The prescribed invitation for the enthronement ofKing Charles IIIis creating a bit of a stir . On the bottom border of the ornate invitation is a depiction of the " foliaceous head . " It ’s a Green Man ’s smile boldness , his face fungus and whisker made of ivy , oak and hawthorn leaf , flux with a hodgepodge of multicolored efflorescence that leech into the border of the invitation . What ’s not to care ?
Who Is the “Green Man”?
TheGreen Manis one of the most popular decorative figure in England , and carving of his leafy mug can be found looming over the ceilings of knightly churches or peering up from garden paving stones all over the U.K. and Europe . Various renderings show him in dissimilar ways .
On thecoronationinvitation he appears favorable , but depending on who depicted him , he can look terrified , leering , stoic , raging or downright demonic . His brass , leaves often sprouting from his open mouth , nostrils or eye sockets , can be obscure by greenery as if he ’s peeping out , or the foliage can even overtake and conflate with him , replacing some of his human being features .
Although the Green Man is one of the most common artistic motif in 13th and fourteenth 100 church around the U.K. and Europe , the tarradiddle we tell about him today is overtlypagan — a symbolization of spring and rebirth , or of nature ’s ultimate domination over humanity . His connection to the ancient history of the British Isles isup for debate , but his face on the invitation to an ostensibly Christian enthronization observance is do a bit of hubbub .
Where Did the Name “Green Man” Originate?
But the Green Man is a slippery guy because although his expression is everywhere , his reputation as a powerful pre - Christian nature deity was prepare up less than a century ago by a British aristocrat and folklore buff named Julia Somerset , orLady Raglan . She identify the foliated head visualise in English churches the " Green Man , " and invented a fairytale about his origins in a 13 - page clause in theMarch 1939 issueof the diary " Folklore . "
In her clause , Somerset not onlyassigned a name tothe foliated head — she likely engender " Green Man " from the many English pubs with that name — but also identified him as an ancient god of fertility and military capability . She went on to speculate that ancient pagans might have hire in ritual human sacrifice each May Day , name a virile member of the biotic community to interpret the god , hang the homo from a tree or decapitating him and placing his discerp question in a tree .
Of of course , there is no scholarly evidence to back up Somerset ’s claim , but the ghastly story of pagan brutality and hedonism became wildly popular in the U.K. Since then , the Green Man has been plastered all over English pubs , hostel , gardens and music fete — there is aGreen Manmusic fete in the U.K. , and the Burning Man Festival in the U.S. made the Green Man itstheme in 2007 .
If the foliaceous read/write head did in fact play a powerful pagan god for whom the ancient ritualistically decollate people , it really would institutionalise a scrap of a perturbing enthronisation message ; however , that ’s almost certainly not the lawsuit . Depictions of leafy - head men are by no way unique to the U.K. — versions of the foliate headway have been regain insixth - century Istanbul , alongsideGreek depictions of Dionysis .
So , why is the Green Man found in so many Christian Christian church throughout Europe ? Early Christianslikely sawthe Green Man as a symbolisation of the cyclic nature of Christianity , as a nature - centric representation of the Holy Spirit which take a breather life story into the world , and the leaf , vines and bloom flowing from him a symbol of rebirth .
No matter where or when the Green Man came from , he has become a neopagan icon , a symbolisation of English folklore , and finally was take over by the New Age movement in the 1960s . He might have made his manner into hundreds of church all over Europe , but his roots are shadowy , however inspiring of countercultural nature worship . Modern pagans sometimes worship him , however , which does make his smiler an strange alternative for a coronation invitation , because it seems to be inviting controversy .
Perhaps by read " Robin Hood " or " Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,“we might learn more about what the Green Man has to instruct us because , although he may be watching , the mysterious Green Man is n’t tattle .
