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| Fukushima Blossoms (by Kropsoq) |
the Easter message better than any sermon ever could.
Now it is some weeks later, and Arbor Day is being celebrated. Is there
a link between these two special days, or is Arbor Day merely another notch in a Boy Scout’s belt?
Wikipedia states that the United States Arbor Day began in 1872 with the efforts of J. Sterling Morton. Although not particularly salty (that was his son), this Morton also found ways to preserve and savor life’s
bounties. He was the
Secretary of Agriculture under Grover Cleveland, as well as an ardent lover of all things arboreal.
Perhaps this was due to his birth in the Tug Hill Plateau of Upstate New York, an area known for its wilderness beauty. Although his later youth was spent in Detroit, Morton then moved to Nebraska (before it was even a territory). Once there, he “indulged his fascination for trees” by planting many rare varieties and “setting up national forest reservations.”
Arbor Day celebrations, however, are neither confined to the United States, nor to the more secular aspects of agriculture and forestry. One major purpose of India’s annual Van Mahotsav tree-planting festival is “to inculcate tree consciousness and love of trees amongst the people.” Mike Harding has discovered that Green Man symbolism is quite prevalent in India and Nepal, where He is often referred to as “The Face of Glory.” In Borneo, He is considered to be “a Guardian of the Forest therefore a protector deity and a bringer of good fortune.”
Harding also theorizes that “Jesus, Osiris, Odin, the Green Knight, John Barleycorn, the Holly King and
Thamuz of the Mesopotamians are all related to the Green Man who symbolizes the triumph of Green Life
over Winter and Death.”
Resources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arbor_Day
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Sterling_Morton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Mahotsav
http://www.mikeharding.co.uk/greenman/the-green-man-in-india
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