that I think may be a pagan symbol. I am Christian and I dont know how i feel about using it. I believe it is called The Green Man.
Would you display a decorative object that promotes another belief system?
*EDIT*
Here is a picture of it I posted in the replies, as I said there if I use it it would be out in the garden by my little pond.
How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these. GeorgeWashingtonCarver
I have many and I do have them around the house.
Just teasing; still, unless the symbol is truly evil, I feel there is no harm. There are many Muslims, Jews, and others religions that place Christmas display up ... There shouldn't be a problem.
I know Wiki isn't the *best* place to look, but it does have a variety of info on the Green Man.
"Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification" Romans 14:19
Yeah. We have a muslim prayer wheel that my DH got while he was deployed hanging in the house. It's beautiful!
The history of symbology is fraught with various cultures and faiths repurposing symbols. Witness the "swastika" which in the country of Georgia is simply a stylized cross and which in Buddism is a common motif in ancient temples. Witness the countless arguments here about the meaning and symbols of Halloween, Christmas, and Easter. I think, if it's an attractive piece, I would find a way to repurpose it's meaning to represent Christian beliefs and values. You don't have to say anything to anybody about it but if someone asks, you can tell them what it means FOR YOU. :-)
Superficially the Green Man would appear to be pagan, perhaps a fertility figure or a nature spirit, similar to the woodwose (the wild man of the woods), and yet he frequently appears, carved in wood or stone, in churches, chapels, abbeys and cathedrals, where examples can be found dating through to the 20th century. The earliest example of a green man disgorging vegetation from his mouth is from St. Abre, in St. Hilaire-le-grand, c 400 AD. [7]
To the modern observer the earlier (Romanesque and medieval) carvings often have an unnervingly eerie or numinous quality.[according to whom?] This is sometimes said[by whom?] to indicate the vitality of the Green Man, who was able to survive as a symbol of pre-Christian traditions despite, and at the same time complementary to, the influence of Christianity: rather than alienate their new converts, early Christian missionaries would often adopt and adapt local gods, sometimes turning them into saints.[8]
I have never thought about dream catchers as religious but you are right, they are.
Quoting Sisteract:Something like an Indian Dream catcher, yes.
An object explicitly tied to organized religion, probably not.
How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these. GeorgeWashingtonCarver
This one does not have anything coming from his mouth. Here I will take a picture, I will be back.
Quoting momma4AJ:Superficially the Green Man would appear to be pagan, perhaps a fertility figure or a nature spirit, similar to the woodwose (the wild man of the woods), and yet he frequently appears, carved in wood or stone, in churches, chapels, abbeys and cathedrals, where examples can be found dating through to the 20th century. The earliest example of a green man disgorging vegetation from his mouth is from St. Abre, in St. Hilaire-le-grand, c 400 AD. [7]
To the modern observer the earlier (Romanesque and medieval) carvings often have an unnervingly eerie or numinous quality.[according to whom?] This is sometimes said[by whom?] to indicate the vitality of the Green Man, who was able to survive as a symbol of pre-Christian traditions despite, and at the same time complementary to, the influence of Christianity: rather than alienate their new converts, early Christian missionaries would often adopt and adapt local gods, sometimes turning them into saints.[8]
How far you go in life depends on your being: tender with the young, compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving and tolerant of both the weak and strong. Because someday in life you would have been one or all of these. GeorgeWashingtonCarver
Holder to investigate....Holder
- survivorinohio
on Oct. 12, 2012 at 6:16 PM