medieval Green Man on the capital of a column in an English church.
A medieval Green Man on the capital of a column in an English church.

Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of the Green Man may take many forms, naturalistic or decorative. The simplest depict a man's face peering out of dense foliage. Some may have leaves for hair, perhaps with a leafy beard. Often leaves or leafy shoots are shown growing from his open mouth and sometimes even from the nose and eyes as well. In the most abstract examples, the carving at first glance appears to be merely stylised foliage, with the facial element only becoming apparent on closer examination. The face is almost always male; green women are rare. Green cats, lions and demons are also found. On gravestones and other memorials, human skulls are sometimes shown sprouting grape vines or other vegetation, presumably as a symbol of resurrection (see Shebbear, England).

Although the Green Man appears in many forms, the three most common types have been categorized as:

  • the Foliate Head - completely covered in leaves
  • the Disgorging Head - spews vegetation from its mouth
  • the Bloodsucker Head - sprouts vegetation from all facial orifices.[1][2]

The term "Green Man" was coined by Lady Raglan, in her article "The Green Man in Church Architecture" in The Folklore Journal.[3] The figure is also often referred to (perhaps erroneously) as Jack in the green.

[edit] Green Men in churches

This stone carving of a "disgorging" type from Dore Abbey, Herefordshire, England, retains some of its original colouring.
This stone carving of a "disgorging" type from Dore Abbey, Herefordshire, England, retains some of its original colouring.

Superficially the Green Man would appear to be pagan, perhaps a fertility figure or a nature spirit, similar to the woodwose (the wild man of the woods), and yet he frequently appears, carved in wood or stone, in churches, chapels, abbeys and cathedrals, where examples found dating from the 11th century through to the 20th century.

Detail of a medieval misericord in Ludlow parish church.
Detail of a medieval misericord in Ludlow parish church.

To the modern observer the earlier (Romanesque and medieval) carvings often have an unnervingly eerie or numinous quality. This is sometimes said to indicate the vitality of the Green Man, who was able to survive as a symbol of pre-Christian traditions despite, and at the same time complementary to, the influence of Christianity[citation needed]. (Rather than alienate their new converts, early Christian missionaries would often adopt and adapt local gods, sometimes turning them into obscure saints.)

[edit] Later variations on the Green Man theme

This wood carving of a "foliate head" type is on the Renaissance screen at Dore Abbey.
This wood carving of a "foliate head" type is on the Renaissance screen at Dore Abbey.

From the Renaissance onwards, elaborate variations on the Green Man theme, often with animal heads rather than human faces, appear in many media other than carvings (including manuscripts, metalwork, bookplates, and stained glass). They seem to have been used for purely decorative effect rather than reflecting any deeply-held belief. A Swiss engraver, Numa Guyot[4] created a bookplate depicting a Green Man in exquisite detail. It was completed circa 1887.

In Britain, the image of the Green Man enjoyed a revival in the 19th century, becoming popular with architects during the Gothic revival and the "Arts and Crafts" era, when it appeared as a decorative motif in and on many buildings, both religious and secular. American architects took up the motif around the same time. The Green Man travelled with the Europeans as they colonized the world. Many variations can be found in Victorian-style Neo gothic architecture. He was very popular amongst Australian stonemasons and can be found on many secular and sacred buildings.

[edit] Related characters

Illustration of the sign which used to hang outside a public house in Covent Garden, London, in the 1970s.
Illustration of the sign which used to hang outside a public house in Covent Garden, London, in the 1970s.
Door bell found on the island of Murano, Italy.
Door bell found on the island of Murano, Italy.

Parallels have been drawn between the Green Man and various deities. In Thomas Nashe's masque Summer's Last Will and Testament (1592, printed 1600), the character commenting upon the action remarks, after the exit of "Satyrs and wood-Nymphs", "The rest of the green men have reasonable voices…". Mythical figures such as Cernunnos, Sylvanus, Derg Corra, Green George, Jack in the green, John Barleycorn, Robin Goodfellow, Puck, and the Green Knight all partake of the Green Man's nature; it has also been suggested that the story of Robin Hood was born of the Green Man mythology. A more modern embodiment is found in Peter Pan, who enters the civilized world from a nether land, clothed in green leaves. Even Father Christmas, who was often shown wreathed in ivy in early depictions, has been suggested as a similar woodland spirit[citation needed].

The Green Knight of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight serves as both monster and mentor to Gawain, belonging to a pre-Christian world which seems antagonistic to but is in the end harmonious with the Christian one.

Etymological research by the University of Wales into the meaning of the names of Celtic gods and goddesses shows that one Celtic deity, Viridios, has a name meaning "Green Man" in both the Celtic languages and Latin.

Tom Cheetham, an authority on Islamic mysticism, identifies Khidr of esoteric Sufism with the Green Man. In his book about the work of Henry Corbin and others concerning the 12th-century Muslim saint Ibn Arabi, he develops the idea of the Green Man/Khidr as the principle mediating between the imaginal realm and the physical world.[5]

On a similar theme, author on spirituality and architecture William Anderson writes:[6]

There are legends of him (Khidr) in which, like Osiris, he is dismembered and reborn; and prophecies connecting him, like the Green Man, with the end of time. His name means the Green One or Verdant One, he is the voice of inspiration to the aspirant and committed artist. He can come as a white light or the gleam on a blade of grass, but more often as an inner mood. The sign of his presence is the ability to work or experience with tireless enthusiasm beyond one's normal capacities. In this there may be a link across cultures, …one reason for the enthusiasm of the medieval sculptors for the Green Man may be that he was the source of inspiration.

[edit] Green Men outside Europe

In his A Little Book of The Green Man, as well as his website, Mike Harding gives examples of similar figures in Borneo, Nepal, and India: the earliest is a foliate head from an 8th century Jain temple in Rajasthan.[7] He also notes that heads from Lebanon and Iraq can be dated to the 2nd century and that there are early Romanesque foliate heads in 11th century Templar churches in Jerusalem. He tentatively suggests that the symbol may have originated in Asia Minor and been brought to Europe by travelling stonecarvers.

In Sanskrit the Green Man is cognate with the gana Kirtimukha or "Face of Glory" which is related to a lila of Shiva and Rahu. The Face of Glory is often seen in Vajrayana Buddhist Thanka art and iconography where it is often incorporated as a cloudform simulacrum; and depicted crowning the 'Wheel of Becoming' or the Bhavachakra.[8]

[edit] Neo-Paganism

[edit] Wicca

In Wicca, the Green Man has often been used as a representation of the Horned God, a mix of ancient Pagan gods such as the Celtic Cernunnos and the Greek Pan.

[edit] Trivia

  • On the recording Apple Venus Volume 1 by English band XTC, the 6th song is titled "Greenman."
  • The fifth track of Type O Negative's October Rust album is also titled "Green Man".
  • The Dancing Did released a single entitled "The Green Man and the March of the Bungalows" that concerns the destruction of the English countryside by greedy planners.
  • On the 1977 Jethro Tull album Songs From The Wood there is a track called "Jack In The Green" and in the track "Cup of Wonder" there is a reference to the Green Man.
  • The myth relating to the Green Man plays a key part in the books Lavondyss and The Hollowing by Robert Holdstock.
  • In the 1980 novel Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban, the main character finds a picture of a Green Man (which he calls "Greanvine") in the destroyed Canterbury after dreaming of one.
  • A Green Man appears in the closing chapters of Robert Jordan's novel, The Eye of the World.
  • In Pirates of the Caribbean, on Davy Jones' ship, there are cannons which come out of the Green Man's mouth.
  • The Green Man is the name of the pub in the movie The Wicker Man.
  • There is a Harlequin named Green Man in the novel The Travler.
  • In the BBC series New Tricks there is an episode involving the followers of a Wicca coven that worshipped Green George a.k.a. the Green Man.
  • The Kingsley Amis novel The Green Man was a 1990 BBC TV mini-series of the same name starring Albert Finney.

[edit] See also

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[edit] References

  1. ^ Harding, Mike (1998). A Little Book Of The Green Man. Aurum Press, p38. ISBN 1854105612. 
  2. ^ Pesznecker, Susan (2007). Gargoyles: From the Archives of the Grey School of Wizardry. Franklin Lakes NJ: Career Press, pp127-128. ISBN 1564149110. 
  3. ^ Lady Raglan (1939-03-01), “The Green Man in Church Architecture”, Folklore 50 (90990): 45–57, <http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0015-587X(193903)50%3A1%3C45%3AT%22MICA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-F> 
  4. ^ Numa, Guyot Brothers
  5. ^ Cheetham, Tom (2004). Green Man, Earth Angel. Albany, NY: State University of New York. ISBN 0791462706. 
  6. ^ Anderson, William (1990). Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth. San Francisco: Harper Collins. ISBN 0062500759. 
  7. ^ The Official Mike Harding Web Site
  8. ^ Beer, Robert. The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs Shambhala. (1999) ISBN-10: 157062416X, ISBN-13: 978-1570624162

[edit] Further reading

  • Amis, Kingsley. The Green Man, Vintage, London (2004) ISBN 0-09-946107-2 (Novel)
  • Anderson, William. Green Man: The Archetype of our Oneness with the Earth, Harper Collins (1990) ISBN 0-00-599252-4
  • Basford, Kathleen. The Green Man, D.S. Brewer (2004) ISBN 0-85991-497-6 (The first monograph on the subject, now reprinted in paperback)
  • Beer, Robert. The Encyclopedia of Tibetan Symbols and Motifs Shambhala. (1999) ISBN-10: 157062416X, ISBN-13: 978-1570624162
  • Cheetham, Tom. Green Man, Earth Angel: The Prophetic Tradition and the Battle for the Soul of the World , SUNY Press 2004 ISBN 0-7914-6270-6
  • Doel, Fran and Doel, Geoff. The Green Man in Britain, Tempus Publishing Ltd (May 2001) ISBN 0-7524-1916-1
  • Harding, Mike. A Little Book of the Green Man, Aurium Press, London (1998) ISBN 1-85410-563-9
  • Hicks, Clive. The Green Man: A Field Guide, Compass Books (August 2000) ISBN 0-9517038-2-X
  • MacDermott, Mercia. Explore Green Men, Explore Books, Heart of Albion Press (September 2003) ISBN 1-872883-66-4
  • Matthews, John. The Quest for the Green Man, Godsfield Press Ltd (May 2004) ISBN 1-84181-232-3
  • Neasham, Mary. The Spirit of the Green Man, Green Magic (December 2003) ISBN 0-9542963-7-0
  • Varner, Gary R. The Mythic Forest, the Green Man and the Spirit of Nature, Algora Publishing (March 4, 2006) ISBN 0-87586-434-1

[edit] External links

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