Who is the Green Man? 🌳 History, Myth and Folklore 

Hello! Just to clarify as I've had a few comments about this - I don't believe English culture 'stole' the green man, I think it spread naturally. It was just a light joke but some folk have taken it the wrong way :)

I am from Turkey but my ancestors are from Albania and Romania. My mother (Romanian side) tells about some spring festivities where they cover a young boy from head to toe, with large leaves (like a 'green man'?) and he used to walk around the village and people used to pour water on those leaves. When the 'greenman' shook himself, the water would sprinkle around and that would symbolise 'abundance, spring, fertility' for her people. It was a very old tradition, she says. So, there is more to the greenman than just being an 'architectural embellishment'. He was and maybe, still is, part of sympathetic magic, I think.

The idea of the Green Man is interesting. I'm Lakota, which is one of the 570+ tribal nations recognized by the U.S. federal gov't. There are many more recognized by states and many that disappeared during colonization, not to mention hundreds of tribes in Canada, Mexico and Central America. We are a Northern Plains tribe who were hunter-gatherers historically. You would probably have to look in the southeastern and especially the U.S.southwestern tribes that extend down into what is now Mexico and other countries like Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc where there was an extensive tradition of agriculture as well as heavily wooded areas and jungle to find comparable cultural examples with the Green Man seen in other cultures around the globe. However, most tribal cultures in what is now North America, that were primarily dependent on agriculture, were matrilineal. So their stories and folklore are more typically based on a fertile "Mother Earth" figure.

In Caribbean folk law there is Pappa Bois. He looks very old, has a leaf beard, is physically strong and lives in the forest.

I have a pipe bowl from my grandfather which is carved in the shape of a green man, so it's doubly special for my altar as both a connection to my ancestors and the general symbolism!

The Epic of Gilgamesh, Enkidu is a wild man, and he is what comes to mind.

🎩 Hi great video. As an ex forester, I think of the green man as a guardian of the woods. Especially with the oak. When I worked in 200 year old oak groves it was easy to imagine him taking care of them. I suppose just like I used to do.

I first got interested in The Green Man after watching the Robin Of Sherwood TV series in the 80s and the character of Herne The Hunter. Since then it's a subject that still fascinates me, especially these days where I like to spend my spare time out hiking the Shropshire Hills and through the woodland. To me it's about a connection to nature and the old ways

Another character that could relate to the green man (at least to me) is the wizard Radagast the brown from LOTR as he lives in nature and looks after animals, I would also like to see a video on Robin Hood

I grew up reading the adventures of "Tarzan of the Apes" composed by Edgar Rice Burroughs. I also think of John the Baptist whenever I think of a man clad in skins, wandering the wilderness and living off of wild nature. My English grandparents often thought of me as a "wild man," because I refused to cut my hair and shave. My grandparents used to joke that I would soon disappear into the forest and start wearing Lincoln/hunter's green. Many thanks, Luna Leodrune, for this interesting and fun look at one of my favourite mythical characters. With care -- W

So happy you mentioned Tom Bombadil!! I was añso devastated that he was left out. He could be a series of books by himself

In addition to thinking about British folklore, Robin Hood, etc, I always think of Pan and his pursuit of the nymphs and dryads. Because of his "ravishing" of the female nature spirits, it reminds me of the way greenery "ravishes" the earth in the spring and summer, spreading rapidly over the earth, "laying on top" of the earth, etc.

This is brilliant, thank you! I completely agree with everything you've said here. As a man, I do identify with the 'pure' masculinity of the Green Man, in that for me it represents the positive aspects of masculine energy that focus on the natural world. Obviously, there are positive and negative aspects to anything, and when I thing of negative aspects of male energy, I think of poorly channeled energies applied to more modern, orc-like pursuits since the advent of the industrial age (in the terms Prof Larrington describes). Of course, Tom Bombadil serves as the perfect antidote to that, so whether it's the Green Man or Bombadil, it's really the more positive, natural, male energy of the natural world. It's the positive version of 'industry', if you like, and it perfectly complements the female goddess energy of Earth, Gaia, etc. Cheers!

Type o negative has a beautiful song called the Greenman 💚

*The Green Knight.* 🟢🗡️

For any youngsters out there, the band "traffic" has an excellent version of "John Barley corn". Easy enough to find on you tube and I think you find it worth your time.

Loved hearing you talk about this 💚!! I’ve literally spent today painting clay green man faces then noticed you uploaded this 😂 💫

Rosslyn Chapel in Scotland c. 1446 has over 100 green men depicted in stone. They go from young all the way to death in a circle around the chapel- circle of life and death.

The Green Man as a pub name did not start only after 1939, there are several pubs going back at least to pre-Victorian times, such as The Green Man, 78 Wharf Street in Leicester. It also seems to be linked to 'The Wild Hunt' which dates back into pre-history in the British Isles.

I learned a lot in this video. I love your rigour and erudition. I think the Ents in LOTR could also be seen as forms of the Green Man. In Canada, the only thing I saw that could be close to a Green Man, is a face carved in a green brick. The man had long hair and a beard and those eyes staring at you. It was a bit scary when I saw it as a kid. In accordance with the depth psychology of Carl Jung, I believe Green Men could be an external manifestation of certain archetypes buried deep inside our collective psyche. In this case, perhaps the Animus.

There are quite a few of these in Gothenburg/Sweden, where I used to love. Typically hidden away pretty high up in some building. I like them a lot.

Great video. Its certainly a loved representitive of nature. Thanks for sharing the info.

I love that you mentioned Ronald Hutton's take on the Green Man, as I follow him and have confidence in his knowledge-base, even when he crushes my whimsy with facts. ;-) I, too, associate Green Man with Cernunnos. So happy you shared about this beloved entity!!

omg, i skipped right to the part (accidentaly) where you showed the smiling green man on a pedastal & i had this experience where i lived @ an apt in chelsea, ny, & i had dreams for months in that apt where this guy ("the green man") would appear blowing breath over my head, or eomething, but i didn't know why that was. i didn't even look to the steps of the brownstone where i lived until right before i moved & there had been two green man placards right @ the entry, like from the 20s, all along, i'd never noticed. so i thought, 'WHAT a coincidence??' . . .

Fun points for Jethro Tull's Jack in the Green 😉

This was a very interesting and informative video. Thanks for sharing! 🖤🍀

What a lovely video. Great review. Well researched

I love anything green man also, I'm painting a green man as we speak, hehe. thanks for this video, very enjoyable.😍🌿🌱🍃🍁🌳🌿🍂

Fantastic information! I have a few green man images hanging in my home. Have always associated him with renewal and rebirth. Just wondering, but would Bacchus be a type of green man 😊 Thanks for sharing 💚

To be a heathen wild man is to experience the one true tangible reality of walking the actual earth. Living off the land. Grid? What’s that? Self sufficiency is the best way to make a sustainable future out of an adventurous present-day living of life to its fullest human extent. The bigger a past a man has doing that, the bigger his legacy will be. If things continue to cost This Much to let others automate things that we can do ourselves, we’re going to start doing these things ourselves again. It’s worth the extra work and monumental effort - as time has proven. I like the idea of going back to having a sense of community - not a freaking commune, communism or any of those perversions - but a real actual sense of community. Community centers like they have in Australia.🇦🇺 Growing your own food. Hunting and fishing for your own game. People just helping each other do what they will. Most megadeaths and mass-harm and come from governments and rich jerks who use them to be bad. But actual people just want to raise families. You get regular people to have a war they won’t do it without governments and professional criminals lying and tricking them into it. Without disgustingly rich people sneaking their evil agendas into government programs, there would be no war at all because people just want peace, love and the opportunity to raise families and/or be with friends. So a real man will marry a woman, raise children and be as self sufficient as possible. And hey man if you’re in the city there are still ways to be as self sufficient as possible - take city community gardens for example. Awesome vid, great topic and way cool entertaining useful stuff, as always! I love your channel!

Very informative! Thank you!

Excellent video, Luna

I have a smiling green Man outside the front door to greet visitors and i sometimes carve the green man on trees with a dremel when the inspiration comes on me.

Wonderful documentary...informative and interesting ❤

Fascinating, thank you.

You can go back to the era of the Beaker People from Western Asia and Eastern Europe, in Britain the Beaker People arrived in 2400 BC, They work with Sun and Moon calendar, 13 months in a year, and mother Nature ruled them all, she had 4 children the 3rd child was of the forest, who the Pro-Celtic and Romans called Cernnunos, we today know him as the Greenman

the Leaf man (as I have always called him) has been a part of my person seems like forever..yet my leaf man has always been small and hides in the tall flowers or the shrubs and base of trees. was always told that there was a guardian of the fields and the gardens that we maintain...thank you for sharing My Robin Hoods are Robin Hood with Errol Flynn when I was 5 (nothing like starting early lol) and then Robin of Sherwood. ..and yes when I saw both Robin Hoods in theater ( Costner and Crowe ) are both favorites😊

I really appreciated this investigation. As far as "stealing" from other cultures...some would say that this habit of adoption is difficult to distinguish from the perennial human tendency to incorporate cultural influences from afield. It can either be viewed as a compliment to the culture from which the influence is taken, as wrongly exploitative, or neither.

another amazing video

Very interesting video i am so happy that i found this channel 😊😊😊

Thanks, Luna!

Very fascinating history of and personal thoughts on the Green Man in many of his iterations in literature and culture. Thanks for sharing this with us, Luna.

There is also a wild man in the epic of Gilgamesh..

14:34 That's how I see The Green Man too! 😊 For me He is the Male energy, sitting on the right, keeping daytime (or the sun) 🌞 within Him as well as of course, all the elements of the beautiful connected circle of nature & life that we all need to grow 🥰 Really glad to have found your channel! Especially as you are quite local! 😊 This is just what was required today for me, thank you! Also, I thought to myself...I must have been to Durham Cathedral dozens of times, yet I've never really LOOKED! 😆 I love how you found those by looking up! It's amazing what we see when we look up & down as well as what's around us! Will carry on watching now! Thanks again! BB

Thanks for an interesting video but here in Lancashire we have at least two Green Man pubs that I'm pretty sure pr-date the 1930s, although I haven't researched this so I could be wrong. Just a thought.

Thank you for this lovely video! After listening to XTC on the way home from grocery shopping today, I told my son what I thought I knew about the Green Man. I look forward to sharing this video with him since I was half wrong and half right. Thank you:)

He’s a sprit and he is very funny 😂😁I did see him and anyone want to know about it feel free to ask .

I’ve always felt the green man is a part of me. I’ve felt him when hunting, farming, fishing, and doing anything close to the land. When I built our house 30 years ago, I put a green man molded from fine concrete by our entrance. Every once in a while he gets a touch up, always with slightly different green so that the collection of color looks ever more weathered and natural.

Really interesting, thank you! Whilst I obviously defer to the superior knowledge and research of the sources you mention, I still don't think that they were merely decorative motifs and nothing more. My local cathedral, Lichfield, is full of them. It's said that no one has been able to accurately count them. Pretty much all carvings in a cathedral would have had religious, spiritual or superstitious meaning to those who carved them. These were deeply religious and superstitious people, who still very much believed in the power of magic. Gargoyles were thought to scare away evil spirits. Although the origins of the image of the 'Green Man' may have been in the Indian subcontinent, that doesn't mean that the image was not adopted and merged with preexisting Western European beliefs and traditions which were grafted onto it. We often look for familiar patterns and interpret them with our own familiar ideas. I'm not disagreeing with Ronald Hutton's analysis, he has far more knowledge than I do, but it's a thought. Again, thank you for the great video!

You may enjoy Robert Holdstock's Mythago Wood cycle. Lavondyss in particular has a lot concerning the Green Man. He is seen as very much a Jungian archetypal figure.

Hello Luna it's a name given to several pubs, the Greenman in Ashbourne and also ashby de la zouch I believe the Ashbourne pub was built around 1750 ish there are references to it as an older named pub, yet on official register it's 1951 the pub however use to hold auctions for estate agents Henry Spencer an sons so they may hold early historical catalogues I'm presently trying to recall a Greenman reference in early poetry certainly seen it in books of mid eighteen hundreds ilk! I'll keep thinking if all the pubs are post 1939 that'd be a surprise and unlikely too. Cheers

Thank you for this interesting topic and insight. I think the green man is like an ancient ideogram compared to the modern smileys on social media. They are both symbols that express emotions or personality through facial expressions. The green man provides an interesting analysis through its design. It seems to have passed down throughout generations and continents by entering into our collective unconscious like fairytales because of its aesthetically pleasing effects formed through symmetrical features such as big round eyes. From an archetypal perspective I find it interesting that it is typically a bearded man with big round eyes which may indeed have originated from south Asia and typically reflects the facial features of the people of that subcontinent. However I think other element may have been added later by other cultures such as plants may be an addition reflecting the woody ecological system of the European continent and the plants entering the nostrils or the mouth may be reflecting folklore or Abrahamic verses in scriptures about the soul entering and leaving the body through the nostrils. After writing the above your research confirmed what I just stated above at 07:00. I agree with you that humans have empowered the green man. I would say the green man is an archetype of the wise old man that expresses wisdom and wise judgment that has entered into our human collective unconscious. For me the green man is the untapped male masculine energy drive that protects me and I model myself upon it. I see a little bit of Santa Claus, my father and my school teachers from childhood in the green man. Its part of the energetic mental drive that keeps me going and probably humanity too.

Thanks for this! I learned all kinds of things!

Thank u Luna. Great video. Liked and subbed

Hi thank you for sharing about the Green Man i bought my first one a couple of months ago and love it so every Ostara i will buy another. And Robin Hood does need a whole video to himself. I have just finshed reading Forest Wife ...😊Robin Hood but from Maid Marians prespective i really enjoy it.

As a boy, i lived in a house with my mother and was able to see the image of a burly bearded man sitting on a throne in the woodwork of a door in the house. This wasnt an intentionally decorated door, just a normal terrace house door, i once tried to show it to my mother but she couldnt see it, not until the day we were moving out did she notice the pattern. This terrified me because it was just staring at me every time i closed the bathroom door, no one else being able to see it freaked me out further. As the years went on I started learning about the green man and it always reminded me of the "wood king" from my childhood home.

Happy spring! ✌👍

Excellent video.

This video caught my eye bc Im working on making a Greenman room in my house! 🧙

He plays a prominent role in my favorite tarot deck, the Wildwood Tarot.

Hi Luna I liked this post. I clicked on it because I read a John Connolly novel years ago and I recalled that it featured the green man as a kind of malevolent supernatural deity. And he linked its origin to the NE England.

So pleased that you mentioned Tom Bombadil!

Excellent..

Nice soundtrack. I usually get irritated by videos with accompanying music. Interesting content too.

Great vid, really comprehensive view. Fascinated to hear there's no real ancient mythology to go with this incredibly ancient and universal concept. In the town where I live, there are Victorian stone images of the Green Man all over the place - usually in the front door mantel of houses built in the late 19th - early 20th centuries!

Thank you for this video

I saw the green man in West Virginia in 1992

I want to get more people in on this one... the grey man. The wisened old guy, usually a hermit or a farmer, who attempts to teach a hero some lesson. The hero tends to refuse to listen in arrogance and then get beat with a stick, no matter how great their sword skills are. No one else has labeled this recurring character as I have as far as I can find. From Masamune to Arthur, all of the greatest mythic heroes have a story about getting whooped by a guy with a stick.

In the 1990s shut up and dance did a rave track called the green man. but i think its about a pub in hackney.. excellent dance track

The Green Man is the late,great Peter Steele.

Have you heard of WHE -- Witches Healing the Earth?🌿 I love your videos!

What it means to me is everything that was just stated in the video, but moreover. It seems as an inner calling to the roots of where we came from, the earth and that deep connection with her. The father the potter that wrought the clay vessel and the mother the womb of the earth that birthed the seed. It is a deep utterance to those that have eye open and lo the power in nature. Child of nature and friend of trees and plants and the life that calls it home.

Love this. It reminded me of I think its scottish highlands folklore the green lady or Glaistig( I think I spelt that right I was fighting my autocorrect)

I have seen the Green man for real. I was on a hike and saw his face take shape from the branches and leaves in the canopy above.

The Green Man is a representation of paradolia. In short, wherever nearsighted people and forests coexisted the Green Man appeared.

Both Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time and George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire have their own portrayals of the Green Man, although in Martin's world the Green Man is very obsecure and only mentioned here and there whereas Robert Jordan's Green man is only shown in the Eye of the World I believe. Very interesting.

Hi, Luna. The image of the green man came into my life as a picture of" the golden leaf man" , the famous foliate head from one of the Norwich roof bosses. It was a book about The Holy Grail... and places from all over Europe where this chalice was hidden( for instance Montségur or Glastonbury..). I think it had to do with the tale of Arthur's court and the green knight. Whatever..-interesting it may be- me and my wife are always searching for the image in cathedrals and churches when we're on a holiday in your country or France, Spain... I wrote a song about it: Face In The Leaves. We always play that one on small stages or in someone's garden. Hope you'll find out about us. Cheers!

I watched this video it was interesting so I googled it brought back to your video

In Queensferry, just outside Edinburgh every year, a man dressed from head to toe in burrs. South Queensferrys Berry man parades through the town, stopping at every pub and have a drink by his side, or to supporters there to keep him standing up by the end of the day, the festival of element used to be climbing a greasy pole with a prize on the top very much, a man only competition with local men competing for the prize at the top. I cannot tell you when it started how it started but it’s an interesting throwback to another time.❤

Makes me think of the theory around an ancient lost culture hat may have had global influence. Maybe these gods/ideas/motifs originated from a common but forgotten source? It staggers the imagination.

We have a History of the Green Man here in Portland Oregon USA as well.

I really enjoyed this video. Thank you for sharing your time and knowledge with us. I don't think it is any coincidence that many green man carvings are located within churches and cathedrals, after all the church has integrated so many of the native beliefs of societies to further its own place as the superior religion, even active now , within the church of England's newly appointed head. Churches were often built on sites of ancient worship, even inside churches, the predomince of oak and what it symbolizes is not, I think just a convenient building material. The adoption of this 'pagan' symbol, and the carved green man faces , surely has to have more to it. To be iconic in so many society's for so many ages, even predating written word must hold some strong beliefs. I think the image tells a forgotten story, one passed down through the stories around the hearth. Perhaps the image is like the Aboriginal art, not a pretty picture but a universal lesson to those that can read it. My feeling is ,that there is more to learn! Thank you for inspiring these thoughts!

Highly recommend looking into the documentary "Hellier". It goes a little deeper, not specifically into the Green Man, but into the Kentucky goblins, and from there goes several directions. One of which delves into the Green Man.

May i ask what the lovely music is at around 4 minutes onwards please!

Hello. So enjoyable! Somehow, in one way or another, we are all connected and influenced by one another. It's not stealing because cultures have their distinct variations according to their geographical environments, cultural style s of living, personal experiences, and needs or yearnings during particular eras in time. At least those are my thoughts but it's always fascinating to know the origins of practices or beliefs if it's available. Perhaps, it may encourage deeper understanding and gratitude. Thanks 💚.

Yes, a video on Robinhood!!!

If you study all you can find on the subject of the Findhorn Foundation currently, and its history specifically, you will run across their actual relationship with a Greenman.

I get Tom Bombadil but why not Treebeard?

Hey Luna! Lovely video. Have noticed and have never asked before, but do you have a hair length goal?

Other names associated with the Green Man are; Green George, Jack-in-the-Green, Leaf Man, and May King. Ref Barbara G Walker - The Woman’s Dictionary of Symbols and Sacred Objects.

untamed wild man Enkidu from epic of gilgamesh

I'm more influenced by Ireland and scotland so I dont have much of a connection with the green man and am more familiar with the welsh green knight than the green man. However I think that modern paganism has very much been tied into new waves of feminism and women's liberation which I 100% support but I think the side effect of the over feminization of things like wicca and Neopaganism can make it feel like a religion meant for girls and especially wicca can give off the impression of being a womens cult. I think that's what makes the green man so refreshing is that he recognized that nature has two sides a feminine and a masculine and it can send a message to men saying that we too can belong here. too often we separate nature into the feminine and man made things into the masculine this viewpoint both overlooks achievements made by women and cuts men of from nature the green man challenges this viewpoint and so I like him.

Here in America we have a jingle for a vegetable company, ho ho ho green giant. I was under the impression that there were still sightings of the Green Man as late as the mid 1900s, tho I could be wrong.

In the early days , the forests were large and in charge. These days man has developed the land into farms and fields. Many Many centuries of uprooting it all..... The Green Man does not have the same strength as he once did.... If you will... The Green Man is more real then just a motive , he just does not have the same strength as he once did....

you see decorative “green man” figures on trees all over the place where i live in rural north carolina. all of my family had them, too.

Yes I always though Christmas present took inspo from Green man.

Your interpretations are totally welcome..this is all open to personal viewpoint..my own experience with the green man invovled a hallcination on peyote (which is commonly reported)...that is,seeing the green man dancing in the corn field...that was the nature of the whole experience that day...pretty natural and deep..i didnt have any prior info on that or why it may have been significant..it just made sense.. .

I thought that he was the spirit of the woods or forest 🤔

Now I understand the mention of the “men in green” in chapter 8 of Jane Eyre.

Even here in the United States we have masculine folkloric super beings in our national mythology. For example: Paul Bunyan, Johnny Appleseed and John Henry. Most notable is Paul Bunyan, the colossal giant who was a lumberjack whose companion was a giant blue ox named Babe. Paul is a forest dweller although his main occupation is chopping down trees, none the less he is depicted as hyper masculine archetype with a beard, wearing a plaid flannel shirt with broad shoulders, strong arms and a hairy chest.