The Green Man

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The Green Man

• 1) What is The Green Man?
• 2) What different styles of Green Man are
  there?
• 3) Where are green men found?
• 4) What do they mean?
• 5) How does the Green Man link with art
  Nouveau?
• Task Create a powerpoint on the Green Man,
  answering these questions

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What is a Green Man?

• A modern interpretation of the Green Man as a
  garden ornament carved in stone
• A Green Man as a name for 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 different faces and
  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
  being reborn anew 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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• 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
  leaves 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
  followsoriginal research?
• the Foliate Head completely covered in leaves
• the Disgorging Head spews vegetation from its
  mouth
• the Bloodsucker Head sprouts vegetation from
  all facial orifices.
• The term "Green Man" was coined by Lady Raglan in
  1939. It appeared in her article The Green Man in
  Church Architecture, published in The Folklore
  Journal. The figure is also often referred to
  (perhaps erroneously) as "Jack-in-the-Green" or
  "Jack o' the Green".

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What does the Green Man Represent?

• 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 can be found
  dating from the 11th century through to the 20th
  century.
• 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.)
• Whatever his original significance may have been,
  many modern churchgoers characterise the Green
  Man as "the archetype of our oneness with the
  earth".citation needed