Green Man No 1

My first foray into clay…in honour of Beltane, the Celtic festival that heralds the start of summer and the fertility of the new season.

Appearing in Western folklore for two millennia or more, he comes under a number of names; Herne the Hunter, Jack-in-the-Green, Robin Hood, the Celtic God Cernunnos, some even say there are connections to the Arthurian Green Knight. Clothed in green and covered in acorns and hawthorn leaves, he dances through festivals causing mayhem and mischief.

Sometimes carved from wood (that’s my next project) or hewed from stone, the foliate heads appear along side the gargoyles adorning churches, linking the old Pagan ways to modern Christianity. Or maybe, simply recycling old images.

More recently, the Green Man has become an icon of counterculture movement of the 1960s and has a starring role in the Green Man Festival in the Welsh Brecon Beacons and, also in Burning Man set in the Nevada Desert.