 | Carved as a “foliate head” on many medieval churches in Europe, the Green Man is a symbol of rebirth, representing the cycle of new growth occurring every spring after the bleak winter. A number of gods “die” during the harvest and resurrect again in the spring, including Mesopotamian gods Tammuz/Dumuzi, the Greek Attis, and Egyptian Osiris. In the folk ballad “John Barleycorn” by Robert Burns, Barleycorn is reborn after harvest, then harvested again and turned into whiskey. |
Goddesses descending into the Underworld, signalling withdrawal of the Earth’s fertility and onset of winter, are another common seasonal myth. These include the Mesopotamian Descent of Inanna and Greek Persephone, who spends six months a year as Queen of the Underworld, initiating new growth when she returns in the spring.
 | Another popular Green Man myth is the fourteenth century tale of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. A Green “Gome” comes to King Aurther’s court at Midwinter and challenges the knights to a contest: cut off his head, then receive a similar blow in one year’s time. Sir Gawain accepts the challenge and beheads the giant Gome, who picks up his head and leaves. According to John Matthews in The Quest for The Green Man, the Gome “represents the winter aspect of the Green Man at his most terrifying.” John Matthews says, “This kind of exchange reflects an ancient concept at the heart of the Green Man’s story. As guardian of the natural world, he challenges us to honor the sacrifice he makes every winter—by making our own self-sacrifices of love, trust, and service” to Nature. |
The beheading “game” between Sir Gawain and the Green Gome is related to the annual battle of the Oak King and Holly King of Celtic myth. As the Farrar’s explain, “The Oak King rules from midwinter to midsummer, the period of expansion and growth; the Holly King from midsummer to midwinter, the period of withdrawal and rest. . . .each represents a necessary phase in the natural rhythm.”
This annual “battle” between Oak and Holly inspired the Yuletide carol, The Holly and the Ivy: “Of all the trees within the wood, the Holly bears the crown.”
This annual “battle” between Oak and Holly inspired the Yuletide carol, The Holly and the Ivy: “Of all the trees within the wood, the Holly bears the crown.”
 | In another story, Sir Gawain weds the ugly Dame Ragnall after she helps King Arthur evade another Green Man, the Summer Guardian. On their wedding night, Ragnall transforms into a beautiful woman. She asks Gawain if he’d rather have her beautiful by night (in the privacy of their bedroom) or by day (in public before the court). He bids her choose, and by giving her the choice, breaks the “curse” so she can be beautiful all the time. |
John Matthews says, “Ragnall, the Green Woman, can teach us a great deal about our relationship to the environment . . . Just as Ragnall wants to choose how she will express herself, so nature desires to follow its own course, to grow how and where it will, unchecked by human beings. . . if we ignore nature’s messages, it will remain ugly to us.”
 | The term Green Man, may also refer to characters dressed in foliage who lead traditional parades in northern Europe and England. These characters are associated with the “Wild Man” or woodwose archetype, fierce and unruly human-animal hybrids who protect European forests. The Roman god of the woodlands, Silvanus (meaning “of the woods”) is one such protective deity. The Greek goddess Artemis, a hunting goddess who protected the wilderness and wild animals, is another. |
The primacy of Green Man myths likely arose from an intimate connection with the natural world. As William Anderson says in Green Man: The Archetype of Our Oneness with the Earth, “When the secret of life was sought in nature, the Sacred Tree was the perfect symbol, with its leaves and blossoms and fruit, either shedding its verdure in autumn only to bring forth afresh its shoots and buds in the spring, or, if remaining evergreen, to typify life everlasting.”
Ĕglė is a Lithuanian goddess who personifies this sacred connection to trees. Her name means “spruce fir.” She marries the Grass Snake Prince and lives in his castle under the sea, where she gives birth to three sons, Ąžuolas (Oak), Uosis (Ash) and Beržas (Birch), and one daughter Drebulė (Aspen).
The Song of Egle reads:
Dear children, stand straight
As the trees of the greatest forest.
And I, your goddess mother,
will always watch over you.
Ĕglė is a Lithuanian goddess who personifies this sacred connection to trees. Her name means “spruce fir.” She marries the Grass Snake Prince and lives in his castle under the sea, where she gives birth to three sons, Ąžuolas (Oak), Uosis (Ash) and Beržas (Birch), and one daughter Drebulė (Aspen).
The Song of Egle reads:
Dear children, stand straight
As the trees of the greatest forest.
And I, your goddess mother,
will always watch over you.
Two closing quotes offer a meditation on our relationship to the Green Man:
From John Matthews: “The green energy that spreads through everything that lives and moves upon the earth is present in us today—if we choose to acknowledge it.”
From William Anderson:
Our remote ancestors said to their mother Earth: “We are yours.”
Modern humanity has said to Nature: “You are mine.”
The Green Man teaches us: “We are one.”
From John Matthews: “The green energy that spreads through everything that lives and moves upon the earth is present in us today—if we choose to acknowledge it.”
From William Anderson:
Our remote ancestors said to their mother Earth: “We are yours.”
Modern humanity has said to Nature: “You are mine.”
The Green Man teaches us: “We are one.”
For related tree lore, read my reviews of Be More Tree or The Forest Unseen
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