The Green Man

A good search of many churches and cathedrals will often lead you to discover, somewhere, 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. What is the meaning of this particular type of carving? It seems to be a recurring theme amongst the many grotesque figures adorning many churches.

Earliest datings of this type of design put them in the 2ndC, where they are never found in churches but on memorial monuments to rich citizens in places like Trier. These monuments were not Christian tombs, but by the 4thC they were making an appearance on these, too. There is an example of one of these in Poitiers. It was not until the 6thC 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 11thC. And during that time the motif became much more widely known and used in church decoration.
In most churches now it is unusual to find a Green Man placed prominently, but examples do exist. In Kinnersley church (Herefordshire) the carved wooden screen on the altar has a Green Man at the very centre. But usually he'll be found disguised as a roof-boss, hidden in a corner, or lurking under a misericord seat.
It is known that stonemasons drew on many pagan themes for their decorations but we have few pointers as to the meaning behind this particular figure. Sometimes a Green Man carving is given a particular title- Silvanus (god of the forest) at the Abbey of Saint Denis, France; and Okeanus (both god of the sea and a satyr) in Mundanya, Istanbul.

This has led many to seek clues in myth, legend and religion. John Barleycorn - celebrated in song - shows the same themes of death and rebirth, as does the Green Knight in the Arthurian story of Sir Gawain. Medieval legends of the Wild Men - dressed in leaves, living in the forest and venturing forth to take food, have been connected with the Green Man. In some stories of Robin Hood - the robber and hero dressed in green - he attains godlike status and links with the Horned God Herne. Present-day Western pagan thought identifies the Green Man as the symbol of the qualities of godhood within the male, as well as being an expression of the cycle of life/death/rebirth and its relationship with the transcendent life-force, the Goddess, the female expression of divinity.
His re-adoption by some present-day morris sides as the Fool reflects the seasonal nature of the morris, its roots in fertility celebrations, and the nature of its maleness.
So, who is the Green Man?

The answer to this riddle is certainly not straightforward.....
Some theologians like Rabanus Maurus (8thC) said they represented the sins of the flesh - lustful and wicked men doomed to eternal damnation. This seems to be a long way from the meaning they must have held for those who used them on the memorials to their dear departed six centuries previously: In fact, they continued to be used as tomb carvings long after the church masons stopped using them inside their buildings.
This link with death has led some to describe the Green Man as the symbol of the natural cycle of mortal life- birth, life, death, decay. To Christians, it is this cycle that the soul can overcome with Faith. To some others the cycle continues - from decay back to the soil, to food from the soil, back into life - a symbol of the continuous regeneration of life and the interdependence of all things.
Another direction we can take when looking for the meaning behind the Green Man is to study the character known in England as 'Jack-in-the- Green'. This was a figure who joined the May-Day revels in the 19thC, becoming particular!y associated with the chimney sweeps who along with many other trades, used this national holiday as an opportunity to boost their lean income with a little begging. In return, they provided some entertainment of rowdy variety. This involved them dressing up in gaudy tinsels and ribbons, with blackened faces "like morris dancers" and performing a rough and ready dance around a Jack-in-the-Green to the music of shovels, sticks, drums, and whistles. The Jack was a man inside a conical framework of wicker covered with leaves. A small gap was left in this, through which the occupant could peer- very like some of the Green Man figures in the churches.
The Jack had to be built by the sweeps. If any rival group of tradesmen appeared with one, a bloody fight often ensued. There were many complaints of the rowdy and drunken behaviour on May-Day, which my have been one factor in its eventual decline.
 
At the turn of the century, however, he was rescued from these unseemly and common clutches to become the leading figure in many May Pageants organised by middle-class revivalists. Their pageants looked back to a distant "Merrie England", wholesome and pure, where everyone knew their place and was happy with their lot. Many "folk" activities were taken up with interest at this time, and many were in fact saved from decline. One such was the morris-dance.
One of the few pieces of documentary evidence we have of the existence of the Jack-in-the-Green outside these 19thC sweeps' revels links him firmly with the morris. An account of Sir Humphrey Gilbert's third voyage to North America in 1583 includes a description of the "entertainments taken across the ocean for the solace of our people and allurement of the Savages". It goes on to describe the "cavortings of the morris dancers, hobby horse, and jack o' greens", which apparently went down well with the audiences.
Whatever he was before he met the sweeps, and wherever he came from, he ended up as a symbol of the May - the traditional beginning of the Spring. This symbol of regeneration as part of the life-cycle again bring us back to the ideas behind the Green Man in church-carvings. While we cannot prove a direct historical connection between the carvings and the pageant-figure, it is apparent that they are connected. That the Jack-in-the-Green is more directly associated with the celebration of the life-force is argued in Sir James Frazer's massive work, The Golden Bough. He described the Jack as our own version of the typical leaf-clad mummer found throughout Europe. Though in England his history and meaning are unknown (no-one ever asked the sweeps!) similar figures in other parts of were certainly explained by their celebrants as being representations of the spirit or god of the yearly renewal of life.
Whilst the study of architecture, folklore and anthropology can give us a clue to the Green Man's nature he has also inspired a more poetic approach to the nature of his mystery...
 

 

A Riddle

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

The Tiger's Bride. (an insignificant blog post)

I didn't find The Tiger's Bride very interesting to be honest, although, I found it quite interesting that the Beauty eventually turns into a Beast, embracing the masculine attributes she had all along.

Maybe we could arrange a Q&A session with Angela Carter, as I'm curious about a few things.

- Was she really a tiger all along?
- Did the beast recognise this hen e why he made her a sort of prisoner, or did he only realise when she made him cry?
- Can all girls be turned into tigers if a tiger licks our skin???

Commedia dell'arte

Commedia dell'Arte is a form of  theater characterized by masked "types" which began in Italy in the 16^th century and was responsible for the advent of the actress and improvised performances based on sketches or scenarios. The closest translation of the name is "comedy of craft"; it is shortened from commedia dell'arte all'improvviso, or "comedy of the craft of improvisation". - Wikipedia

Commedia dell'arte has three main stock roles: servant, master, and innamorati (lovers) and the characters are often referred to as 'masks', which can apparently not be separated from the character. In other words the characteristics of the character and the characteristics of the mask are the same.
The servants or the clowns are referred to as the Zanni and include characters such as Arlecchino, Brighella and Pedrolino. Some of the better known commedia dell'arte characters are Arlecchino (also known as Harlequin), Pantalone, Il Dottore, Brighella, Il Capitano, Colombina, the Innamorati, Pedrolino, Pulcinella, Sandrone, Scaramuccia (also known as Scaramouche), il Somardino, La Signora, and Tartaglia.
In the 17th century as commedia became popular in France, the characters of Pierrot, Columbine and Harlequin were refined and became essentially Parisian, according to Green.


Some characters:

Arlecchino was the most famous. He was an acrobat and a wit, childlike and amorous. He wore a cat–like mask and motley colored clothes and carried a bat or wooden sword.

Brighella, Arlecchino's crony, was more roguish and sophisticated, a cowardly villain who would do anything for money.

Il Capitano (the captain) was a caricature of the professional soldier—bold, swaggering, and cowardly.

Il Dottore (the doctor) was a caricature of learning—pompous and fraudulent.

Pantalone was a caricature of the Venetian merchant, rich and retired, mean and miserly, with a young wife or an adventurous daughter.

Pedrolino was a white–faced, moon–struck dreamer and the forerunner of today's clown.

-____-

Seriously this isn't funny, it won't let me comment on any blogs.

The Bloody Chamber *Girl-Power*

The thing that surprised me when reading to page 26 was the calmness of the narrator when she entered the chamber itself.
She said she 'felt no fear', and quite confidently enters the chamber, but remains calm, up until she finds the Romanian countess and drops the key.

I thought it was quite surprising as the character has changed from a naive innocent teenager, to a woman. For instance she says 'Until that moment, this spoiled child did not know she had inherited nerves and will from the mother who had defied the yellow outlaws of Indo-China', which highlights the female empowerment of her mother, but also suggests that the narrator has also transformed into a courageous young woman, unlike the stereotypical girl characters in fairy tales (distinct reversal of gender-roles, as also it is the man who is evil in this story, unlike many old witches or women in fairy tales).
I don't think many people, even men would be that brave after entering the Bloody Chamber, so Angela Carter is definitely suggesting that female empowerment and is perhaps somewhat underrated.

Bluebeard

Bluebeard was a rich aristocrat, shunned because of his "frightfully ugly" blue beard. He’d been married several times, but no-one knows what happened to his wives. He was therefore avoided by the local girls. Bluebeard persuaded the daughter of a neighbour to visit him. He then convinced her to marry him. After the ceremony she went to live with him in his château.
Very shortly after, Bluebeard announced that he must leave the country for a while; he gave the keys of the château to his new wife, telling her they open the doors to rooms which contain his treasures. He told her to use the keys freely, and enjoy herself whilst he is away. However, he also gave her the key to one small room beneath the castle, stressing to her that she must not enter the room under any circumstances. She vowed she would never enter the room. He then went away and left the house in her hands. Immediately she was tempted to go to the forbidden room and despite warnings from her visiting sister, Anne, the girl abandoned her guests during a party, and went to the room.

The wife discovered the room's secret: the floor was flooded with blood, and the murdered bodies of her husband's former wives hung from hooks on the walls. Horrified, she dropped the key into the pool of blood. She fled the room, but the blood staining the key wouldn’t wash off. She revealed her murderous husband's secret to her sister Anne, and both planned to flee the castle the next day. Bluebeard returned home unexpectedly the next morning, and, noticing the blood on the key, immediately knew his wife had broken her vow. In a blind rage he threatened to behead her on the spot, but she implores him to give her 15 mins to pray. He agrees, so she locked herself in the highest tower with Anne. While Bluebeard, sword in hand, tries to break down the door, the sisters waited for their two brothers to arrive. At the last moment, as Bluebeard is about to deliver the fatal blow, the brothers broke into the castle, and as he attempted to flee, they killed him. He left no heirs but his wife, who inherited his fortune. She used part of it for a dowry to marry off her sister, another part for her brothers' captains commissions, and the rest to marry a gentleman who’d make her forget her horrible encounter with Bluebeard.

The roles of females in fairy tales (please understand that my v and c keys have for no reason switched round)

The heroine in a fairy tale is stereotypically beautiful, helpful and extremely naive (or even ignorant in some stories). She waits to be rescued from dangerous situations, and does not escape them through the use of her own wit/intelligence. In fact, usually, she is, to a certain degree mentally retarded (a good example would be Rapunzel asking the evil witch why she is so heavy compared to her new boyf). The heroine is very much portrayed as a victim.

The villain in a fairy tale is usually a woman. They are often described as witches, old or evil. They are usually defeated in the end. When it comes to female roles, the message fairy tales convey is that there are merely two types of women: the helpless and the malicious, much like the Madonna/Whore complex. Good women do not save the day or get themselves out of bad situations, they wait for a handsome prince to save them. Women who have desires and the moxie to achieve them are  villainous and will ultimately be punished.

Fairytales first appeared widely in published form in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when women's roles were undergoing major transformation in Western Europe and the US, yet fairy tales gained great popularity. Through the rise of feminism and the start of women in the workforce, fairy tales remained a widely-read genre.

Historians have noted that 'depictions of women have changed dramatically over the years, but in each era, dominant images have provided ideals to be either emulated or defied.' Fairy tales have presented such images to generations of girls and young women.





Photos that show acceptance of gender roles:



 (let's pretend she's not posing with her hands on her hips...)