Pagans ... The Green Man?

Question

what can you tell me about The Green Man please ?
what belief system is he part of ?
I have always been curious about this one since visiting Rosslyn Chapel and his face is everywhere


thank you xxx

it is gorgeous jonjon
the architecture is just breathtaking
but it isnt too far from me though and I plan to go back again and spend a little more time

((((((((Raji)))))))
it is little wonder that he appeals to me then xx

Answer 1

Heeey, they're talking about me! :)

The greenman is one of the oldest and most widely spread pagan symbols, actually. It's older than 700 bc, anyway. In fact, there are proofs that it is over 5000 years old.

Its origins go back to the time when people would cover themselves in greenery from head to toe to celebrate spring festivals. It was meant to represent the living forse of nature, the life that was about to surface again every spring.

He is present in nearly all european and eastern pagan sets of beliefs. The pictures of a face peering out of foliage have been found from the british isles to chinese castles.

Some form of worship or iconography about greenman survived the middle ages and is stil alive today in many countries. The Green Man appears on countless gothic churches and castles.

In western European lore, he was a legendary pagan deity who roams the woodlands of the British Isles and Europe. He usually is depicted as a horned man peering out of a mask of foliage, usually the sacred oak. He is known by other names such as "Green Jack, "Jack-in-the-Green" and "Green George." He represents spirits of trees, plants and foliage. It is believed he has rain making powers to foster livestock with lush meadows. He was frequently depicted in medieval art, including church decorations.
Green George, as he is usually called in spring Pagan rites, is represented by a young man dressed head to foot in greenery, who leads the festival procession. In various festivals, Green George, or an effigy of him, is dunked in a river or pond to ensure that there will be enough rain to make the meadows and pastures green. It is also believed by some the Green Man shares an affinity with the forest-dwelling fairies since green is the fairy color. In some locals of the British Isles the fairies are called "Greenies" and "Greencoaties." In the myth of "The Fairy Children," there appears two fairy children, a brother and a sister, who have green skin and claim to be of a race with green skin.

Nowadays he appears as the "Le Feuillou " in French, and in German the Green Man is called "Blattqesicht". Slavic nations still celebrate "zeleni Jurij" in the spring, where during the carnival they dress a person all in green ivy and moss and have him go around houses to bring blessings and good luck.
In contemporary pagan beliefs he is also known as the horned God, is the consort to the Mother and the God Of Witches, Beasts and the Hidden Folk and the God of all.
Arguably he was the icon from which all later horned/vegetation and revelry gods developed, like Dionisius, Cerunnos and similar.

Photos of modern day festivals that still include a foliage-covered man:
http://www.slovenia.info/pictures/category/1/2005/05_00_Zeleni-Jurij,-arrival_56167.jpg
http://www.up-rs.si/up-rs/uprs.nsf/fotovideoweb/53A4568A253CA5A9C1256FEB0052BC9E/$File/M_22-04-2005_ZELENI-JURIJ-01_BOBO.JPG
http://starsinic.hokeynet.net/green_george.jpg

Answer 2

I hear ya :) I don't have a definitive answer, but I think there are a couple of things at work. First, even though Wicca honors both male and female (in all forms), there tends to be an emphasis on the Goddess. Much of this seems to be a recent emphasis. Many of the current crop of books (by current I mean anything published after the time of Cunningham) tend to stress the Goddess over the God. And honestly, if you look at even Gardner's work, while he talks of both God and Goddess, the Goddess is emphasized over the God. At least that is how I see it. Then we have the issue of the Feminist influence that occurred during the 70's. Ever since then (and I wasn't Wiccan then, I was a child but I'm basing this on what I've read) The feminism influence brought about Wicca being equated with a religion for women. I think that there are a lot of men that have negative associations with feminism and this is one part of the turn off. Of course, Wicca and feminism are not related but there is that stereotype. There is also the ever popular distortion of the Wiccan Rede which has now become equated with "moral law" (which it isn't) and "law" that is interpreted to be so ridiculous that no one could follow it. What "big, strong, manly, warrior, man" would be interested in joining a religion where he was required to not even hurt a fly? I think that there is a return to the equality of male and female. I have seen a refreshing number of new Wiccans who do know their history and do understand the Rede. They don't equate Wicca to a religion for people with wombs. But still at this time, men who have been called by the old gods often find themselves more at home in other pagan religions such as the reconstructionist ones. I don't think there is anything to be done. All we can do is continue to correct misinformation when we hear it and if men are interested in Wicca they will find it.

Answer 3

Let me start by saying I'm extremely jealous that you got to visit Rosslyn Chapel.

The "Green Man" is just a modern name for this Celtic vegetation god. He was a symbol of the fructifying influence that comes over the earth at Spring. He was also linked with human sexuality; and there are suggestions that Rosslyn Chapel may actually have been the site for a sort of revival of the old nature-worship.

There is mention of one William Knox, minister of Cockpen, being censured "for baptizing the Laird of Rosling's bairne" in Rosslyn Chapel, which was described as a "house and monument of idolatrie, and not ane place appointit for teiching the word and ministratioun of ye sacrementis."

Answer 4

I am surprised to hear he is depicted on Christian churches. But then, they do go about "borrowing" ideas from pagans, don't they?

My own take on the Green Man is based on the Fool from the Thoth Tarot deck by Aleister Crowley. He's the male equivalent of Mother Nature: Father Nature? There is a sexual element, but not as blatant as Pan. It's more an integrated growth and productive, positive energy involving both plants and animals. He is, to be precise, The God of Life.

Answer 5

The earliest depictions of Green Man occur in modern day Iraq at Hatra, which dates from about 700 BC. He also appears in Greek myth, Celtic lore (St. Goar Pillar) and even from 5th century Germany. All the depictions evoke a blend of Etruscan and Celtic aret forms of the First millenium BC and AD.

Green Man is the sowing/harvest God of southern and western Europe and represents the bounty of Nature. Many of the early European cathedrals bear likenesses of Green Man in order to entice the pagan rural folks into the churches as a way to make them feel at home with the new Christian Church as it began to spread throughout that part of Europe and Eurasia.

Today, Green Man has come to symbolize the Witches God and his reverence for ALL things of natural beauty and wonder. He is revered and esteemed, especially by Green Witches and has become synonomous with the antlered God, Lugh (A celtic God of the British Isles) and is MY preffered representation of the Male aspect of Deity.

I hope this helps a bit.

Brightest Blessings,
Raji the Green Witch

Answer 6

Well now you gone and got me all curious too dang it Pangel! lol Never heard of the green man but I have heard of the hulk and the Green Manilishi...

So now for my little tidbit:
What you will be interested in knowing is that the Green Man does adorn many churches, apparently.

Answer 7

The Green Man can be found in many different cultures and he was around prior to the Christian church. He is said to represent nature and can be used to represent many different male deities. There is no one area that he came from and he has been seen in different aspects all over the world.
The Church may have (there is speculation) adopted him in order to convert the local people in places where he was considered one of the gods. Now in churches they often use him to represent our oneness with nature.

Answer 8

I'm not Pagan, but here's what I understand about the Green Man:

He's the old man of the woods. He's the male counterpart of Mother Nature. Some traditions equate him with the Norse god Odin.

Answer 9

pangel ((((hugs)))) to your fans and contacts they are the brightest of the bunch in my opinion.and to get to go to rosslyn, wow .was it built by the masons?

Answer 10

I'm pretty sure it's Irish. I once learned to play this really beautiful lullaby "The Garten Mother's Lullaby". It's an Irish song, and it mentions the Green Man.