Green Man Blog - Green Man History

Born Today: Robert Graves

nospam@example.com (Green Man) — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:24:00 -0700

Robert Ranke Graves (July 24, 1895 – December 7, 1985). Photograph from www.lacasaderobertgraves.com (Fundació Robert Graves).

Robert Graves wrote The White Goddess in 1948. It was popular in its time and in the book he advanced the idea of a Celtic Tree Calendar. The trees, based on a 13 month lunar calendar, were:

Birch
Mountain Ash
Ash
Alder
Willow
Whitethorn
Oak
Holly
Hazel
Vine
Ivy
Dwarf Elder
Elder

Many other writers expounded on his ideas, and even today you’ll see references to the Celtic Tree Calendar. William Anderson mentions it in his book, Green Man.

Unfortunately for Robert Graves, most serious scholars debunked his ideas, calling the tree calendar a “literary figment, “tripe,” or worse.

Oh well; it’s a neat idea, a calendar based on the flowerings of different trees.

Robert Graves wrote many books, and described himself this way:

“Though a poet by calling, I make my living by prose – biographies, novels, translations from various languages and so forth. My home has been in Majorca since 1929. Temporarily exiled because of the Spanish Civil War, I wandered around Europe and the United States; and the Second World War caught me in England, where I stayed until it ended and I could return to Majorca.” (from the 1960 postscript to The White Goddess, page 488).

The First Images of the Green Man?

nospam@example.com (Green Man) — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 09:12:00 -0700

Were these the first images of the Green Man?

The St. Goar Pillar, uncovered in West Germany, dates to the 5th century BC. It shows a head adorned with vegetation. Some scholars say it represents the Celtic god Cernunnos, from which the Green Man may have evolved.

The Gundestrup Cauldron, found in Denmark, is a large bowl made of hammered pieces of silver. It measures over 27 inches across, and among its many images beaten into the sides is one of a head with hair made of leaves. The cauldron is thought to date from the 1st century BC.

There is no definite evidence linking the Green Man image to these early ones, but it is interesting to speculate.

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

Whyfore The Green Man Image?

nospam@example.com (Green Man) — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 08:56:00 -0700

"We think of the Green Man as a visual image, as an object sculpted in stone or carved in wood, but the emotions he expresses transcend the form..."

-William Anderson, 1990. Green Man: The Archetype of our Oneness with the Earth. London: HarperCollins.

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

nospam@example.com (Green Man) — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:00:00 -0700

Medieval Illumination of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Middle English, anyone?

“siþen þe sege and þe assaut watz sesed at troye
þe bor3 brittened and brent to brondez and askez
þe tulk þat þe trammes of tresoun þer wro3t
watz tried for his tricherie þe trewest on erþe
hit watz ennias þe athel and his highe kynde
þat siþen depreced prouinces and patrounes bicome
welne3e of al þe wele in þe west iles
fro riche romulus to rome ricchis hym swyþe
with gret bobbaunce þat bur3e he biges vpon fyrst
and neuenes hit his aune nome as hit now hat
ticius to tuskan and teldes bigynnes
langaberde in lumbardie lyftes vp homes
and fer ouer þe french flod felix brutus
on mony bonkkes ful brode bretayn he settez
wyth wynne where werre and wrake and wonder
bi syþez hatz wont þerinne and oft boþe blysse and blunder
ful skete hatz skyfted synne…”

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Original Manuscript

And so begins “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” an anonymous poem from the 14th century. The poem tells the story of one of King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table, Sir Gawain, who accepts a challenge from a mysterious warrior who is completely green.

The mysterious warrior, called the Green Knight, offers anyone a chance to strike him with an axe. The only condition is that the Green Knight be allowed to strike a return blow in “a year and a day.”

Sir Gawain accepts and chops off the Green Knight’s head in one mighty blow. To his astonishment, the Green Knight calmly picks up his severed head and reminds Sir Gawain of their next meeting.

The rest of the tale describes all the intervening adventures leading up to Sir Gawain and the Green Knight's fateful second meeting.

The Green Knight first appears in the tale when he boldly crashes one of King Arthur’s grand feasts with all the knights and ladies in attendance.

Here is how the poem describes the Green Knight:

"And he was all clad in green garments, and fitting close to his sides was a straight coat with a simple mantle above it and well lined with gay and bright furs, as was also his hood hanging about his locks and round his shoulders; and he had hosen of that same green on his calves, and bright spurs of gold, that hung down his legs upon silk borders, richly striped, where his foot rested in the stirrup.
And verily all his vesture was of pure green, both the stripings of his belt, and the stones that shone brightly in his orgeous apparel, upon silk work, on his person and saddle; and it would be too tedious to tell you even the half of such trifles as were thereon embroidered with birds and flies in gaudy greens, and ever gold in the midst. The pendants of the horse's neck-gear, the proud cropper, the ornaments, and all the metal thereof, were enamelled of green; the stirrups that he stood in of the same colour, and his saddle-bow also; and they were all glimmering and shining with green stones; and the foal on which he rode was of that same hue…"

-translated by Ian Lancashire

The Green Knight Chopping Off Sir Gawain's Head by Arthur Elgort

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!

Where Did the Name "Green Man" Come From?

nospam@example.com (Green Man) — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 08:06:00 -0700

"Green Man" carving at Llangwm Church

As old as the Green Man images are, people are sometimes surprised to learn that the name "Green Man" is fairly recent. The name was given by Lady Raglan after viewing a stone carving at Llangwm Church in Monmouthshire (southeast Wales). She wrote an article for Folklore magazine in 1939, using the term "Green Man" to describe the various carvings and images:

"...it seemed to me certain that it was a man and not a spirit, and moreover that it was a "Green Man." So l named it..." -Lady Raglan, 1939

The Green Man Blog is written to spread environmental awareness and appreciation of the natural world around us. Thank you for visiting! Stay green, support the organic movement, and be sure to visit www.greenmantshirts.com for the best in organic cotton and bamboo t shirts!