A Roman (1st or 2nd c CE) and 12th-century examples of foliage faces that became known as “the Green Man.” For centuries, these carvings existed, adorning buildings, as a man’s face surrounded by leaves, or spewing greenery, or having hair that morphed into plants. But it wasn’t until folklorist Lady Raglan wrote an article that appeared in the 1839 issue of _The Folk-Lore Journal_ that the carving was issued a name: the Green Man. British people were super interested in finding stories about their allegedly pagan roots at the time, and so even though many of these sculptures adorn Medieval Churches, the phenomena of the Green Man took off. The Green Man satisfied a desire to see wilderness in a nation experiencing rapid industrialization. And the environmental appeal of the Green Man continues into our own era of environmental catastrophe, as a desirable idea of thinking about humanity as a part of the natural world.
Source(s): _The New Yorker_, “The Remarkable Persistence of the Green Man, ” Josephine Livingstone, March 7, 2016. Roman Green Man, Musee de Vesono, Perigueux, Dordogne, France, credit Julianna Lees, from http://www.greenmanenugma. Trip Advisor, Minster Abbey.
