Another green man

During our visits to historic churches we often come across a green man. These carvings, usually in stone or wood, of a head surrounded with leaves, look decidedly un-Christian and that may well be the case - it wasn't unknown for early Christianity to embrace aspects of what were probably pagan customs. The green man is thought to be a symbol of rebirth, a feature that is both pagan and central to the Christian religion. The earliest examples of such heads seem to post-date the birth of Chritianity and are most common in the Romanesque and Gothic periods. There has been a resurgence of the green man in recent years that has nothing to do with religion or paganism. They can be widely found on sale as garden ornaments, which is the case with the one shown above.

Passion Flower

The passion flower (Passiflora) in today's photograph was one of many in a large drift of the plant that grew up a wall and across the ground in the centre of a town. Our success with this plant is fairly limited and, perhaps connected with that, it isn't one of my favourites. It is , however, very popular and comes in many colours. The flower is something of an oddity and in no way connected with passion in the sense of love or emotion, but rather, with Christ and his suffering surrounding his death. The medieval mind saw in the flower, and the plant in general, symbols connected with that event. Rather than me list them here is what Wikipedia says:

"The pointed tips of the leaves were taken to represent the Holy Lance.
The tendrils represent the whips used in the flagellation of Christ.
The ten petals and sepals represent the ten faithful apostles (excluding St. Peter the denier and Judas Iscariot the betrayer).
The flower's radial filaments, which can number more than a hundred and vary from flower to flower, represent the crown of thorns.
The chalice-shaped ovary with its receptacle represents a hammer or the Holy Grail.
The 3 stigmas represent the 3 nails and the 5 anthers below them the 5 wounds (four by the nails and one by the lance).
The blue and white colors of many species' flowers represent Heaven and Purity.
In addition, the flower keeps open three days, symbolising the three years' ministry."
photo © T. Boughen     Camera: Lumix FZ1000 2