[Woodcarver] Fwd:

[Tom Clarke]

Hi,

     These what you were looking for?

Tom (nj)

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The Woodspirit

Being fierce and powerful protectors of the forests, woodspirits
encourage respect for their world.  One does not wish to cross a
woodspirit, but are counted as fortunate and charmed to have seen one.
Carving woodspirits is a European tradition which predates the
colonization of America.  A frequent project of Swiss and Austrian
woodcarvers is to carve their interpretation of the woodspirit, and
that tradition has caused them to migrate into our homes to be
protectors of house and hearth.

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Wood spirits are a kin to a much older motif/image called the Green
Man.  The Green man dates back to circa 50 A.D. in Roman carvings.  He
first appears as a profile image with the leaves or vines emanating
form his mouth and nostrils.  By 200 A.D. he has become much of what
we think of today with the full front facing male face that uses
leaves in place of hair.  This motif appears in just about every
culture as a symbol of man being part of nature or man coming from
nature, he is nature personified.  It also implies man's control over
or dominance over nature. Variations include leaf masks, American
Indians wearing wolf skins, and the China's Shen Nong emperor.

Mike is quite correct about it's appearance in Europe, some of the
earliest are a pair of leaf masks in a frieze at Trier Cathedral,
circa 200 A.D.  The Green man eventually became a major repetitive
theme in Cathedral sculptures during  the Medieval era.  "The Green
man" by Kathleen Basford, published by D. S. Brewer of Suffolk, UK,
reprinted 1996 is an excellent source guide for both information and
historic imagery.

The Wood Spirit, a version of the Green Man, can be traced to the
Pagan religions with one of the best known called the Apple Man.  Now
the legend goes that the gods lived on earth and traveled among us.
Each god or goddess had their specific influences upon nature and man.
The Apple Man was the guardian for tree especially orchard trees and
was said to reside inside the oldest Apple Tree in the orchard.
Therefore, the oldest tree was both protected and revered by the
orchard owner. Should the oldest apple tree die, then the Apple Man
would die and so would the orchard.

Several of the Pagan gods sleep through winter, not finding much
enjoyment in the cold weather.  These gods take up their winter
residence inside a fir or pine tree ... that's why the pine and fir do
not lose their green needles during winter as the sleeping god
protects the trees from the cold climate. So where deciduous trees
appear dead having lost their leaves the pine still appears alive even
in the worst weather conditions.  Because early man considered winter
the 'small death' for earth he used superstition to try and protect
himself from it and to hopefully insure the return of spring.  This
was done by cutting a pine or fir tree, which of course had a sleeping
god (Wood Spirit) inside it, then he brought the tree inside his home.
The pine became the center of several rituals and was carefully tended
to keep the god happy and safe.  When it was about time for spring to
come the tree was taken back outside to 'release' the god. Since the
faithful Pagans had served/cherished their god well through the cold
months, that god naturally rewarded his people by returning life to
the earth.

And that, my dear friends, is why Christians have Christmas trees!!!
The Christian church during their expansion era would enter a new area
then begin to incorporate many of the area's religious practices and
rights into their own rituals. That way the Pagan rituals and beliefs
got sort of swallowed up by the Christian faith, making conversion
more acceptable to the Pagans.
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>I could use some assistance.  Some time back someone requested a
somewhat
>condensed piece about wood spirits that they could use in their wet
site.
>Another in here  replied with a very good one, but I have no clue who
any
>of them were.  I now need a description of wood spirits for my web
page. I
>wrote what I could remember, but it's nowhere as good as the one I
>remember.  I would be grateful for  some help here.
>Thank you,
>"Cynda     http://woodneggs.tripod.com