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Personnages
Whatever the work of art, from petroglyph to painting, the central human figures always
represent the same characters: youth and maiden, mature man and woman, old man and woman.
And whatever they appear or are said to be--heroes, gods or historical characters--the
representation will be similar, because human and divine life follow the same pattern.
These six, for convenience, we call God and Goddess 1, 2 and 3, not only because this is
the age sequence but because they are sometimes actually portrayed in this way, wearing a
single, a double or a triple emblem.
Each of these will be described in the following section, with their accompanying
underworld or upperworld symbols, which do not change from earliest times up till, in many
places, the present. But, because they represent in appearance and activity the three main
age classes of the primitive tribe, we will briefly outline what these are.
Childhood and youth are a time of learning both skills and knowledge, the latter involving
the myths and traditions of the tribe. the most intense period is often carried out in
seclusion, away from parents and village, actually or symbolically ‘in the
wild’. This time of life is climaxed by initiation at a spring or sowing festival;
the granting of sexual freedom; marriage; and access to adult civic responsibilities and
privileges.
Adulthood involves marriage and community duties and powers. It comes to an end,
symbolically, at harvest, and festival rites then may involve the mock death of an adult
figure, a seasonal analogy we still use in referring to the spring, summer and winter of
life.
The role of an elder is multiple. As a source of wisdom, he or she is the source of
agricultural, craft and religious knowledge, and tutor to the young--which is why young
and old share most of the same symbols, those of the underworld, or the ‘wild’
where the aged instruct the young. These elder figures have an additional function, as
priest and priestess officiating at the sacrificial festival rites. Thus they are at once
kindly and sinister figures: sources of death as well as wisdom, endowed with magical
powers through their contact with the other world. As god figures, they dispense both
death and fertility, prosperity and disaster; and of the six figures, they are probably
the most often and most worshipfully portrayed.
God 1
In medieval Europe, the most familiar figure of God 1 was the Wild Man; to the Romans,
perhaps, Mars; to the near east Attis, the lovely youtn dying for love in spring. For us,
it is the Fool.
What do these widely diverse images have in common? The answer lies in the role of the
youth in the early tribe. He is, as we’ve seen, considered to be ‘wild,’
lives in the ‘wild’ with a troop of other youths and an elder leader, and the
existence of this ‘wild herd’ or ‘wild hunt’ is part of the myth of
India, China, Japan and America as well as Europe. The senior youth were--before war
proper was invented--the ‘warriors’, those who vented their high spirits by
cattle raids or stealing from the neighbors. The youth group are students and, since the
lore they learn is often in poem or musical form, they are also musicians, reciters,
tellers of riddles, performers. And, as initiation time draws near, they grow both
lovelorn and lustful--quite capable, like the Wild Man or Mars, of ‘carrying off
women’. Yes, and ‘playing the fool’ is still, in the southern United
States, a euphemism for sexual dalliance.
Below are a selection of God 1 figures far apart in time and space, all having one or more
of the functions above, and all marked by a succession of related symbols which
inextricably intertwines them.
A European Wild Man, dressed as he would have been for the village spring festival,
from an early English book on popular sports and pastimes. He is wearing fur, with leafy
crown and girdle, and carries a budding staff.
FUR, LEAVES, STAFF
Shen Nung, one of the mythical early rulers of China, patron of agriculture. Here, in
the Sant’sai t’u hui of 1607, he is portrayed as a Wild Man, in fur or leaves,
with a small cap. FUR, LEAVES, HAT
The Emperor Commodius posing for his portrait as Hercules, with staff which has now
become a club, and a lionskin head cap. FUR, STAFF/CLUB
An Early Scandinavian helmet plate design. The warrior carries a kind of staff, and has
a boarskin atop his head. FUR, STAFF
This ‘ball game’ god, from Stone 50, Platform A, Oaxaca, also wears an animal
headdress and carries, like Hercules, a club. FUR, STAFF/CLUB
Aizen-Mayu, Japanese-Buddhist god of love, is a fierce patron for a gentle passion and
reflects possibly an earlier role as warrior god. Hindu and Buddhist gods, who have
undergone more transformations than western ones, may carry an assortment of emblems in
their many arms. (artistic idiom for ‘great power’) and since most gods are
originally triple gods, one or two may come from another age aspect.
Not here, however, Aizen-Mayu’s arrow is that of Eros, his flower that of spring, his
bell the jester’s bell and his serpent (see ANIMALS) always an underworld emblem.
What is most significant here, however, is the feline fur headdress like Hercules’
and that of the ball game god. FUR, ARROW/STAFF, FLOWER
This warrior with club is really a pottery vessel in Mochica style from Santa Valley,
Peru, but he could pass for a medieval fool. FUR, CLUB/STAFF, RED, SPOTTED
So could this ‘soldier-priest’ from ca 6th century Japan. Found at Taira City,
Takau.
STAFF/CLUB, HAT, RED SPOTTED
Or even this 4th millenium BC male figure now in the Baghdad Museum. The same spotted
decoration also appears on a snake headed female nursing a child of the same period. (see
PERSONNAGES, Goddess 3). HAT, SPOTTED
The costume on this clown, from a 1930 Barnum and Bailey poster, descends from the ruffed
and dotted Pierrot costume of the Commedia dell’Arte and, since all early drama rises
from festival--this in turn from that of the Wild Man. When fur and leaves became too
complicated to use, the Fool or Wild Man’s costume was made instead of bits of rag to
imitate fur or foliage. And, since these were of different colors, the Harlequin or Fool
costume, below, also descends from it. Thus we have an unbroken history for the dotted or
particolored God 1 costume over at least 2000 years.
As for the ‘clown face’ , we have here juxtaposed the very old Chinese Jester
god, patron of actors, and a 20th century American clown in traditional European white
face style. The Jester God belongs to the most ancient stratum of Chinese worship, older
than Taoism or Buddhism, and historically he is associated with wildness, the spring
festival, a troop of younr men in bear skins, lovers, weddings, the flute, and black-faced
costumes. (See COLOR) HAT, RED SPOTTED, PARTICOLORED=FUR, LEAVES
This Fool and Lover comes from a medieval Tarot pack: the Tarots, for all the superstition
that surrounds them, are simply portrayals of the old festival round of the year. The
figure wears particolored clothes, not shown here. He carries staff and sack (cup) and a
flower; he is accompanied, like many underworld figures, by a dog (See ANIMALS),and has a
single feather in his hat.
HAT, PARTICOLORED, STAFF, DOG, FLOWER, ONE
Krishna, from “Jagat Singh Worshipping Krishna”, Rajasthan, ca 1700. Note
flowers, hat, dog, and the flute which here replaces the staff.
HAT, STAFF/FLUTE, DOG, FLOWER
Siva, usually a third stage god, is here specifically stated to in the role of a lover.
Portrait from Jaipur, ca 1800 AD. His necklace is of skulls as befits a third stage god,
but he wears a single feather and his skin is blue (black) (See COLOR)
He sits on a tiger skin. HAT, FUR, ONE
Kokopelli, popular god of southwest American Indians, also like Krishna plays the flute.
Among other things he is, like the Wild Man or the Lover, a lustful pursuier of maidens.
His hat is sometimes triple pointed, sometimes a cockscomb, sometimes a top hat, but her
it has a single peak or feather. Sometimes as here he also appears phallic. (For Kokopelli
in third stage god role, see God 3).
HAT, STAFF/FLUTE, ONE, PHALLUS
This flutist in the Phoenix Hall of the Byodoin at Uji in Japan, though serenading Buddha,
still wears the emble of God 1, tall hat and flower.
HAT, STAFF/FLUTE, FLOWER
Also a horn blower is this leafy faun from a 3rd century AD Roman capital at Cirencester:
another image of the Wild Man, lascivious pursuer of women.
HAT, STAFF/HORN, LEAVES
You think I made him up? No, this is the god Kaveuren, from Oceania, associated with
water, fertility and, of course, the phallus. Note his top hat, like that sometimes worn
by Kokopelli or Voodoo Baron Samedi, and its single protuberance.
HAT, PHALLUS, ONE
Baal Tsaphon, an image from Ras Shamrah of the 14th century BC, who shares his headgear
with many of the above. He carries , not shown, a large leafy branch along with the club
that brings us back to Hercules and the Wild Man.
HAT, STAFF/CLUB, ONE
God 1 may also be a child god, as we see in this image of the infant Dionysos with flower
and hat, from a vase in the Athens agora (Agora Museum) ca 300-275 BC. He can profitably
be compared with the baby-warrior god from Mesoamerica below, who wears a
Hercules-Scandinavian warrior-ball game god-Aizen Mayu headdress.
Did you ever wonder why Donatello’s David, otherwise nude, wore that leafy hat?
UPPERWORLD AND UNDERWORLD
UNDERWORLD
PERSONNAGES GOD 1 TWINS GODDESS 1 GOD 2 GODDESS 2 GOD 3 GODDESS 3 NUMBERS HATS ETC. ACTIONS ANIMALS LANDSCAPE COLOR