Dear Beltane Fire Society Members
The time has come once again, although it may seem early in the year, for us to begin the search for the Green Man to take part in Beltane Fire Festival 2012.
This email is therefore an invitation to those who feel this role is for them, to step forward and note their interest for the role.
But what is role, you may ask?
We cannot completely define this for you. Each Green Man has their own journey, their own story to lay down. But we can give you some ideas for the purposes of context.
Our Beltane celebrates the turning of the wheel of the year, from spring into the beginning of summer. We celebrate this one step of the cycle with our festivities. Our festivities change from year to year, but as an element of ritual some things stay the same.
One of these unchanging points is the presence of the Green Man. For our festival the Green Man is the embodiment of the earth, the personification of the world around us. People’s lives have always depended upon the condition of the earth; upon how we treat it and upon the way it behaves.
Intrinsic to how we behave upon the earth are the cycles, the seasons which change throughout the year. Our Green Man on Beltane night demonstrates for us one of the changes within this year of changes.
The Green Man character is common the world over, present in many different cultures. As global location changes so does the personality and traits of the Green Man of that locality. But always there is this link between humankind and the earth we live upon.
The main purpose of the Green Man is observed by all at the Festival, and is shown through a ‘death/rebirth’ or ‘sacrifice/resurrection’ ritual at the end of the procession. This ‘death/rebirth’ ritual is also common to the Green Man character. This is representative of the old giving way to the new, of a leading figure giving up something for the continuity of the community. It is a very powerful depiction of not only seasonal change but also of a spiritual belief.
Therefore this role is intrinsically important to our Festival as it represents the change, the potential, and the future.
That is just a snippet of information about the Green Man, and we encourage you seek out information if this topic interests you.
The role of Green Man is both solitary and social, and it is as much of either as you wish it to be. However, we ask two things of you:
1) The Green Man is expected to be involved in actively preparing the main storyline along with the May Queen. This assists the whole society vision and also the understanding of the Green Man’s journey.
2) A Green Man applicant should consider their entire journey and should be prepared to share their character vision with the society and also to share their preparation plans with the Blues and producer.
All Applicants MUST be available for interview on the evening of TUESDAY 31ST JANUARY.
If you are considering this role but are swithering we suggest that you contact blues@beltane.orgfor (blues null@null beltane NULL.orgfor) a chat about the role. As always, email us if you have any questions.
Notes of interest should be made formally to us via email to blues@beltane.org (blues null@null beltane NULL.org) by 6pm on SUNDAY 29th JANUARY. We’ll acknowledge receipt of your application.
Applicants are all individually interviewed and are selected following careful consideration. Should there be a multitude of applications we may not be able to interview all applicants.
Thanks The Blues.
