The Green Man

Being inspired by T-Bone's painting and wanting to learn more about the theme for Burning Man this year, I did some reading and poking around on the web. I had assumed that the theme "The Green Man" was merely a play on words and was a way of giving this years event a more environmentally friendly bent. The official BM site discusses how the carbon imprint of the burn will be offset. It also explores the deeper, less obvious meaning of The Green Man - how the story is an allegory for our relationship with the earth. I read up on The Green Man on Wikipedia and learned a few things: there is never a green woman, The Green man is a popular name for British Public Houses (that's a pub to you and me) and it is a pagan and mystical symbol of rebirth and spring. All very cool. No wonder T-Bone has been riffing.

Here are some images of The Green Man that I think are interesting.





So now I'm ruminating on how to tie-in this theme with our steampunk motif. Perhaps we could carve a figurehead of the Green Man to go on the perambulator, with brass leaves that extend around the ship as railings or some sort of decoration...


This was my favorite image out of all of them (aside from the fairly obnoxious greenery where his pubic hair should be)...a Green Man on the outside of an old custard factory in Birmingham, England.