Since times long ago, man has believed in rebirth and regeneration of life after death, and many pagan rituals were developed upon this theme, accompanied by stories of gods and heroes to whom this resurrection applied, gods and myths intertwined.

Confusion over names can occur, since the fertility figures, connected to themes of resurrection, act out basically the same role no matter which culture they appear in or by what name the god is called. There are myriads of stories on this theme.

From long ago times, man has believed in rebirth or regeneration. Pagan rituals were developed, accompanied by stories of gods and heroes to whom this resurrection applied.

The Green Man, god of vegetation, appears in English myth. Also called Jack-in-the-Green or Green Knight, the Green Man was closely linked to the Savage Man, also called the Wild Man, and Herne the Hunter. The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits by Rosemary Ellen Guilley says that Herne is the leader of the Wild Hunt, a nocturnal procession of the dead and is linked to the old god Cernunnos. Odin is also pictured in legend as leading a wild howling ghostly host across a stormy night sky. Since a storm often manifested itself with thunder and lightning, Odin's host might have included Thor, the Norse god of thunder.

These characters are closely tied to the agrarian year with its seasonal festivals and to forests, since they are the habitat of the Green Man motifs in their various forms. Some of these characters such as Herne, associated with Windsor Forest, are alleged to have once lived as actual historical people, and some are merely re-makes of archetypes that reach back to the cradle of civilization. Even as late as 1990, this kind of festival is recorded taking place in Hastings, England.

One such festival is described in The Green Man, The Archetype of Our Oneness With the Earth by William Anderson:

"The Jack in the Green has erupted from beside the sea. He is escorted by several Green Men. They are accompanied by a girl carrying a high spray of flowers. She is completely black and very comely. The crowd follows the procession along the sea front and turns up to the castle on the cliff above the town for the purpose of the ceremony: the release of the spirit of summer. This happens in the last dance, for which the Jack descends from his mound and bobs up and down on the edge of a side of Morris dancers performing a stick dance. They crack their wooden swords together. Jack in the Green falls dead "(9).

Continuing in the book The Green Man, it says:

"Having made the point that the evidence for linking the Green Man as he appears with the leaf-covered figure of folk ritual is often patchy, the archetypal force behind both the Green Man of art and the leafy figures of custom is the same. They are different manifestations of the same primal urge."

Long ago, the sacrifice of the Green Man archetype was believed to ensure a fruitful harvest. The Green Man was dead and reborn, again and again, spring after spring. The harvest festival was celebrated later in the year, and then the dark period of the declining year, Samhain with its deep gloom, appears near the time of winter's longest days. In the spring, the people were once again happy to renew their pact with the pagan cult of fecundity and reenact the story yet again: life, death, and rebirth.

Lots of people might think history and myth are boring subjects, but a little reading shows that these are some of the wildest and scariest stories ever told, and they resonate with a certain truth because this is the history of people from whom many of us have descended.