Found in some variant in many cultures throughout the world and spanning almost all of history, the Green Man is perhaps best described as a motif or a symbol. No two representations of the Green Man are the same, and they manifest a bewildering variety of features, but the Green Man is essentially a face or head sprouting, surrounded by, or even entirely made from, leaves and foliage.
He is most commonly found carved in wood or stone in medieval European churches and cathedrals, and is usually interpreted as a symbol of rebirth or the cycle of growth each spring, although even that is open to dispute, as we will see.
In Germany, he is “der grüne Mann”; in France, he is “tête de feuilles” or “cracheur de feuilles” or “masque feuillu”; in England (at least since Lady Raglan’s influential 1939 article), he is almost always referred to as “the Green Man”, or in some more technical sources as the “foliate head”.
Unlike with dragons, lions, centaurs, mermaids and other images of Christian iconography, we have no old tales or medieval literature to satisfactorily explain the meaning of the Green Man. The origins of the phenomenon are lost in the mists of time, and he has waxed and waned throughout history in both his presence and his influence, although never quite disappearing....read more>>>...