Europe’s Wild Men
Posted by: Nick Redfern on April 8th, 2013
“A primal heart still beats in Europe,” says Rachel Hartigan Shea in a new article at National Geographic titled Europe’s Wild Man. “Deep beneath the gloss of cell phone sophistication lie rituals that hark back to harvests and solstices and fear of the winter dark. Monsters loom in this shadowy heart, but so does the promise of spring’s rebirth and fertile crops and women cradling newborn babes.”
As Shea notes, “…everywhere there is the wild man.” She continues: “In France, he is l’Homme Sauvage; in Germany, Wilder Mann; in Poland, Macidula is the clownish version. He dresses in animal skins or lichen or straw or tree branches. Half man and half beast, the wild man stands in for the complicated relationship that human communities, especially rural ones, have with nature.”
And there’s much more to tell too! You can read the entire article here.
Watch the slideshow of Charles Fréger’s photographs here.
The article and photographs are also published in the April 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine.
About Nick Redfern
Punk music fan, Tennents Super and Carlsberg Special Brew beer fan, horror film fan, chocolate fan, like to wear black clothes, like to stay up late. Work as a writer.
