A scarecrow is a decoy or mannequin that is often in the shape of a human. Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.[Lesley Brown (ed.). (2007). "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles". 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. .] Scarecrows are used around the world by , and are a notable symbol of farms and the countryside in popular culture.
Design
The common form of a scarecrow is a humanoid figure dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage
such as
Corvus or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.
Machinery such as
have been employed as scarecrows, but the effectiveness lessens as animals become familiar with the structures.
Since the invention of the humanoid scarecrow, more effective methods have been developed. On California farmland, highly-reflective PET film ribbons are tied to the plants to produce shimmers from the sun. Another approach is using automatic noise guns powered by propane gas. One winery in New York has even used inflatable tube men or to scare away birds.
Cultural impact
-
Joe's Scarecrow Village in Cape Breton, Canada, was a roadside attraction displaying dozens of scarecrows.
-
The Japanese village of Nagoro, on the island of Shikoku in the Tokushima Prefecture, has 35 inhabitants but more than 350 scarecrows.
-
In the United Kingdom, where there are a few different languages and several different dialects,
-
hay-man in England
-
tattie bogle or bodach-rocais () in Scotland
[Warrack, Alexander (1982). "Chambers Scots Dictionary". Chambers. .]
-
bwbach in Wales
-
hodmedod in Berkshire
-
murmet in Devon
-
gallybagger on the Isle of Wight
-
tattie bogal on the Isle of Skye
-
mommet in Somerset
-
mawkin in Sussex
-
A supervillain named Scarecrow is part of the Rogues Gallery of the DC Comics hero Batman.
Festivals
-
In England, the Urchfont Scarecrow Festival was established in the 1990s and has become a major local event, attracting up to 10,000 people annually for the May Day Bank Holiday.
-
Belbroughton, north Worcestershire, holds an annual Scarecrow Weekend on the last weekend of each September since 1996, which raises money for local charities.
-
The festival at Wray, Lancashire, was established in the early 1990s and continues to the present day. In the village of Orton, Eden, Cumbria scarecrows are displayed each year, often using topical themes such as a Dalek exterminating a Wind turbine to represent local opposition to a wind farm.
-
The village of Blackrod, near Bolton in Greater Manchester, holds a popular annual Scarecrow Festival over a weekend usually in early July.
-
Norland, West Yorkshire, has a Scarecrow festival. Kettlewell in North Yorkshire has held an annual festival since 1994.
-
Scotland's first scarecrow festival was held in West Kilbride, North Ayrshire, in 2004,
-
Mullion, in Cornwall, has an annual scarecrow festival since 2007.
-
In the US, St. Charles, Illinois, hosts an annual Scarecrow Festival.
-
The "pumpkin people" come in the autumn months in the valley region of Nova Scotia, Canada. They are scarecrows with pumpkin heads applied to them doing various things such as playing the fiddle or riding a wooden horse. Hickling, in the south of Nottinghamshire, is another village that celebrates an annual scarecrow event. It is very popular and has successfully raised a great deal of money for charity.
-
In the Philippines in 2015,
-
The largest gathering of scarecrows in one location is 3,812 and was achieved by National Forest Adventure Farm in Burton-upon-Trent, Staffordshire, UK, on 7 August 2014.
==Gallery==
.jpg/){kind=link}