Thursday, 29 July 2010

Little Green Men!

Since I'm on the theme of wood and woody things, this seems like a good opportunity to post up our collection of Green Men... I love the Green Man image and the harking back to earlier times, maybe even way back to the early animist religions, the worshippers of which created explanations for the vagaries, the bounty and the unpredictability of their world through sprits living in the tree, rocks, bird, animals, etc, all around them. Wikipedia says: "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."

We have gathered the following Green Men heads and faces over the last few years, some a bit classy, some a bit tacky!












The moss grew on this one all on its own!




Er.. that's it...
Posted by at
Labels: ,

11 comments:

  1. Anonymous29 July 2010 at 22:37

    the bouty?!?! Rosie

    ReplyDelete
  2. Scottish Nature Boy29 July 2010 at 22:43

    Thanks Rosie - fixed it - "bounty"!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Alistair30 July 2010 at 05:48

    I too love this symbol. I'm sure I have a book on him in my wee library somewhere that's not been read for a few years now. It's surprising how often he creeps up in churches - Roslin Chapel springs immediately to mind - in that blending/subjugation/subversion that seems to have gone on over millenia.
    Some nice examples here.

    Thank for posting.....Al.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Scottish Nature Boy30 July 2010 at 08:47

    Thanks Al - I would hypothesise that the Green Man appearing on churches is a real mixture of at least two phenomena - a hangover from the early christian church "hi-jacking" the symbols of the old pagan and pre-christian religions and traditions in an attempt to secure its foothold in Britain, and the persistence of superstitions and old folklore beliefs among the ordinary folk of the country, despite the dominance of the christian church, finding an outlet in carvings on religious building. I like the subversive aspect of the church paying stonemasons to carve non-christian icons onto its new buildings! Cheers, SNB

    ReplyDelete
  5. Alistair31 July 2010 at 10:03

    A couple of nice green men - and misericords here which I think you will like.

    http://codlinsandcream2.blogspot.com/2010/07/day-out-in-ludlow.html#comment-form

    ReplyDelete
  6. Scottish Nature Boy31 July 2010 at 15:52

    I like, I like - thanks Al - I'll send a link to this post on to Codlins and Cream too. Cheers, SNB

    ReplyDelete
  7. lom1 August 2010 at 15:10

    Here's our greenman SNB in the city

    ReplyDelete
  8. Scottish Nature Boy1 August 2010 at 15:55

    Wow lom - that is pretty spectacular - a whole-body Green Man - it looks almost Christ-like - I presume that's deliberate? Thanks very much for sharing that! cheers, SNB

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bovey Belle1 August 2010 at 21:46

    SNB - wow, SPOT ON - I think it could be called "hedging your bets" - keeping hold of the "pagan" symbolism whilst paying lip-service to the new Christian religion. Damnty sure I'd have done the same. QV Kilpeck Church in Herefordshire and you will be amazed by the imagery on that. Every church or cathedral we visit has a Green Man somewhere amongst the carvings, quite often well hidden . . .

    ReplyDelete
  10. Bovey Belle1 August 2010 at 21:47

    P.S. We have the green man pictured first in your list, in our kitchen . . .

    ReplyDelete
  11. Scottish Nature Boy3 August 2010 at 21:02

    Thanks BB - I googled that Kilpeck reference - excellent! Amazing carvings!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for taking the time to comment... much appreciated at this end! If you've enjoyed reading this post, why not sign up to follow this blog? I won't even make you wear a robe, cape, costume or anything, unless you insist.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)