If you haven’t heard of the Green Man, don’t worry. You’re not alone. Learning about the Green Man was one of the many fascinating things I’ve gained from the Endicott Studio’s fantastic Web site (now archived) created by Terri Windling and Midori Snyder. The Green Man is ancient, but to me he is almost brand new. Because so little is known about the Green Man, but so much is conjectured, I’ll begin with a list of ten things not known about him:
1. When he began.
2. His geographic origins.
3. His cultural origins.
4. Whether he is a plantish man or a manish plant.
5. Whether his foliage is vernal or autumnal.
6. Whether he is friend or foe.
7. Whether there ever was a “Green Man” or simply a series of foliate head carvings in many places around the world.
8. Whether he was openly crafted onto Christian architecture or was hidden there.
9. Whether J.R.R. Tolkien was inspired by him during the creation of his characters Tom Bombadill and Treebeard.
10. Whether the Jolly Green Giant is (intentionally) a modern day Green Man.
Number 10 is my own idea (as far as I know). I had a stuffed version of the Jolly Green Giant when I was a child. He was a mascot of the Green Giant vegetable company (think frozen peas and General Mills). I got my toy by mailing away evidence of having purchased the company’s product. I was totally smitten by the thing. (I realize this is a common theme in my posts – the fact that I tended to fixate as a child.) One day, my Jolly Green Giant doll was missing. I asked my mother about it and, after dodging the subject for as long as possible (but not for long since I was fixated on the doll), she confessed to having given it to the church nursery. Needless to say, I threw a giant (and possibly green) fit.
It’s a fascinating coincidence. If the Green Man depictions found throughout the world are artistic and architectural remnants of an ancient vegetable/fertility god that was eventually overthrown (in Europe) by the blooming of full blown Christendom; then my Jolly Green Giant doll, as fully pagan as he was lovely to me, was destined to be swallowed up by the local representative of Christendom – a neighborhood church. You can’t make this stuff up.
I’ve searched for information about the Green Man. The best jumping off point that I can recommend to anyone interested in learning more about him is Kathleen Jenks’ unbelievably fascinating Web home (I can’t bring myself to call it a site): MYTH*ING LINKS (Update: this site is under new ownership in 2021 and has been completely redone). (2nd Update: On July 11, 2021 this site appears to be gone for good, which is a shame. I hate to think Ms. Jenk’s decades of work have been lost).
This is one of the things Dr. Jenks has to say about our foliate friend:
The Green Man is that spirit, energy, presence, inherent in every cell of the vegetative realm, and transmitted to the animal/human realms through the foods we eat, the flowers we smell, the trees we hug. He is Pan. He is what Dylan Thomas calls: “The force that through the green fuse drives the flower drives my green age.”
The Green Man is gone. We can imagine all we want about who and what he really was. Does he speak to us today?