Today is May Day / Beltane, a time of rites and rituals to ensure the fertility of the Earth. The Great Goddess unites with her consort, the Green Man, and in the fullness of time will produce a bountiful harvest needed to sustain all life on this planet.
The Green Man is an ancient folkloric figure in many cultures. His representation is often found in art and architecture of the past. The Green Man is always covered in foliage or flowers.
Sometimes the Green Man also sports a set of horns or antlers on his head to reinforce the symbolism of his virility.
This form of the Divine Masculine is a cyclical deity of life, sacrifice/death, and rebirth, mirroring the seasonal cycle of crop growth, reaping/harvest, and renewed planting each Spring. The Green Man is a powerful symbol of the masculine principle's most positive, creative, nurturing, and life-affirming aspects.
And what a great subject the Green Man makes for pagan cosplay! Happy May Day, everyone!
Planted my veggie garden yesterday and had to take off the garden gloves because it’s just not right unless I can feel the soil. Thankfully I didn’t grow leaves all over my head and body. It’s really not a good look.
ReplyDeleteCabbage Man #2 is the stuff of nightmares, while #3 is dreamy -- ROWR!
ReplyDelete...may you have dirt under your fingernails!
ReplyDeleteI'm with Tundra. That second guy gives me Creature from the Black Lagoon vibes!
ReplyDeleteHappy May Day, Debra! Have a great one!
ReplyDeleteHappy May Day too! As your aware I have my own First of May fun! I love this!! I could get into some fierce Green Man cosplay looks. One year I wanted to do drag as Mother Nature. And I loved the "unites with her consort, the Green Man. I should use the word consort when I meet my men. Sounds some much more respectable.
ReplyDeleteWhite rabbits on the first day of May.
ReplyDeleteOne day I am going to cosplay as Green Woman just like these folks and wander the woods...and passed the trail cams the folks in the woods near me have.
ReplyDeleteI love Green Man and of course dirt....I was in the dirt yesterday in my gardens enjoying the feel of the earth and the wonder of nature.
Happy Celebration. I seem to recall an old Bette Davis film that touched on the subject. The townswomen would choose a virile young man to celebrate wherein he would impregnate a young woman. Can't remember the name of the film, though.....
ReplyDelete🤠🫶🌿🌱 Non-toxic masculinity!! 🤩😍
ReplyDeleteHappy Beltane to you too, Deb!
ReplyDeletebobbie
Happy Beltane!
ReplyDeleteI'll make sure to plant something. I'd very much like to do that with the bearded man in that photo, btw...
XOXO
How fun. Loved the pictures.
ReplyDeleteHappy May Day to you, have a wonderful month.
ReplyDeleteThe Green Man even found his way into carvings in old English churches. Some say that Robin Hood from the leafy forest was just another manifestation of the legendary Green Man.
ReplyDeleteI wasn't aware of the Green Man. Thanks for the education.
ReplyDeletei forget to call it Beltane. Shame on me. I have seen the face of Green Men in trees here. True story.
ReplyDeleteHappy Beltane to you Deborah! Hope the earth is bursting with lots of green in your neck of the woods.
ReplyDeleteHe looks like lettuce. I eat a lot of lettuce.
ReplyDeleteAnd Happy (belated) May Day to you! R
ReplyDeletelate to the party but merry meet and blessings for Beltane to you :)
ReplyDeleteBelated Happy May Day!
ReplyDeleteWell, I'll be open to green men from here after. Thank you for this interesting and intriguing post.
Belated Beltane Blessings!
ReplyDeleteHow have I never heard of the Green Man before? Or perhaps it's my increasingly spotty memory. 😂. I hope you had a blessed Beltane, Debra. I had to look at my journal to remember May 1st was last Thursday. The last few days have been something else. 😂 I have my own Green Man in Terry. I remember my Dad asking me if Terry was green or orange shortly after I had met him. I said, "He's green, Dad." My father took a deep breath and said, "Well, that's okay." Poor Dad, he was definitely orange. 😂 Take care!
ReplyDelete@ Fundy Blue -- Hahahaha, my prairie grandfather was an Orangeman but I don't know how rabid he was about it. And his wife, my grandmother, was a member of the Christian Women's Temperance Union.
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