Recently, Anthony  commented that my frequent scouring of local thrift stores was less “driving for deco” and more “trolling for deco”.  This got me thinking and for those who know me personally, always a dangerous event!

A little online research and I found ancientblogger.com.  A great site and more details about the ubiquitous garden troll, or gnome and their interesting, somewhat adult past.

An annoyed fellow goddess of Aphrodite, Hera, cursed her frienemey’s son, Priapus, with unusually large “man parts”.  To ancient Greeks, this wasn’t something to celebrate but rather an allusion to man’s animal nature.  Being a lesser god of questionable morals and an embarrassment resulted in a quick banished from most households .

A coincidental outbreak of venereal disease occurred about the same time of his phasing out. A superstitious people, the Greeks thought offending the lesser god brought the plague upon them.  Re-enter Priapus into the mainstream household.

Showing no ill will to the people who got rid of him, Priapus promised to guard their gardens and watch over crops, shepherds and sailors. (But that’s another story). Grateful for not being a vengeful god, the people forever honored him with “accurate” effigies of his likeness.

While Priapus became the guardian of gardens in Greece, gnome-like characters, the Dactyl, appeared throughout the Aegean. But, unlike Priapus, the children of the goddess Gaia are blessed(?) with small “man parts”. Leave it to the ancients to go to extremes! Dactyl are depicted as master craftsman, metal smiths and keepers of the earth.

One particular branch of the Dactyl populated an area of ancient Turkey known as Phrygia. Why bring this up? The hat we associate with today’s garden gnomes is similar to the Phrygian cap.

Flash forward through the millennium and the general concept of the Priapus effigy prevailed, though somewhat toned down. German and Swiss craftsman continued to manufacture the “little” Priapus in a sanitized version so as not to offend the clergy and older ladies. Meanwhile, Italian artisans produced more caricature-like effigies of political figures called Gobbi.

The garden gnome as we know them, didn’t appear overnight. While the German Gartenzwerg (‘garden dwarf’) continued as associated with the earth, Paracelsus, a 16^th century Swiss alchemist coined the term gnome, from the Greek gnomos for ‘earth-dweller’.

An eccentric Sir Charles Isham of England brought back souvenirs, 21 in all, from his trip to Germany in 1847 and the invasion started. What was all the rage in Germany became all the rage in England.  The garden gnome arrived!

By the 1930’s, the word “gnome” officially entered the English lexicon. By the end of WWII, the gnome entered and enduring cycle of chic to kitsch to retro.

Now let’s take a look at some vintage gnomes.

 

Harder to find than vintage Santa figures is this German-made candy container. Made of composition, his clothing are felt and leather. The mushroom he holds is a symbol, of good luck.

Gnomes became so popular they became part of every day life in the 1920’s and 1930’s. Elves and Brownies are the indoor version of the outdoorsy gnome,

“Nodders” brought these little fellows to life.

Next time you see these little fellows in you local discount store, I hope you think about their proud past!

Chris & Anthony (The Freakin’, ‘Tiquen Guys)