Green Man / Leaf Man

With the advent of hurricane Sandy and its wild winds along with our usual November gales, leaves have been spiraling down in a whimsical ballet and carpeting the ground with brilliant color.  The sound of raking and mowers grinding up the leaves nearly drown out the crunch and swish as one walks through the fallen leaves. 

There are two wonderful children's books that are Green Man or rather Leaf Man related.  Lois Ehlert has a fabulous children's book entitled: Leaf Man
It's quite a whimsical take on the Green/Leaf Man.  Ehlert's books' graphics are a wonder.

Another wonderful story of a Leaf Men and the bugs going on a quest to safe the garden is: The Leaf Men and the Brave Good Bugs by William Joyce.

  In this story, the Leaf Men help an old woman and her garden by setting the world back round to order.  The Leaf Men and the garden insects defend the garden from the evil Spider Queen.  It is a mythic tale of loss and recovery.  (and I will now bite my tongue and not wax poetic on the birth, death, rebirth theme again)  Joyce is an amazing artist, animator and storyteller.  His short film "The Fantastic Flying Books of Morris Lessmore" won an academy award. See:  http://moonbotstudios.com/

Green Man Anomaly

Here in the US, the Green Man is almost an anomaly.  You can find Green Man sculptures in larger cities such as New York and Chicago. Outside of the urban areas, the Green Man is often relegated to garden art and personal collections.  It is humbling to see the amazing array of Green Men globally.  Fortunately, I stumbled onto this site: http://www.the-great-learning.com/pilgerwege-deu-en3.htm   
-- a catalog of photographs of Green Men and Sheela-Na-Gigs. 

Enjoy.