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November 2009

Jack in the green am I and master have I none for whilst there are trees upon this land the woods shall be my home. To the season’s kings I bow my head as they do bow to me, for my faces are as many as the leaves upon a tree

THE GREEN MAN

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For many people their first experience of the Green Man is a chance sighting of a strange stone or wooden foliate face looking down at them from high above in a church or cathedral. Just what this supposedly pagan representation of fertility and the greenwood is doing in a Christian place of worship, has puzzled people throughout the ages.  A subversive image placed by stone carvers as a link to a pre-Christian religion? A reminder that we all come from the earth and will one day return? A representation of Adam, or an image of evil carefully placed to remind churchgoers to steer away from sin?

 

Images of the green man are predominantly found across England, Great Britain, Europe and parts of Asia and North Africa. He may date back as far as the third millennium BC, and is still being reproduced in stone, wood, glass, metal, art, song, story and poem today. He may be found in his guise as dusty stone or wood carving looking down from on high in churches, cathedrals abbeys and secular buildings throughout the world. To some he is seen as a sometimes mischievous, sometimes dark figure found in Morris dances, or as the Jack-in-the-Green leading or included in May Day processions each year, or bought to life in new and vibrant traditions.

 

In “Wildwood A Journey Through Trees” the late Roger Deakin wrote:

 

He is the spirit of the rebirth of nature. He is the chucked pebble that ripples out into every tree ring. He is a green outlaw and he is everywhere, like a Che Guevara poster.”

 

The main intention of The Company of the Green Man is to gather, collate, archive and disseminate information and images of the green man in his varied forms. To create the largest and most accurate gazetteer of green men ever produced. To promote and support current traditions that feature the green man and the Jack-in-the-Green and to provide a point of contact and discussion for all those fascinated by the enigma that is the green man.

 

Membership of The Company of the Green Man is free please contact us for more details on the link below:

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greenman@virgin.net

 

Chris Walton

England

 

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Jack in the green am I and master have I none for whilst there are trees upon this land the woods shall be my home.

To the season’s kings I bow my head as they do bow to me, for my faces are as many as the leaves upon a tree.

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Top left picture of Sampford Courteney Green Man is copyright © P W Jewitt used with kind permission