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Green Man - Definition and Overview |
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The Green Man is a symbol of uncertain origin common in the British Isles. Classic examples are most frequently found among the stonework in and on churches, though it is more likely pagan in nature. It depicts a man with foliage for hair, usually with either a leafy beard or with leaves growing out of his mouth and nose. A similar nature spirit is the wild man of the woods, the woodwose.
Other possible references to him are Green George, Jack-in-the-Green, John Barleycorn and the Green Knight.
The image of the Green Man is popular with modern Wiccans and other Neopagans.
- "...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." - William Anderson, "Green Man: The Archetype of our Oneness with the Earth"
The name "Green Man" was a term coined by Lady Raglan in 1939. It appeared in her article The Green Man in Church Architecture, published in the Folklore Journal.
See also
External links
The Green Man is a 1956 British comedy film starring Alastair Sim as a jovial freelance assassin.
Internet Movie Database link: [1] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0050456/)
The Green Man is a 1990 British horror film starring Albert Finney as an alcoholic inn-keeper.
Internet Movie Database link: [2] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0098813/)
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