Green Man: Encyclopedia II - Green Man - Types of Green Man

Green Man - Types of Green Man

Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of Green Men may take many forms, naturalistic or decorative. The simplest depict a man's face peering out of dense foliage. Some may have leaves for hair, perhaps with a leafy beard. Often leaves or leafy shoots are shown sprouting from his open mouth and sometimes even from the nose and eyes as well. In the most abstract examples, the carving at first glance appears to be merely stylised foliage, with the facial element only becoming apparent on closer examination. The face is almost always male: green women are rare; green cats, lions and demons are also found. On gravestones and other memorials, human skulls are sometimes shown sprouting grape vines or other vegetation, presumably as a symbol of resurrection.

Although the Green Man appears in many forms, the three most common types have been categorised as follows:

• the Foliate Head — completely covered in leaves
• the Disgorging Head — spews vegetation from its mouth
• the Bloodsucker Head — sprouts vegetation from all facial orifices.

The term "Green Man" was coined by Lady Raglan in 1939. It appeared in her article The Green Man in Church Architecture, published in The Folklore Journal. The figure is also often referred to (perhaps erroneously) as "Jack-in-the-Green" or "Jack o' the Green".

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Types of Green Man", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki