I spent the festive period near Ponte da Barca. House and cat sitting. In between domestic duties I walked along the river and discovered Fonte Santa, an old spring bubbling up from source. Stones located as a monument to mark the spring, had an image of the Green Man.

The Green Man is a universal symbol of the spirit of nature. The life force which turns the seasons and the cycle of birth, death and rebirth. It reminds us of the power of creation and the beauty and mystery of everything living. Many associate the Green Man with paganism, but it’s an indigenous wisdom symbol across all cultures.

As a child of Avalon and an intergenerational Somerset family, shaped from the spirit of the willow and apple tree, the Green Man is a part of the mythology of my kith and kin. The rituals we followed as children, from May dancing to apple picking still has roots in my nature spirit. In northern Portugal there is a cultural link to the land of my youth. It’s the breath of the Green Man as he blows his winter trumpet and reminds me that the void until spring is the period when my inner world can work magic with my imaginings.