Family Tree

The landscape of Britain at the time The Green Man was being carved in our churches was much different than that which we find today. Trees dominated vast areas of the country. The Weald of Kent, Sussex and Surrey are the remains of a massive swathe of woodland which covered much of southern England. Trees were revered, it was believed they had souls and as such should be treated accordingly. Trees were consulted as oracles over important matters. Sacred groves were also planted. Today yew trees can be found in churchyards everywhere, protected and cared for they are a link to our Pagan past indeed in  some cases yew trees pre-date the age of the church. The stand as a symbol of  death and rebirth due in some part to its longevity and the ability to send branches down into the soil which in turn root thus giving the tree an new lease of life. 

Could the representation of the Green Man be a form of the 'tree spirit'?

Sacred Groves & Sacred Trees

Trees were once revered in many parts of the world the concept rests on the earliest conceptions of the unity of life in nature in the sense of fellowship with the divine centre and source of life.The sacred tree is deeply rooted in primitive religions. Trees have been treated with reverence for many centuries, the Sycamore (ficus sycamorus) and the Date Palm (pheonx dactyfera) were represented in the temple architecture of ancient Egypt.

Christianisation of the Roman Empire saw the decline of ancient groves. The Emperor Theodosious ll (5^th c A.D.) issued an edict directing that the groves be cut down unless they had already been appropriated for some purpose compatible with Christianity. A few of them became monastery gardens and churchyards. Due mainly to the rise of religions like Christianity and Islam which advocate faith in one god And were explicitly for the eradication of Pagan practices, the tradition of maintaining sacred groves and sacred trees vanished from most countries, though Brahmanic Hinduism includes several of the local cults which are often nature-based.

  Outdoor sanctuaries were the first temples of the gods, a sacred place demarcated for the deity was called temenos in Greek and templum in Latin.

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©Green Man East Anglia 2007