The Spirits of May
The month of May was come, when every lusty
heart beginneth to blossom, and to bring forth fruit;
for like as herbs and trees bring forth fruit and
flourish in May, in likewise every lusty heart that is
in any manner a lover, springeth and flourisheth in
lusty deeds.
- Sir Thomas Malory
In ancient times our ancestors worshipped trees as deities. Following this concept came the veneration of trees as powerful spirits. In the time the tree came to be viewed, not as the deity or spirit itself, but as the dwelling place of such an entity.
This was an important stage of development as animism (the attribution of conscious life to natural objects) passed over into polytheism. In primitive magical reasoning, once an entity was separated from the trees it became instead a forest deity.
Eventually forest deities were given human shape and characteristics. From this formula arose many pagan spirits and deities associated with plant life and woodland areas.
The May season is associated with a number of curious figures that have their origins in pre-Christian religion. Some of the best known are Jack-in-the-Green, Green George, the Wild Man, and the Green Man. The figure of Green George exists in one form or another all over Europe. In England, the Green George figure is covered with shrubbery to the point that only his eyes are visible.
In May processions Green George is carried in a wicker cage from which he peers out at the gathered spectators. In pre-Christian times Green George was the "bringer of summer," and he who heralds the rising waxing forces of Nature. To many, Green George is the personification of summer itself.
The character known as Jack-in-the Green was once the principal figure featured in May celebrations. In England he had a curious connection to the society of chimney sweeps until the end of the nineteenth century when many of the old street celebrations began to disappear.
When we consider that wood is burned in the fireplace and that Jack-in-the-Green is a spirit of the greenwood, the chimney sweeps may have symbolized the caretakers of the sacred fire-pit that renewed the spirit of vegetation.
It had long been the custom in Europe to burn effigies associated with the changing of the year. This burning sacrifice was intended to drive out the old and bring in the new, the theme of decline and renewal in the cycle of Nature. In Italy this was still observed as late as the mid-twentieth century, during the festival of Befana.
The May Queen and King
In pre-Christian European religion the spirit of vegetation is often known as the King or Queen of the Woodlands. The association of the May Queen with May Day is a long-standing tradition. The May Queen presides over festivities, along with her consort, the May King.
She is selected by her peers and is a young maiden, often not older than thirteen. Traditionally the May Queen is the prettiest of the contestants. She is always crowned by her predecessor of the year before.
In the May Day procession the King and Queen of May follow behind the May garland. They are accompanied by four young males who each bear a staff decorated like the Maypole. The figure of the May Queen is traceable to the worship of the Roman goddess Flora whose rites were celebrated on May 1.
On the Isle of Man, as late as the eighteenth century, May Day was marked by a battle between the Queen of May and the Queen of Winter. The Queen of Winter was a man dressed like a woman. Each Queen had a company of followers commanded by a captain.
The followers of May were dressed in summer clothes and the followers of winter were in writing garb accordingly. On May morning the two companies met in a mock battle. If the May Queen was captured, she was then ransomed for the cost of the festival arrangements.
In other regions of the British Isles the contest between summer and winter is acted out each year at May Day by a troop of boys and a troop of girls. The boys rush from house to house, singing, shouting, and ringing bells to drive winter away.
Following the boys come a group of girls, singing softly and led by a May bride, all in bright dresses and bedecked with flowers and garlands to represent the genial advent of spring. Formerly the part of winter was played by a straw man, which the boys carried with them.
The Green Man
The Green Man is the primal consciousness of the plant kingdom. He is one of the oldest spiritual concepts held by humankind. Early humans believed that inanimate objects were spirits or deities.
In contrast to this belief, at a certain human stage of development, people believed that inanimate objects were simply the dwelling places of spirits or deities within the material world. In either case the Green Man represents the animation of Nature by an unseen power. The classic image of the Green Man is a human-like face mask covered in leaves.
During the early period, when our ancestors were hunter-gatherers, the forest was a realm beyond comprehension. It was filled with dangerous predators, poisonous snakes, and spiders. The forest also, however, provided shelter and food.
The spirit of such a place was an undefined and mysterious character hidden in the plants and trees. When humans became an agricultural society the concept of the plant spirit began to transform. Human reasoning during during this stage concluded that because plants were grown from seeds, the spirit of the Green Man must be within the seed.
Ancient people viewed the plant that issued forth from the seed as a manifestation of the spirit that once dwelled within the seed. When the time came to harvest the plant, the spirit was believed to flee from bundle to bundle as the harvest was stacked in the fields.
Therefore it was vital to capture the fleeing spirit inside the last harvested bundle before it could totally escape the field. Once bound in such a manner, the Green Man spirit could be returned to the soil where he would make the seeds even more powerful for the spring season.
An interesting folk custom related to the harvest season arose in many European communities. When a stranger appeared in the community he was viewed as the plant spirit trying to sneak off unnoticed in the guise of a human. There are still cases in which a visitor to a farm community during the time of harvest is captured and harassed by the locals.
Often this person is tied up and held for a short time - according to the locals this is all done in good sport. When no strangers appear at harvest time the last reaper in the field symbolically becomes the plant spirit and is subject to the same treatment.
In folk belief the plant spirit, driven out by the cutting of the last sheaf, must now take on another form. Therefore he passes into the reaper who becomes the embodiment of the spirit. In folklore the spirit of the plant has been personified in such folk characters as Jack-in-the-Green and John Barleycorn.
With the rise of Christianity, the attention given to the Green Man began to diminish. However, a careful examination of the pillars inside many old churches and cathedrals in Europe will reveal Green Man faces hidden within the ornamentation.
On occasion the leaves appear to grow out of the mouth and cover a humanoid face. Sometimes the sole configuration of the leaves forms a human-like face. Some of the earliest examples appeared in churches and cathedrals around the sixth century.
Reportedly, Bishop Nicetius of Trier ordered the removal of all Green Man carvings from the ruin of a nearby Roman temple and had them incorporated into a pair of pillars in the cathedral at Trier. These Green Man images were eventually obscured during restoration work in the eleventh century.
Taken from: Springtime Rituals, Lore & Celebration - Beltane by Raven Grimassi
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