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| (Carving from Dore Abbey) |
While scientists are exploring Mars, they tend to ignore the Green Men that have allegedly been living right here on Earth for ages.
The often-hypnotic eyes of these Green Men gaze upon us from the columns of churches, from the slabs of grave markers, from secular buildings, from wood and stone carvings, from manuscripts,
from paintings, from garden designs, from masks, and from chapels, abbeys and cathedrals. Wikipedia describes three main forms of these Green Men: the Foliate Head (which
is all covered in green leaves); the Disgorging Head
(which spews vegetation from its mouth); and the Bloodsucker
Head (which spouts
vegetation from every facial orifice).
These artistic forms are compelling enough, but their reputedly numinous aspects are even more so. These numinous qualities are said to reflect a vitality that is equated with fertility, rebirth, renaissance, and the “cycle of growth each spring.” These qualities are also associated with Elijah, Khidr, Sylvanus, Jack in the Green, Puck, Robin Goodfellow, Cernunnos, John Barleycorn, Green George, Pan, and even Father Christmas.
They are also associated with what are now termed “vegetation deities.”
Wikipedia defines “vegetation deity” as “a nature deity whose disappearance and reappearance, or life, death, and rebirth, embodies that growth cycle of plants.” Examples of these deities include Osiris (whose skin is green, and whose reassembled body parts bring forth new life). The Parables
of Jesus also associate God’s Kingdom with the sowing and growing of seeds.
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation_deity
Copyright March 20, 2012 by Linda Van Slyke All Rights Reserved
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