Tales of the Green Man

The Reading this morning takes the form of a Riddle from an anonymous author:

I am born on May Morning – by sticks, bells, and ribbons
I am the sap – in the dark root
I am the dancer – with his six fools
I am the tump – behind the old church
I am the lost soul – under the misericord
I am the oak – against the stars

I am the face – that peers through the leaves
I am the fear – in a child' s mind
I am the demon – on the roof-boss

I am killed in October – and laid on church altars

I am the guiser – on the bright bonfire
I am the old grain – sown with the seed
I am the flame – in the pumpkin ' s grin
I am the spirit – in the kern-baby's bosom

Who am I?

Tales of the Green Man

Examining the churches and cathedrals of Europe will often reveal a carving of a human head within a mass of leaves. Sometimes, the leaves appear to grow out of the head itself; at other times the human head seems to be a chance result of the configuration of the leaves. Who is the Green Man who guards so many of Europe’s churches?

Earliest datings of the figure in Europe come in the 2nd C (a.d.), not in churches but on pagan memorial monuments to rich citizens in places like Trier, reputedly the oldest city in Germany. It is located south and slightly east of Bonn. By the 4th C they were making an appearance on Christian tombs, too. It was not until the 6th C that the Green Man found his way into a place of Christian worship. This was again in Trier, where Bishop Nicetius took some of these carvings from the ruin of a nearby Roman temple and built them into a new pair of pillars in his cathedral. For 500 years these carvings of the Green Man occupied a very prominent place until blocked up behind brick during restoration work in the 11th C. And during that time the motif became much more widely known and used in church decoration. In most churches he'll be found disguised as a roof-boss, hidden in a corner, or lurking under a misericord seat.

Sometimes the Green Man is named, likely things like Silvanus, god of the forest, or Oceanus, god of the sea and a satyr. Some of you may remember a song from childhood about John Barleycorn. The lyrics went like this:

There was three men came out of the west,
Their fortunes for to try,
And these three men made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn should die.
They ploughed, they sowed, they harrowed him in,
Throwed clods upon his head,
And these three man made a solemn vow,
John Barleycorn was dead.

Then they let him lie for a very long time
Till the rain from heaven did fall,
Then little Sir John sprung up his head,
And soon amazed them all.
They let him stand till midsummer
Till he looked both pale and wan,
And little Sir John he growed a long beard
And so became a man.

They hired men with the scythes so sharp
To cut him off at the knee,
They rolled him and tied him by the waist,
And served him most barbarously.
They hired men with the sharp pitchforks
Who pricked him to the heart,
And the loader he served him worse than that,
For he bound him to the cart.

They wheeled him round and round the field
Till they came unto a barn,
And there they made a solemn mow
of poor John Barleycorn.
They hired men with the crab-tree sticks
To cut him skin from bone,
And the miller he served him worse than that,
For he ground him between two stones.

Here's little Sir John in a nut-brown bowl,
And brandy in a glass;
And little Sir John in the nut-brown bowl
Proved the stronger man at last.
And the huntsman he can't hunt the fox,
Nor so loudly blow his horn,
And the tinker he can't mend kettles or pots
Without a little of Barleycorn.

We also find the Green Man in the Arthurian legend in the form of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The story goes somewhat like this:

The story begins at King Arthur's court at Camelot on New Year's day. As Arthur's court is feasting, a stranger, the gigantic Green Knight, mounted on horseback and armed with an axe, enters the hall and lays down a challenge. One of Arthur's knights may take the axe and strike a single blow against the Green Knight, on the condition that the Green Knight, if he survives, will return the blow one year and one day later. Sir Gawain, the youngest of Arthur's knights, reluctantly accepts the challenge and chops off the giant's head. The Green Knight, still alive, picks up his own head, reminds Gawain to meet him at the Green Chapel in a year and a day, and rides off.

Almost a year later, on All Hallows Day, Sir Gawain sets off in his finest armour, on his horse Gringolet, to find the Green Chapel and complete his bargain with the Green Knight. His shield is marked with the pentangle, which the poem attributes to Solomon [Stanzas 27-28], and which is to remind him of his knightly obligations. The journey takes him from the isle of Anglesey to a castle somewhere in the West Midlands, where he arrives on Christmas Eve. Gawain meets the lord of the castle and his beautiful wife, who are pleased to have such a renowned guest. After the feasting of Christmas Day, the lord enquires why Gawain has journeyed so far from home during the holiday season. Gawain tells of his New Year's Day appointment at the Green Chapel and that he must continue his search the next day. The lord laughs and insists Gawain must prolong his visit, for his search has ended: the Green Chapel is not two miles away! [ll. 1068-78]

That night, the lord announces that while he spends the next day hunting, the travel-weary Gawain shall stay at the castle, sleep as late as he wants (even through Mass), and eat whenever he chooses to arise; the lady will keep him company. But to add a little interest to the day, the lord proposes a bargain: he will give Gawain whatever he catches, on condition that Gawain gives to the lord, without explanation, whatever he might gain during the day. Gawain accepts. The next morning, after the lord has gone, the lady of the castle visits Gawain's room and tries to seduce him, claiming that she knows of the reputation of Arthur's knights as great lovers. Gawain, however, keeps to his promise to remain chaste until his mission to the Green Chapel is complete, and yields nothing but a single kiss. When the lord returns with the deer he has killed, he hands it straight to Sir Gawain, as agreed, and Gawain responds by returning the lady's kiss to the lord. According to the lord's bargain, Gawain refuses to explain where he won the kiss.

On the second morning, Gawain again receives a visit from the lady, and again politely refuses her advances. That evening, when the lord returns, there is a similar exchange of a hunted boar for two kisses.

On the third morning, when the lady visits his chamber, Gawain maintains his chastity but accepts a green silk scarf, which is supposed to keep him from harm, as a parting gift. But, the lady insists, he must not tell her husband. That evening, the lord returns with a fox, which he exchanges with Gawain for three kisses. However, Gawain keeps the scarf from the lord so that he can use it in his forthcoming encounter with the Green Knight, thus violating their agreement.

The next day, Gawain leaves for the Green Chapel, with the lady's silk scarf hidden under his armour, and accompanied by a guide from the lord's castle. Leaving the guide, who is afraid to approach the Green Chapel, Gawain finds the Green Knight busy whetting the blade of an axe in readiness for the fight. As arranged, the Green Knight moves to behead Gawain, but after three axe-swings Gawain remains only slightly injured, the third blow barely cutting his neck. The Green Knight then reveals himself to be an alter ego of the lord of the castle, Bertilak de Hautdesert, and explains that the three axe blows were for the three occasions when Gawain was visited by the lady. The third blow, which drew blood, was a punishment for Gawain's acceptance of the silk scarf. It is ironic that the scarf, the one thing that Gawain thinks will save him, is actually the thing that harms him; furthermore, it would have been the thing that led to his death had he taken it as a love token, which is what the lady originally offered it to him as.

The two men part on cordial terms, Gawain returning to Camelot. There, Sir Gawain recounts his adventure to Arthur and explains his shame at having partially succumbed to the lady's attempts, if only in his mind. Arthur refuses to blame Gawain and decrees that all his knights should henceforth wear a green sash in recognition of Gawain's courage and honour.

There is a similar character present in the Qur'an, by the name of Al-Khidr (Arabic, the "Green" Man). Al-Khidr, in his encounter with Moses, tests him three times with three seemingly evil acts. Eventually, the "sins" of Al-Khidr prove to be noble deeds to prevent greater evils or reveal great goods. Both the Green Knight and Al-Khidr serve as teachers to holy and upright men (Gawain, Moses), who thrice put their faith and obedience to the test.

The Green Man is not just a European figure. In several places pictures and images of the Green Man (and Lady) are found in America. The Green Man is not only known in the western world. Also in the Far East, in India for example, images of the Green Man have been found in several temples.

In many of the occurrences of the Green Man, we find him associated with the death and resurrection theme. The Green Knight picks up his severed head and rides off to meet Gawain the next year. John Barleycorn is hammered into the earth but rises and ripens, only to be cut down again. In Egyptian mythology Osiris was often painted green in the tombs where his image was found. He, too, is the god of death, resurrection, vegetation and fertility.

And that is where our ritual leads us this morning. For at Midsummer, famed for yet another Green Man in the form of Robin Goodfellow, that puck who first blinds people to love and then opens their eyes to love in Shakespeare’s Midsummer Night’s Dream, we focus our attention on seeing clearly where the element of summer, fire energy, is needed for increase, to refine, or to burn away. You have a flame in hand and as we begin the Litha ritual. Take a moment to meditate on that flame, thinking of what in your personal life needs fire energy. But before you come to cast your flame in the fire, think also of a social justice issue that you believe needs fire energy applied to it, for it is not enough to purify and increase ourselves, we must devote ourselves to the purification and increase of our society.

As you meditate, hear these words from Starhawk as we prepare the fire:

This is the time of the rose, blossom and thorn, fragrance and blood. Now on this longest day, light triumphs and yet begins the decline into dark. The Sun King grown embraces the Queen of Summer in the love that is death because it is so complete that all dissolves into the single song of ecstasy that moves the worlds. So the Lord of Light dies to Himself, and sets sail across the dark seas of time, searching for the isle of light that is rebirth. We turn the Wheel and share his fate, for we have planted the seeds of our own changes, and to grow we must accept even the passing of the sun.

She is luminous. She is white. She is shining, crowned with light!
He is radiant. He is bright. He is rising. He takes flight!

So into the flames we cast the Green Man, and now I invite you to come and leap the fire if you are able or simply cast your flame into it and state what it is that you need the fire energy to help grow, to refine, or to purge. You may also use this as the time to celebrate your joys or express your concerns as instead of lighting candles, we add flames to our solstice bonfire.

Behold, we cast the god into the fire where he died and was consumed. But he is merely a seed that has been planted. He is in the grain to feed us and in the water to quench our thirst. And out of the flames comes the bread of life. Tear a piece from the loaves and eat. Drink from the water for here is life.