A relic from our pagan past; a fertility symbol; the spirit of
vegetation; Jack-in-the-Green, Herne the Hunter or Robin Hood-all
of these descriptions and many more have been advanced to explain
the identity of the strange and often outlandish image which glares
so balefully from rood screen and roof boss in so many places of
Christian worship throughout Western Europe. Invariably depicting a
male human head, it is by any reckoning a most unusual image and
while exhibiting countless variations, the predominant feature
common to all is the vegetation issuing in luxuriant profusion from
the mouth and coiling around the head in fantastic shapes and
patterns; a feature which has no known counterpart in nature. It is
the 'Green Man' so-called by generations of environmentalists and
folklore enthusiasts. But such interpretations beg the question-why
does the image occur predominantly within a Christian context with
a frequency second only to that of Christ Himself. . Who is the
'Green Man' and what does his widespread presence signify? The
author believes that the answer to this age-old riddle may be found
in a number of medieval works such as the apocryphal gospels, the
Bestiary and the Legend of the Rood all of which would have been
familiar to scholars and teachers of the period. Although never
part of the official canon, these nevertheless had a considerable
influence on the teaching of the medieval Church and the imagery
which it employed to illustrate it for the benefit of illiterate or
semi-literate congregations. The present study represents a radical
departure from the previously received wisdom on the subject and
advances the hypothesis that far from being a pagan fertility
symbol, the 'Green Man' is a lead player in the great scriptural
drama of the Creation, the Fall of Man and his ultimate redemption.
General
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