Antique Green Men in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA

I had the opportunity to visit the "City of Brotherly Love" today -- Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA to see Isaiah Zagar's incredible art at his "Magic Garden."  See: http://www.philadelphiasmagicgardens.org/

While perusing South Street, my friends and I found: C. Neri - Antiques and Lighting.  It's a fabulous antique store crowded with many treasures.  In the dark, dusky and dusty upstairs, I commented that this was the kind of place where one could find Green Man furniture.  I moved a stack of books and there it was:

 

 

With further sleuthing we found six leather chairs with Green Man carvings:

 

and an incredible Green Man chandelier:

 

 

 

Unfortunately, I was not able to purchase these items, but if you're interested, visit:

C. Neri Antiques & Lighting

313 South Street,

Philadelphia, PA 19147

USA

215.923.6669

www.neiriantiquelighting.com

 

Someday...

 

Green Man Symbolism

Excellent overview on the Green Man:

Green Man artist

Surfing the internet, I stumbled across this artist and their rendering of the Green Man:

http://www.thefairygathering.com/mickie-mueller-greenman.shtml
by artist Holly Edwards

I especially like her depiction of the Green Man's skin as living wood.  This is the closed rendition I have found to the description in my book:  The Greening: http://www.amazon.com/The-Greening-Green-Man-ebook/dp/B0084TH53Y/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372031313&sr=8-1&keywords=the+greening+sharon+brubaker  and
The Leafing: http://www.amazon.com/The-Leafing-Green-Man-ebook/dp/B00C8UIXZO/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1372031365&sr=8-1&keywords=the+leafing+sharon+brubaker

Native American Green Man

Life takes us down funny roads.  In a cursory search of interesting and unusual Green Man facts, I found a reference to Ngen-Mawida, the Native American keeper of the forests.  As of this writing I have not been able to locate a picture of this god, but there is very interesting information below from the Native American Encyclopedia and the SpeedLook Encyclopedia.

From SpeedyLook:  "The mission of these Ngen is similar to the one of a ranger; that is to say, they protect the life of its flora and fauna promoting its well-being and continuity, and raising animal and wild birds. For it, the Ngen-mawida must prevent in the forest the excessive operation, its contamination and destruction by means of the cutting or the fire. When they destroy or they burn a native forest, the wild life without continuity options finishes steeply, also the ngen-mawida one goes away. "  http://www.myetymology.com/encyclopedia/Ngen-mawida.html

From the Native American Encyclopedia:

"The Ngen are those that manage, govern and arrange the different features of nature; but also those that nature takes care of and protects. The Ngen were created by the Pu-am (the representation of the universal soul), who wanted the Ngen to assure the order and the laws of admapu (rules of the Mapuche tradition); and that they prevented that a commotion such as the one caused by the battle of the pillan before the beginning of the time. The Ngen receive orders of the Pu-am and of Antü (the most powerful pillan spirit).
If a Mapuche needs to obtain something from nature, they must respect and give an offering to the specific Ngen spirit."
http://nativeamericanencyclopedia.com/ngen/

The Ngen appear to be a race of Nature Spirits.  What great characters for future novels!

One interesting depiction of this spirit:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/a_b_c/2183109646/