{"id":5276,"date":"2013-02-27T11:09:14","date_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:09:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5276"},"modified":"2013-02-27T11:12:01","modified_gmt":"2013-02-27T18:12:01","slug":"the-green-man-a-symbol-of-ethnic-resistance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=5276","title":{"rendered":"The Green Man: A Symbol of Ethnic Resistance?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

“Green man,” Norwich Cathedral, England.<\/p><\/div>\n

Green man masks are a staple seller on Merchants’ Row at any Pagan festival. I found a weather-resistant example at Beltania<\/a> a couple of years ago, and now it hangs by the front door.<\/p>\n

As Paul Kingsnorth<\/a> writes in Aeon<\/em>:<\/p>\n

There are plenty of hypotheses [about his origin], and it depends on whom you talk to. Those inclined towards paganism like to claim that green men are relics of pre-Christian religions that have been incorporated into churches. I have heard, variously, that the green man represents the spirit of the greenwoods, the rebirth of nature, a rebellion against Christianity, or a symbol of the constancy of nature. Everybody who knows the green man has their favourite theory about what he is and why he is there.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Kingsnorth goes on to offer a different origin story for the Green Man: that he is a symbol of ethno-political resistance to the Norman Conquest of 1066.<\/a><\/p>\n

It would seem that if that is true, however, there would have to have been a cover story to tell to the Norman bishop in charge of the cathedral. And as one of the commenters points out, the Green Man figure is not unique to England. So maybe the nature-spirit reading of this figure still “has legs,” even if the Green Man himself does not.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Green man masks are a staple seller on Merchants’ Row at any Pagan festival. I found a weather-resistant example at Beltania a couple of years ago, and now it hangs by the front door. As Paul Kingsnorth writes in Aeon: There are plenty of hypotheses [about his origin], and it depends on whom you talk […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[21,100,5],"class_list":["post-5276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-england","tag-history","tag-paganism"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6xQTg-1n6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13304,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=13304","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":0},"title":"Green Man Image Starts ‘Pagan King’ Chatter","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"April 6, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Enormous preparations, both pragmatic and ceremonial, are under way for the crowning of King Charles III and Queen Camilla next month in London. When the official invitation was prepared, people's attention was drawn to the foliate head, the \"Green Man\" at the bottom. Was it a sign to those who\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Britain\"","block_context":{"text":"Britain","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=britain"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/greenman.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/greenman.webp?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/04\/greenman.webp?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":952,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=952","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":1},"title":"Colors of Paganism","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"November 15, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Remember the 1980s fad for having your \"colors done\"?The Color + Design blog is applying it to religions too, and here are the colors of Paganism, as selected by Pagan blogger Yvonne Aburrow.If you are planning to redecorate your house, you can pick \"Green Man\" or \"Red Earth.\"","rel":"","context":"In \"Paganism\"","block_context":{"text":"Paganism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=paganism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2988,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=2988","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":2},"title":"The Wanton Green\u2014Both Book and Blog","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"August 4, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Adrian Harris describes a new Pagans-and-place publishing project, The Wanton Green. For many contemporary Pagans the relationship between bodymind and place is fundamental, but that\u00a0relationship has\u00a0rarely been explored in any depth. Paganism is often\u00a0described\u00a0as being\u00a0polytheistic, animist or about \u2018nature\u00a0worship\u2019, and while that\u2019s all true in a vague and\u00a0anodyne way, it\u2019s\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"animism\"","block_context":{"text":"animism","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=animism"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1204,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1204","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":3},"title":"Paganism is Fa-abulous","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"September 6, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"So says the News of the World, so consider the source. Both Emma and Amie are in the throes of planning their weddings for next year - or hand-fastings, as they're called in pagan circles, because the couple's hands are tied together during the ceremony. Both are planning outdoor ceremonies\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"culture\"","block_context":{"text":"culture","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=culture"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1167,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=1167","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":4},"title":"A Sikh at the Solstice","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"June 21, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Via Jason, a funny account of a British Sikh at a Pagan solstice celebration:There, surrounded by the verdant, wild beauty of the heath I felt connected with Nature herself. I lay on my back and stared at the sky that was preparing a slow welcome for twilight. I became acutely\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Litha\"","block_context":{"text":"Litha","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=litha"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12680,"url":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?p=12680","url_meta":{"origin":5276,"position":5},"title":"Ronald Hutton’s Goddess Book Available for Pre-order","author":"Chas S. Clifton","date":"January 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"From the publisher, Yale University Press: In this riveting account, renowned scholar Ronald Hutton explores the history of deity-like figures in Christian Europe. Drawing on anthropology, archaeology, literature, and history, Hutton shows how hags, witches, the fairy queen, and the Green Man all came to be, and how they changed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"England\"","block_context":{"text":"England","link":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/?tag=england"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/blog.chasclifton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/01\/queens-of-the-wild.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5276"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5276\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5280,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5276\/revisions\/5280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.chasclifton.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}