Why do churches have statues/carvings of Sheela Na Gig, the 'Green Man'and 'Hunky Punks'?

I have no idea to what you are referring. What/who are Sheela Na Gig, the "Green Man' and "Hunky Punks"?

Sheela's are statues/carvings of women opening their uh 'meat curtains', Green Man is popular in most European and even Indian mythology and Hunky Punks are gargoyles that don't spit out water.

Still what would a Christian church want with such things?

Edit here is a Sheela (http://homepage.eircom.net/~ccm/sile_na_gig.html) for you.

There are many theories of why they appear on so many churches.

The Sheela Na Gig could be left over from the pagan fertility goddess or it could be some kind of (IMO) perverted warning against lust. The early Christian and medieval 'Fathers' did not like women very much and blamed the evils of the world on them.

Gargoyles are to scare away evil. Kind of a primitive idea to hold isn't it??

Primitive? Religion? Get out of town!

Nah, gargoyles WERE to scare away evil. Now they just look cool. :shake:

Now they just look cool.What ever the original reason for gargoyles, Green Men or Sheelas I suspect that moving them from an older church to a new one is precisely for the reason Fel gives. :cool:

The gargoyles I can understand (see Felnoid's post), but the Green Man is a Celtic spirit of the forest isn't he? As for the Sheela Na Gig, I have no idear. I'd never heard of them before now to be honest with you.

I was reading about an idol called Cermand Cestach (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cermand_Cestach) , that was worshiped in Clogher Cathedral, County Tyrone until the medieval times (the Cathedral still stands BTW) and I thought "How could this be?", until I realized that many churches still contain a lot of pagan influences.

Cuchulainn, it is interisting to look at just how much local people added to christianity when it was adopted. I used to hear "happy day of the dead" in the southwest and lived in the deep south and saw some strange things in mid/south LA. My country isn't old enough to match what you can find but even here a lot crept in.

many local traditions was added to the early christian church and many places older temples or holy grounds was used for the new christian churches. if you for instance travel in italy and greece you can find a number of churches who have reused old stones from the old temple ruins.

the best i have seen is a italien church where they in the door front have placed a stone with a greek inscription opside down, the inscription clearly states that the temple is a dedication to Apollo.

in Denmark the believe in a spirit of sorts called a Nisse excisted for a long time a long with the church, in the beginning it anoyed the church as they saw it as paganism, later they adopted it as a sort of christmass spirit.

In islam some the "holy" signs as seen in turkeys flag, the star an the moon infact origins from christian and greek mythology.
Byzans sign before christianity was a half-moon which symbolised Artemis, later when christianity came, they added as Star symbolising the star that guided the 3 wise men and the virgin mary (i believe). then when the turks annexed byzans around 1458, the signs was adopted by the growing osmanic empire and spread through most the muslim world.

Nude sculptures or paintings are one thing (think Sistine Chapel ceiling, or the way sculptures of angels don't exactly feature the upper part of the robes in perfect order...), but those Sheelas are quite much and I don't think they can be connected with anything Christian in any Christian way.

the best i have seen is a italien church where they in the door front have placed a stone with a greek inscription opside down, the inscription clearly states that the temple is a dedication to Apollo.
This is priceless! I wonder how much more is out there. I had heard/read a lot of stone stealing was going on and talk about poetic justice.

Really old European churches have a lot of odd statuary. But some new American ones do, too. The National Cathedral in Washington DC has a Darth Vader gargoyle.

revmaf, you have got to be kidding!

No, I'm not kidding at all. Seen pictures, also talked to eyewitness. They're always adding stuff to the National Cathedral.

EDIT: in fact just went to their website and found this address:
http://www.cathedral.org/cathedral/discover/darth.shtml

about the gargoyle. Honest.

revmaf, I would like to hear someone trying to explain that gargoyle a few thousand years from now when it is dug up.

Old One, I suppose it's the same as the explanation for Sheela Na Gig and the Green Man: churches are built by people embedded in a culture beyond the church, and they express that culture in how they build and decorate the church.

OTOH one wonders if Darth Vader will be self-explanatory and they'll be puzzled by the crucifixes. ;)

[ January 20, 2007, 03:15: Message edited by: revmaf ]

My church has no such thing. Hence I have no idea what you're talking about...

That Darth Vader gargoyle sounds like the coolest thing ever.

It is normally Roman Catholic and maybe Anglican churches that use this type of thing. Why they still use them I have no idea but I too like that Darth Vader gargoyle.

I fantasize this happening a thousand years from now:

Tour Guide:
As we explore these ruins you will see some strange artifacts. Based on historically records experts believe that at one time our ancestors worshipped a man put to death on a cross. If you look to the left you will see a strange looking head. It is believed that this may represent some demon believed to be involved in this crucifixion. (Points to Darth Vader head)...

@revmaf
You could be right, Star Wars lasting a few thousand years but I think Nakia is probably closer.

Harbourboy, did you check out the link? Neat design and idea by a Ntl Geographic winner. Never would have thought it would be picked. Give it up for open minded judges.

@Gnarfflinger, hit the link and read. revmaf found something really different.

Old One, yeah, Nakia is probably right. Just playing with the idea.

The darth vader gargoyle sounds very tacky to me.

:confused: More tacky then the Sheela? Must say I prefer Darth Vader.

But then I'm a Star Wars nut. The Force be with you.

My church has no such thing. Hence I have no idea what you're talking about...somehow i doubt your church in utah is an old european one, so it might explain it :p

Errr... it's not quite normal for old European churches to have displays of nudity. :p Not like you don't have plenty of it in some cases, but there's no focus on genital organs. :p That's quite alien to Christianity, I believe. :p

And Darth Vader is too old for that. You know, it was so many thousand years away, in a galaxy far far away. :shake: Okay, okay, I know you weren't talking about Vader, but still couldn't resist the joke. :D

actually it is quite normal for the oldest churches to have nudity and heathen statues, since the oldest are converted roman/greek temples. later on the chatholic church slabed leafs over the male genitals, but the nudity is still there.

so while the focus never has been on the nudity you can find a lot of it in old churches.