Galicia
GREEN MEN OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 3
Nearby places: Osiera, Lugo

 


Like a Shrine: Green Men and Wise Women on the frontside of the famous "Hostal de los Reyes"

But there was still a lot more. Some 38 extraordinary beautiful sculptures of both Green Men as well as Wise Women.....along the entire frontside of the hotel...

 

THE OTHER SANTIAGO

One of the most beautiful places on the Camino: the "Hostal de los Reyes" in Santiago. Never before I saw Green Men and Wise Women to such an extent in balance with each other. Our Tradition thus knows full-emancipation from early on. Wonder, wonderful. One senses the love with which the statues have been made. A proof for the fact that the Original Tradition has been alive until this very day. Initiated by a King! Like in LINK: Paris, Versailles, León and many other places

SOME RESPONSES OF PILGRIMS

"These Green Men and Wise Women in Santiago are like Western Bodhisattva's. I have never enough of these faces. So Divine! they are...."

 

When I was in Santiago, I have (unnoticed by others) prostrated myself in utter surrender before every statue. Every time a great joy entered my heart, something I didn't experience before

NB. If you also want to do this, do this in such a way that the guests of the hotel will not be hindered!

Through the Green Men and Wise Women Way and Goal have once again become a Unity for me. I constantly sense the meaning of why I am walking the Camino

 

Since I know about Green Man and Wise Women I meet much more interesting fellow pilgrims i.e. I have much deeper talks with them

 

To discover new Green Men and Wise Women is real fun. That's why I stay longer in places. Once found I stay with them for a while in a contemplative way. Because of that the Camino gained in quality a lot. It is not a Rat Race anymore like it was last time

We both are very, very grateful to Han Marie Stiekema. He has saved the Camino from becoming a kitsch event

 

WORLD VS CHURCH

Countless places (LINK: Mainz, Konstanz, Hildesheim, Hannover, Bremen, Halle, Soest, Le Mans, Rouen usw) show the same pattern. Public or private houses opposite to the church, that show in a unmistaken way Green Men and Wise Women. Undoubtedly that they want to confront the Church i.e. demonstrate their sympathy for the old religion i.e. the superiority of the latter. Thus the Original Tradition never disappeared. Like here in Santiago: Foliate heads in front of a public building with their faces turned toward the Cathedral. The Green Men don't seem to be too friendly to the Church...

Even a bischop's heraldy on the building. Exceptions prove the rule. Or the masks have been made at a later time, when the building turned from a seminary to the worldly authorities. I enquired and this seem to be exactly the case...

What strikes here is that the Green Men venerate the Cosmic Mother as the Ultimate..... LINK: Versailles

For they all have the Mother Scallop (and not the Santiago Scallop) as a Halo behind their heads

It is a provocation of the first order....

sdc-123.jpg (14625 bytes)

No shy boys, these Green Men!

GREEN MEN OF SANTIAGO DE COMPOSTELA 4

Back

 © 2000-2010 Copyright Han Marie Stiekema
Last revising: 12/31/09