The King of May
Have you seen Jack-In-The-Green?
With his long tail hanging down.
He sits quietly under every tree, in the folds of his velvet gown.
He drinks from the empty acorn cup, the dew that dawn sweetly bestows.
And taps his cane upon the ground, signals the snowdrops it’s time to grow.
Jethro Tull (Songs from the Wood)
The Clan of Tubal Cain visited the Norman edifice of Southwell Minster in Nottinghamshire to celebrate an important anniversary and bring you images of the Green Man. All of these astonishing carvings depict indigenous trees and plants, noticeably the hawthorn which features strongly in our May Day folklore.
Southwell, England’s smallest Cathedral City, is situated close to the river Greet and the Roman Ermine Street, being originally known by the Saxons as Fingaceaster, where a thriving community grew around the church founded in 627 by Paulinus (first Bishop of York).
The parish church of St Mary the Virgin became a popular site of pilgrimage as it housed the tomb and remains of St. Eadburgh, a Lady Saint of the Saxons. Fragments of tessellated paving and an 11th century tympanum depicting St Michael and the dragon and David rescuing the lamb from the lion, have survived within the Minister to this day.
Southwell Minster was constructed in 1100 and has some of the finest examples of Norman archways in this country. This spectacular building was later reclassified as Southwell Cathedral in 1884 by the diocese of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire.
Green Man,
Regent surrounded in green foliage.
Embodied with the spirit of nature.
Ecclesiastically carved in stone and oak.
Now breathe forth ‘O Verdelet, the vines of life!
Motif peering through,
As a forester dressed in Lincoln green.
Nascent to be with us now.
© Linfa 2010
The intricate stone carvings within the small 13th Century chapter-house depict oak, apple, hawthorn and beasts of the forest, and of course, the Green Men of Southwell, and collectively could be regarded as one of England’s lesser known, yet great historic works of art.
These precious late13th, early 14th century carvings are among very few that survived the ravages of the reformation but then suffered damage during the English Civil war, when the archbishop’s palace was totally destroyed.
It is now about eight years ago since my attention was first drawn by the Revd. J. Griffith, then vicar of Llangwm, in Monmouthshire, and himself a folklorist, to a curious carving. It is a man’s face, with oak leaves growing from the mouth and ears, and completely encircling the head. Mr. Griffith suggested that it was intended to symbolise the spirit of inspiration, but it seemed to me certain that it was a man and not a spirit, and moreover that it was a “Green Man
Lady Raglan (extract from: “The Green Man in Church Architecture”)
So, the term Green Man was only coined in 1939 by Lady Raglan, wife of the anthropologist the 4th Lord Raglan, and although academia disputes the genuine pagan origin of these images, esoteric practitioners acknowledge and respect the potency that lies behind the carvings, cunningly tuning into the archetypal power of foliate wild men, something clearly dating back to Gilgamesh (circa 2700 BC):
I was a wild man of the woods, so about forest I do know. In the cedar forest’s to the west sits a demon, awesome Hawawa.Great Enlil did fashion this guardian of his cedar forest far and wide. His power is like the fire of the sun, like the flood of the ocean.When Hawawa roars all before its noisy power falls. Hawawa hears every fearful breath while his own breath is death.
Epic of Gilgamesh (tablet 3)
For many the Green Man represents a union (a kinship or brotherhood) of the human with the natural world captured, peering through the foliage in all manner of emotion from the serene to the tormented.The King of May, Robin Goodfellow, Viridios, Jack-in-the-green, Green George, Woodwose, Robin Hood, Jack-in-the-tree, Green knight, Oak King and Puck all serve as potent roads to approach the living mystery cycles of regeneration, rebirth and virility of our sacred land and ancient woodlands.
With this firmly fixed in our minds, the Clan of Tubal Cain wishes each and every one of you a most fertile May morning and the very best for your Beltane celebrations!
F.F.F
Carol Stuart Jones
Maid of Tubal Cain
References:
- Songs From the Wood: Jethro Tull (1977): Island Records (UK)
- A Little Book of the Green Man: Mike Harding (1998): Aurum Press: Worthing
- The Green Man in Church Architecture (1939): Lady Raglan: The Folklore Journal (no 50)
- The Green Man by Linfa (A Witches Almanac Folklore Resource)
Resources:
- Further information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Man
- Good Green Man site: http://www.greenmanforum.co.uk/
- Linfa’s Witches Almanac website: http://mrsnicolson.webs.com/