The Green Man is a mysterious, eerie figure depicted mainly in medieval European stonework, believed to represent an ancient vegetation deity. The Green man is nearly always depicted as a "foliate head," that is, a face made of leaves and vines. Sometimes, it appears as a human face peering out from leaves, other times with animal features.
The image of the Green man may have been adapted from Roman decorative stonework, or from Celtic interlace figures. Older versions bear a very close resemblance to Celtic and Norse interlace figures, and often combine plant and animal features. One of the oldest examples was discovered on an Irish obelisk that dates to the third century BCE. This may be the Derg Corra of Celtic myth, the man in the tree.
Author: * Iseabal Durotriges - 1 Post on this thread out of 264 Posts sitewide.
Date: May 9, 2005 - 15:47
The "green man," is a pagan nature god from classical northern myth. In pagan belief, trees were held sacred and forest groves were perceived as the dwelling place of gods, goddesses, and a wide variety of nature spirits.

The "green man" symbol that has been found carved into wood and stone pagan temples and graves of medieval churches and cathedrals, and used as a Victorian architectural motif, can be found across an areas that stretch from Ireland in the west to Russia in the east. The name "green man"* dates back only to 1939, when folklorist Lady Raglan coined the term after making a connection between the architectural faces and the "Jack of the Green") tales of folklore.

Modern May Day celebrations were once part of pagan spring fertility rites with overtly sexual elements (the 'May pole representing the phallus), but the Christian Church was quick to squash any lewdness they perceived in the rituals. A deep animistic belief with a strong reverence for trees and the holiness of nature was embedded among the peoples in the far north of Europe
and in the British Isles. These two areas were where the Christian priests of the Dark Ages (such as Devon's stern St. Bonifice) particularly sought to eradicate the pagan beliefs and even cut down and burned sacred trees and entire groves and forests.

In Norse mythology, a giant ash tree called Yggdrasil held the universe together. Its three great roots linked Asgard (the realm of the gods), Rime-Thusar (the realm of the Frost Giants), and Niflheim (the realm of the dead) with the human world (Midgard). The Celtic tribes of Britain and Ireland asserted that each type of tree contained magical properties. Each letter in the Celtic "ogham"* alphabet stood for a tree and its magical associations and can be seen embedded in the mythology of the Celts; e.g. the "Battle of the Trees," "The Romance of Taliesin."**

Vegetation imagery and deities echo within Northern myths and those from the Mediterranean. Dionysus is thought be many scholars to be a forerunner to the Green Man symbol. He was often depicted masked, crowned in vine and ivy leaves. As deity of the wilderness and wine, ecstasy, and sexual abandon, his presence mythically could drive whole communities mad, and women under his influence (the maenads) roamed ecstatically through the forest. The cult of Dionysus was one of the great Mystery religions, with rites that range from the intellectual and contemplative to those that were drunken and orgiastic. Dionysus is also associated with death and rebirth as a god of the underworld (Okeanos). He was born three times; first as the son of
Persephone and Zeus (devoured as a child by Titans), second as the son of Semele of Thebes (who dies as a result of Hera's jealousy before the baby comes to term), and third, as the fetus from Semele's body born out of the thigh of Zeus.

Trees as sacred also plays an important part in Greek and Roman mythology with particular trees aligned symbolically with gods; Zeus-oak, Adonis-myrrh, Daphne-laurel, Artemis-forest groves. Further motifs between Greco-Roman and the Norse can be seen with the dryads, the nymphs who live in trees and die when the tree is cut down. In Northern Europe, the Faeries who inhabit the trees, take revenge on humans who destroy their habitats. In other stories, the faeries mourn after the destruction of their home and when they die, the beauty and magical soul of the land die with them. Other parallels exist with the tree trolls of Finland and Norway. In Sweden, the swor skogsfru (wood wives) are seductive and utterly beautiful from the front. From the back, these faerie women are made of bark and are hollow as logs. In Italy, the silvane (wood women) mate with silvani (wood men) to produce the folleti, the enchanting faeries of the land. In England,
brownies and pixies make their homes in oak tree roots, and each kind of tree has its own faerie to tend it and enable its growth. Men made of bark seduce young maids in the fairy tales of eastern Europe. Some of the men are dangerous, while others make tender lovers. The forest of Broceliande (now known as Paimpont) in Brittany also possesses tales that range from the
benevolent to the malign.

In romantic literature- the hero's quest, the movement from the known to the unknown, the test of faith- many of these same elements and symbols are integral to the story and have carried throughout the ages from the medieval era through to contemporary fantasy literature.

"Jack of the Green" is also associated with spring new growth as pageants ritually 'kill' Jack with wooden swords and then the crowd takes the leaves off Jack as souvenirs of luck, the resurrection of spring, etc. The re-enactments are associated with revival/resurrection of the tree spirit in a more youthful, potent, and vibrant form. The pageants are reminiscent of a time when a blending of the pagan and the Christian was common in order for conversion.

In Hastings, England, the Jack in the Green pageant is re-enacted each spring by a man in a towering eight-foot-tall costume of leaves, topped by a masked face and a crown made out of flowers. He moves through the town accompanied by men (Morris and clog dancers) whose hair, skin, and clothes are all green, and a young girl bearing flowers, dressed and painted entirely in black. As the dancers entertain the crowds, Jack, the trickster/fool figure, romps and chases the young maidens. When he reaches a mound in the woods below the local castle, the dancers take out their wooden swords and strike the leaf man dead. The ritual of reading a poem over the
creature solemnly occurs, then the crowd cheers in as each person takes a leaf from the Jack for luck. In Bavaria the tree-spirit, Pfingstl, roams through rural villages wearing leaves of alder and hazelnut with a high pointed cap covered by flowers. Two boys with swords accompany him as he moves through the houses, knocking on doors and asking for presents but often getting thoroughly drenched by water instead. The ritual ends when the boys kill the green man. In Picardy, a member of the "Compagnons du Loup Vert" dresses in a green wolf skin and foliage and enters the church carrying a candle and garlands of flowers. He waits until the Gloria is
sung, then walks to the alter to stand through the mass. At its end, the entire congregation rushes up to strip the green wolf of his leaves, bearing them away for luck.

*The name "green man" is still controversial: "...the legitimacy of the connection still remains controversial, with little real evidence to settle the question one way or the other. Earliest known examples of the foliate head (as it was known prior to Lady Raglan) date back to classical Rome -- yet it was not until this pagan symbol was adopted by the Christian church that the form fully developed and proliferated across Europe. No known writings exist that explain what the foliate head represented in earlier religions, or why precisely it became incorporated into Christian architecture, but most folklorists conjecture that the foliate head symbolized mythic rebirth and regeneration, and thus became linked to Christian iconography of resurrection. (The Tree of Life, a virtually universal symbol of life, death and regeneration, was adapted to
Christian symbolism in a similar manner) (Terry Windling, Tales of the Mythic Forest).

**see Robert Graves, The White Goddess, for detail regarding the symbolism of the Celtic alphabet.

For further reading:
William Anderson and Clive Hicks, Green Man
Sir James Frazer, The Golden Bough
Sara Maitland, Angel Maker
Robert Pogue Harrison, Forests: the Shadow of Civilization
Jane Yolen, Dream Weaver, Sweeny's Flight
Dante's The Divine Comedy (Inferno "Wood of Suicides")
JRR Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings.
Neil Gaiman, Stardust
William Morris, The Wood Beyond the World
Hope Mirrlees, Lud in the Mist
James Stephens, The Crock of Gold
Charles de Lint, Memory and Dream, Someplace to Be Flying, The Wild Wood
Patricia A. McKillip, Winter Rose, The Book of Atrix Wolfe, Stepping from
the Shadows.
Sean Russell, World Without End and Sea Without a Shore);
Angela Carter, The Bloody Chamber
Kingsley Amis, The Green Man
Naomi Mitchison, The Corn King and Spring Queen
Ariosto, Orlando Furioso
Gawain and the Green Knight
Valentine and Orson

Authors in general:
Alan Garner
Ursula K. Le Guin
Philip Pullman
Robert Holdstock

Wildman imagery:
Gilgamesh
Tarzan of the Apes
Yvain
Casper Hauer
The Jungle Book
Alice Hoffman, Second Nature
Artwork
Andy Goldsworthy, Wood
Peter Randall-Page, Granite Song
Thomas Joshua Cooper, Between Dark and Dark, Dreaming the Gokstadt

The name "green man" was coined in the late 1930s. Other names for this figure are Jack in Green or Jack of the Green.  Many believe the greenman is related to the pre-Christian Celtic deity Cernunnos; others that it is simply an expression of the forces of nature, or even a reminder that we, too, are part of the cycle of life. There is no real evidence linking the images to any particular philosophy, cult, or belief, although the faces are strikingly uniform through time.
The greenman is not a strictly European phenomenon- similar images appear in Asian, Indian, and Arabic architecture and art as well.  Whatever his origin, the Green Man is now an unmistakable mascot of the Neopagan religious movement, where he serves as the embodiment of untamed nature, an emblem of the male principal, and a symbol of fertility and vibrant life energy.

The Ogham (pronounced owam), or sacred Druidic alphabet, contained hidden secrets for magic and divination. Only the initiated could understand these occult meaning. The ancient Celts had a kinship with trees which is shown in this magical alphabet and in their tree calendar. Further proof of their respect for trees is in the old Celtic word for oak (Duir); the word Derwydd or Duirwydd (oak-seer) was probably the origin of the word Druid.

The Celts beleived that many trees where inhabited by spirits or had spirits of their own. This idea most notably applied to any tree with a strong aura around it. They also believed that certain trees had a healing influence on humans. From this ancient respect for the power of trees came the expressions 'touch wood' and 'knock on wood'.

Oak, ash, and thorn were called the faery triad of trees. Where they grow together, it is still said that faeries live.

The ancient Celts used the Ogham alphabet in performing magick. They also threw divination sticks engraved with the signs of the Ogham alphabet.
 

The trees of the Ogham alphabet were divided into three classifications, which had nothing to do with their physical form. They merely represented their order of importance to the Druids. Chieftains came first, followed by peasants and shrubs. Two symobls, the Grove and the Sea, are not actually trees; their inclusion points out the Druidic acknowledgments of the power of both the sea itself and a group of trees. The last five letters are called the Crane Bag and were given by the sea god Manannan.**

Who is the Green Man?  --By Phill Lister

A good search of many churches and cathedrals will often lead you to discover, somewhere, a carving of a human head within a mass of leaves. Sometimes, the leaves appear to grow out of the head itself; at other times the human head seems to be a chance result of the configuration of the leaves. What is the meaning of this particular type of carving? It seems to be a recurring theme amongst the many grotesque figures adoring many churches.

Earliest dating of this type of design put them in the 2nd C (a.d.), where they are never found in churches but on memorial monuments to rich citizens in places like Trier. These monuments were not Christian tombs, but by the 4th C they were making an appearance on these, too. There is an example of one of these in Poitiers. It was not until the 6th C that the Green Man found his way into a place of Christian worship. This was again in Trier, where Bishop Nicetius took some of these carvings from the ruin of a nearby Roman temple and built them into a new pair of pillars in his cathedral. For 500 years these carvings of the Green Man occupied a very prominent place until blocked up behind brick during restoration work in the 11th C. And during that time the motif became much more widely known and used in church decoration.
In most churches now, it is unusual to find a Green Man placed prominently, but examples do exist. In Kinnersly church (Hersfordshire) the carved wooden screen behind the altar has a Green Man at the very centre. But usually he'll be found disguised as a roof-boss, hidden in a corner, or lurking under a misericord seat.

It is known that stonemasons drew on many pagan themes for their decorations but we have few pointers as to the meaning behind this particular figure. Sometimes a Green Man carving is given a particular title- Silvanus (god of the forest) at the Abbey of Saint Denis, France; and Okeanus (both god of the sea and a satyr) in Mundanya, Istanbul.
This has led many to seek clues in myth, legend and religion.

John Barleycorn - celebrated in song - shows the same themes of death and rebirth, as does the Green Knight in the Arthurian story of Sir Gawain. Medieval legends of the Wild Men- dressed in leaves, living in the forest and venturing forth to take food, have been connected with the Green Man. In some stories of Robin Hood - the robber and hero dressed in green - he attains godlike status and links with the Horned God Herne. Present-day Western pagan thought identifies the Green Man as the symbol of the qualities of godhood within the male, as well as being an expression of the life/death/rebirth cycle and its relationship with the transcendent life-force, the Goddess, the female expression of godhood.

His re-adoption by some present-day morris sides as the Fool reflects the seasonal nature of the morris, its roots in fertility celebrations, and the nature of its male-ness.

So, who is the Green Man?

The answer to this riddle is certainly not straightforward.....

Some theologians like Rabanus Maurus (8th C) said they represented the sins of the flesh- lustful and wicked men doomed to eternal damnation. This seems to be a long way from the meaning they must have held for those who used them on the memorials to their dear departed six centuries previously: In fact, they continued to be used as tomb carvings long after the church masons stopped using them inside their buildings.
This link with death has led some to describe the Green Man as the symbol of the natural cycle of mortal life- birth, life, death, decay. To Christians it is this cycle that the soul can overcome, with Faith. To some others the cycle continues - from decay back to the soil, to food from the soil, back into life- a symbol of the continuous regeneration of life and the interdependence of all things.

Another direction we can take when looking for the meaning behind the Green Man is to study the character known in England as 'Jack-in-the- Green'. This was a figure who joined the May-Day revels in the 19th C, becoming particularly associated with the chimney sweeps who along with many other trades, used this national holiday as an opportunity to boost their lean income with a little begging. In return, they provided some entertainment of rowdy variety. This involved them dressing up in gaudy tinsels and ribbons, with blackened faces "like morris dancers" and performing a rough and ready dance around a Jack-in-the-Green to the music of shovels, sticks, drums, and whistles. The Jack was a man inside a conical framework of wicker covered with leaves. A stall gap was left in this, through which the occupant could peer- very like some of the Green Man figures in the churches.

The Jack had to be built by the sweeps. If any rival group of tradesmen appeared with one, a bloody fight often ensued. There were many complaints of the rowdy and drunken behavior on May-Day, which my have been one factor in its eventual decline.

At the turn of the century, however, he was rescued from these unseemly and common clutches to become the leading figure in many May Pageants organized by middle-class revivalists. Their pageants looked back to a distant 'merrie England" wholesome and pure, where everyone knew their place and was happy with their lot. Many "folk" activities were taken up with interest at this time, and many were in fact saved from decline. One such was the morris-dance.
One of the few pieces of documentary evidence we have of the existence of the Jack-in-the-Green outside these 19th C sweeps' revels links him firmly with the morris. An account of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's third voyage to North America in 1583 includes a description of the entertainment's taken across the ocean for the solace of our people and allurement of the Savages". It goes on to describe the cavorting of the morris dancers, hobby horse, and jack o' greens, which apparently went down well with the audiences. Whatever he was before he met the sweeps, and wherever he came from, he ended up as a symbol of the May- the traditional beginning of the Spring. This symbol of regeneration as part of the life-cycle again bring us back to the ideas behind the Green Man in church-carvings. while we cannot prove a direct historical connection between the carvings and the pageant-figure, it is apparent that they are connected. That the Jack-in-the-Green is more directly associated with the celebration of the life-force is argued in Sir James Frazer's massive work, The Golden Bough. He described the Jack as our own version of the typical leaf- clad mummer found throughout Europe. Though in England his history and meaning are unknown (no-one ever asked the sweeps!) similar figures in other parts were certainly explained by their celebrants as being representations of the spirit or god of the yearly renewal of life.
Whilst the study of architecture, folklore and anthropology can give us a clue to the Green Man's nature he has also inspired a more poetic approach to the nature of his mystery.

Bibliography

The Green Man, Kathleen Basford 1978

The Jack in The Green, Roy Judge, 1979

The Horned God, John Rowan, 1987

The Golden Bough, Sir James Frazer, 14 vols. 1911-15

Earth Rites, Janet and Colin Bord, 1982

 

The Great Horned God

The consort of the Goddess and symbol of male energy in the form of the divine, The Horned God reigns. He is the lord of the woodlands, the hunt and animals. He provides for the tribe through the hunt and is honored or rewarded for his deed by being permitted to copulate with the Goddess through the Great Rite.

  The Horned God is the lord of life, death and the underworld, and is the Sun to the Goddess' Moon. He alternates with the Goddess in ruling over the fertility cycle of birth, death and rebirth. He is born at the winter solstice, unites with the Goddess in marriage at Bealtaine, and dies at the summer solstice to bring fertility to the land as the Sacred King.

  He is not just a Celtic representation of the God, nor does he solely belong to Wicca, as he has been associated with many deities throughout the world.

Cernunnos, The Celtic God of fertility, animals and the underworld.

Herne The Hunter, a specter of Britain.

Pan the Greek god of the woodlands,

Janus the Roman god of good beings.

Tammuz and Damuzi, the son, lover and consorts to Ishtar and Inanna.

Osiris, the Egyptian Lord of the underworld.

Dionysus, the Greek god of vegetation and vine.

The Green Man, the lord of vegetation and the woodlands.  

The History Of The Horned One

Paintings discovered in the Caverne des Trois Freres at Ariege, France provides evidence of the first views of the Horned One. Depicted as a stag standing upright on hind legs with the upper body of a man, the figure is celebrating what appears to be a hunt and wooing a woman.  

From some of the earliest myths come the union between the fertile Goddess and the triumphant phallus hunter, the Horned God. The more successful the tribal hunter in providing for his people, the greater his stature became. The more likely he would be the one chosen to impregnate the "Mother" of the tribe. Often seen as the High Priestess or at least a tribal woman who was touched by the goddess because of her prowess at becoming pregnant and extending the life of the tribe. Something that was needed during the days of ancient man, as life spans were short and death by illness or disease was common.  

Many legends describe fertility celebrations occurring at the spring gathering and again in late fall. Each of these coinciding with a spring hunt to bring food to the tribe after a cold desolate winter. And in the fall to provide meat for the tribe during the winter months. The most successful hunter won the prize of sleeping with the "Goddess", most often before the Tribe watching. Something that is seen as repugnant today, in ancient times, it was a spiritual event and is revitalized in what we see as the Great Rite of today.  

During these rituals, the Hunter would appear dressed or cloaked in the skin of his kill with the horns of the stag resting victoriously upon his head. Some legends describe the blood of the beast engulfing both the Horned Hunter and the Goddess, believing the life taken from the animal is transferred to the womb of the fertile Mother, thus providing life.  

To the Celts as Cernunnos, the Horned God was more than just a fertile being. He is found throughout the Celtic lands and folklore as the guardian of the portal leading to the Otherworld. The name Cernunnos is known only through damaged carvings found at Notre Dame. In these carvings, a deity with short horns carries the incomplete inscription 'ERNUNNO'. In his earliest of days he was probably the fertility god to the Gauls. But as time progressed and his legends grew, he became associated with wealth and prosperity. He was such an important deity to the pagan Celts, that his image and prowess became a major target for the early Christian church. It is his image that is believed to have been adopted for their mythos of the Devil 'deo falsus' or the false god. His status as the god of Hell would coincide with the view of the pagan Celts as the guardian of the Otherworld.  

As Herne the Hunter, the British version of the Horned God; he is seen as the leader of the Wild Hunt. As an antlered giant, he is rumored to still survive and live in the forests of Windsor Great Park. His longevity is owed to the cult of Cernunnos, who have also linked his generosity to provide for the tribe to the legend of Robin Hood. Some suggest that Herne was the father to Robin of Loxley; which is probably more an association since Herne is a much older figure in legend and myth. In this ability to provide for the tribe as the great Hunter of the wood, he is forever linked to the Horned God.  

As the Greek deity of pastures, flocks and herds, Pan was half man and half goat. With the legs and horns and beard of a goat. He is the offspring of Hermes, but his mothers lineage is in question. Either he is the result of Hermes and Dryope daughter of King Dropys, who's flocks he tended. Or Hermes and Penelope. His cult is centered around Arcadia where he is reported to haunt the woodlands, hills and mountains. Sleeping at noon and then dancing through the woods as he played the panpipes, which he is credited with inventing. He is the lusty leader of the satyrs (woodland deities), and continually chases the nymphs (the beautiful nature goddesses). During rituals, his essence is invoked to for fertility of the flocks or for an abundant hunt. Associating him with the legends of the Horned God.  

As Osiris the Egyptian god of the lower world, he is seen as the judge of the dead. Linking him to the concept of Cernunnos as the guardian of the gate to the Other World. He is the brother of Isis, but he is also her husband. Isis as the goddess of fertility her status as the Mother is propagated by the services provided her by Osiris. Once again linking his image with that of the Horned One.

  As the Green Man he is the God of the woodlands and vegetation. He is also known as 'Green Jack", "Jack in the Green" and "Green George". He represents the spirits of the trees, plants and foliage who has many powers over nature that promote growth. He has the power to make it rain and foster the livestock with lush meadows. As Green George he has been represented as a young man cloaked head to foot in greenery. In early depictions, the green vegetation emphasized his phallic symbol of fertility as he lead processions through tribal lands. As the Green Man he shares his woodland home with the forest fairies often called "Greenies" or "Greencoaties". What today we call Nature Sprites. The Green Man is depicted as a horned man peering out from a mask of foliage, connecting him to the image of Horned God.

The Ballad Of John Barleycorn 

There was three men come out of the West
Their fortunes for to try
And these three men made a solemn vow
John Barleycorn must die.
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in
Throwing clods all on his head
And these three men made a solemn vow
John barleycorn was Dead.

They've left him in the ground for a very long time
Till the rains from heaven did fall
Then little Sir John's sprung up his head
And so amazed them all
They've left him in the ground till the Midsummer
Till he's grown both pale and wan
Then little Sir John's grown a long, long beard
And so become a man.

They hire'd men with their scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee.
They've bound him and tied him around the waist
Serving him most barb'rously.
They hire'd men with their sharp pitch-forks
To prick him to the heart
But the drover he served him worse than that
For he's bound him to the cart.

They've rolled him around and around the field
Till they came unto a barn
And there they made a solemn mow
Of Little Sir John Barleycorn
They've hire'd men with their crab-tree sticks
To strip him skin from bone
But the miller, he served him worse than that,
For he's ground him between two stones.

Here's Little sir John in the nut-brown bowl
And brandy in the glass
But Little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl's
Proved the stronger man at last
For the hunts man he can't hunt the fox
Nor so loudly blow his horn
And the tinker, he can't mend Kettles or pots
Without a little of Sir John Barleycorn.