The Green Man at the Twelfth Night celebration events: Sunday 5th January
The 2014 TWELFTH NIGHT Celebrations will be held from 2.30pm on Sunday 5th January 2014.
Twelfth Night is an annual seasonal celebration held in the Bankside area of London. It is a celebration of the New Year, mixing ancient seasonal customs with contemporary festivity. It is free, accessible to all and happens whatever the weather.
The Twelfth Night celebration events:
The Holly Man from the Thames
To herald the celebration, the extraordinary Holly Man (the Winter guise of the Green Man from pagan myths and folklore) decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage, appears from the River Thames brought by the Thames Cutter, Trinity Tide (boat subject to weather!) rowed by hardy volunteers.
The Bankside Wassails
With the crowd, led by the Bankside Mummers, the Holly Man ‘brings in the green’ and ‘wassails’ or toasts the people, the River Thames and the Globe – an old tradition encouraging good growth.
The Mummers Play
The Mummers then process to the Bankside Jetty, and perform the traditional ‘freestyle’ Folk Combat Play of St. George, featuring the St George, Beelzebub, the Turkey Sniper, the Doctor, Clever Legs, the Old ‘Oss and many others, dressed in their spectacularand colourful ‘guizes’. The play is full of wild verse and boisterous action, a time-honoured part of the season recorded from the Crusades.
King Bean and Queen Pea
At the end of the play, cakes are distributed – a bean and a pea hidden in two of them. Those who find them are hailed King and Queen for the day and crowned with ceremony.
They then lead the people in procession through the streets to the historic George Inn in Borough High Street for a fine warming up with Storytelling, the Kissing Wishing Tree and more Dancing.
The Green Man at the Twelfth Night celebration events: Sunday 6th January
The 2013 TWELFTH NIGHT Celebrations will be held from 2.45pm on Sunday 6th January 2013.
Twelfth Night is an annual seasonal celebration held in the Bankside area of London. It is a celebration of the New Year, mixing ancient seasonal customs with contemporary festivity. It is free, accessible to all and happens whatever the weather.
The Holly Man from the Thames
To herald the celebration, the extraordinary Holly Man (the Winter guise of the Green Man from pagan myths and folklore) decked in fantastic green garb and evergreen foliage, appears from the River Thames brought by the Thames Cutter, Master Shipbroker (boat subject to weather!) rowed by hardy volunteers.
The Bankside Wassails
With the crowd, led by the Bankside Mummers, the Holly Man ‘brings in the green’ and ‘wassails’ or toasts the people, the River Thames and the Globe – an old tradition encouraging good growth.
The Mummers play
The Mummers then process to the Bankside Jetty, and perform the traditional ‘freestyle’ Folk Combat Play of St. George, featuring the St George, Beelzebub, the Turkey Sniper, the Doctor, Clever Legs, the Old ‘Oss and many others, dressed in their spectacularand colourful ‘guizes’. The play is full of wild verse and boisterous action, a time-honoured part of the season recorded from the Crusades.
King Bean and Queen Pea
At the end of the play, cakes are distributed – a bean and a pea hidden in two of them. Those who find them are hailed King and Queen for the day and crowned with ceremony.
They then lead the people in procession through the streets to the historic George Inn in Borough High Street for a fine warming up with Storytelling, the Kissing Wishing Tree and more Dancing.
More information at: http://www.thelionspart.co.uk/twelfthnight/
October Plenty (Featuring the Berry Man) Sunday 24th October
The Greenman (In his autumnal guise of The Berry Man) will be walking out with the Lions part at their October Plenty festival on Sunday the 24th Octobe from 12 noon on the Bankside outside Shakespeare’s Globe.
October Plenty is an Autumn harvest celebration held annually in Southwark. Beginning on the Bankside, by Shakespeare’s Globe, October Plenty mixes ancient seasonal customs and theatre with contemporary festivity, joining with historic Borough Market, Southwark.
October Plenty is a collective celebration of the seasons, weather and food, in a public place, with access to everyone. The event is free, and happens whatever the weather.
The October Plenty events & highlights:
The Corn Queene
A huge Corn Queene effigy heavy with ‘Plenty’ – wheat, barley and other grains, and apples, root vegetables and foliage from the Borough Market – appears in a procession around the front of the Globe, Bankside, with the Company of actors and the time-honoured Hobby Horse in attendance, strung with cakes and loaves and led by the Berry Man.
The Berry Man
The Berry Man – our Autumn incarnation of the original Green Man – decked with wild fruits and foliage, leads the company. He carries an Apple Tree to where it will be placed within the Bankside area, with general songs and music on the street for all.
The Procession
After gathering a sizeable crowd, we then move through the streets to the Borough Market. There in the Green Market there is time to savour the delights on offer: soul cakes, apple biscuits, conker fights, cider from the New Forest, apple bobbing, a great beer selection and the wonderful market stalls as well as more dancing.
The Play
The play performed changes from year to year; we like them to be short-ish and funny-ish. Last year the Company will perform two of Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.
The Nun’s Priest’s story of Chanticleer and Partelote and that which the Reeve tells are amongst the best known and best loved of Chaucer’s stories.
Newly adapted for October Plenty and spiced with festive spirit and song, these plays are performed in Southwark where Chaucer’s pilgrims first gathered – you’ll be laughing and gasping over your cider!
The Story Orchard
We create a little glade of young English apple trees as a space for children to gather. There they can decorate and re-clothe the trees with green wishes (paper apples) and listen to stories about apples, markets, harvest time, bees and London sparrows!
There is a tasting table of old apple types from London by Brogdale Horticultural Trust with decorations created at Roots and Shoots, the Lambeth community gardens environment project where the Corn Queene is created.
More details at: http://www.thelionspart.co.uk/
If anyone can send us some pictures of this years Berry Man for the blog I would be most grateful
Green Man in Trafalgar Square
Green man spotters might like to look out for the Greenman in Trafalgar Square on the 24th April when The Lions Part celebrate St George’s day. The Greenman in his spring manifestation will be born out of the dragon. There will be six performances from midday until 6pm.
The Company of the Green Man 