Green Man

More mythology!

So.  While the Green Man exists across many eras - pre-Christian, Medieval, and Renaissance - as well as, it is speculated, in cultures both within and without western Europe, the figure is most often found (and overlooked) in churches of the British Isles.  Strangely, for as prevalent as the Green Man is, the precise mythology surrounding him is shrouded in the pre-literary mists of time.  He is likely tied to rebirth and fertility in the same way ancient kings were.  (I now have a vivid image of Mr. Moxie from 11th grade standing majestically at the front of the class, arms outstretched over his high-fastening pants, and sonorously proclaiming that, in order for the spring to come again, we would have to flay the living skin off of his body and sacrifice it to the earth.)  Regardless...parallels have been drawn between this figure and everyone from the Celtic God Cern and Jesus to Robin Goodfellow and even Peter Pan.

But I haven't told you what the Green Man looks like!  Well, next time you are in an old English cathedral, look for a figure peering out of a leafy border, a face with vines for hair, or merely an expression sprouting foliage, and remember this post.