The Enigma of The Green Man

Over the years, countless words have been penned and multifarious theories proposed, but, at heart, the Green Man remains a mystery and an enigma.

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>>>...

Unraveling the Nature and Identity of the Green Man

[Ancient Origins]:An enigma spanning thousands of years, the Green Man is a symbol of mysterious origin and history. Permeating various religious faiths and cultures, the Green Man has survived countless transformations and cultural diversities, enduring in the same relative physical form to this day. Although specifics about his beginnings and his worship are not fully known, due in large part to how far back and to what initial cultures he can be traced to, it is a testament to the widespread reach of his character that he is still remembered and worshipped to this day.

The Green Man is most highly believed to have begun as a pre-Christian entity, a spirit of nature personified as a man. His earliest images have been dated long before the coming of the Christian religion, depictions dating back before the days of the Roman Empire. However, it is with the coming of the empire that his images are noted as spanning religions, as he has been found both within the empire and at its borders, and then similar versions in other far reaching cultures such as India. Despite the range in locations of artifacts of the Green Man, he is most often associated with the society of the Celts, sequestered particularly in today's Britain and France, because of the high number of images found in these regions and the stylized way in which he has been portrayed....read more>>>...