Explore Green Men
Submitted by Thorgrim on Sunday, 27 June 2004 Page Views: 3509
Reviews
Dr Mercia MacDermott, Helen Ward (Illustrator), Ruth Wylie (Photographer)
Heart of Albion Press £9.95
Green men with foliage sprouting from their mouths can be found in many old churches and cathedrals. The oldest are to be found in Romanesque churches of Britain and Europe with ever more grotesque forms seen in Gothic architecture. Even up to Victorian times, architects still used the motif on public buildings. So who is the Green Man.
Dr MacDermott's book surveys the depth and breadth of Green Man carvings and questions the assumption that he is a Pagan god of the wildwood. If he was a survivor from Pagan Britain, would he not be represented in "Celtic", Roman or Saxon art? Why is he absent from Britain until the 12th century? Dr MacDermott argues that the Green Man is actually an import from India and is derived from the kirttimukha and makara carvings. Both forms have tendrils of vines emerging from their mouths and combined to form one protective symbol. Dating from the 4th to the 6th centuries AD, could they have been seen by travellers or perhaps the design was brought from India to Europe in manuscript form by Arab traders?
A fascinating book, and one that should challenge those who want to believe that green men, like sheela-na -gigs, are vestiges of our native paganism.
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