Green Man - Types of Green Men

Types of Green Men

Lady Raglan coined the term "Green Man" in her 1939 article "The Green Man in Church Architecture" in The Folklore Journal. Some commentators conflate or associate the term with "Jack in the Green".

Usually referred to in works on architecture as foliate heads or foliate masks, carvings of the Green Man 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 growing 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 (as at Shebbear, Devon, England).

The Green Man appears in many forms, with the three most common types categorized as:

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