Thur May 4, 8pm: NAMING THE GREEN MAN OF THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH
A special once-only online lecture for the coronation.
King Charles III sent his coronation invitations out with the image of a 'green man' placed centre stage, possibly to represent his own beliefs about nature and our relationship with the earth.
How many people really understand what the 'green man' heads represented in the medieval churches where the foliate head is so prominent?
In 2011, folklorist and storyteller Janet Dowling won a prize from the Folklore Society for the quality of research in her paper 'Naming the Green Man of the Medieval Church'.
In this paper, she identified the original tales that were told, who they were about, how the stories were changed and reformulated, the misunderstandings that led to the interpretation and use of the foliate heads, and their parallels to the accepted stories of why Moses is portrayed with horns. Janet produces pictorial and written narratives to support her thesis throughout the ages ... it's connected to a church feast in early May - and thus relevant to the Coronation date itself. She also demonstrates the place in the 12th century equivalent of the Catholic liturgy which refers to leaves coming out of the head.
Janet has lectured on this topic many times since the original paper. Now, in celebration of the coronation, she gives one final chance for people to see her work presented, and to ask questions directly afterwards.
This talk will be presented via Zoom, and a video replay will be available after the event for all ticket holders. A Zoom link will be emailed to you during the week of the talk, to the email address that you register with.