Tiffi reads the history of the scarecrow

_Elsa_

Tiffi takes a break to get herself a glass of juice. She checks her phone again, no messages. She goes back to the computer and a picture of a scarecrow catches her eye. 

‘What would autumn be without an abundance of scarecrows, pumpkins and bundled corn stalks? The scarecrow is one of the most familiar figures of our rural landscape, not only in the United States but throughout Europe and many other countries of the world. Scarecrows have been in existence for more than 3,000 years! Who knew?

A scarecrow or hay-man is a decoy or mannequin in the shape of a human, Wikipedia explains. It is usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discourage birds such as crows or sparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.

History of the scarecrow - It was not always this way; the Egyptians used the first scarecrows in recorded history to protect their vast wheat fields along the Nile River from flocks of quail. Their version of the scarecrow was a wooden frame covered with nets. The farmers would hide in the fields and when the quail approached they would scare them into the nets. That would not only save their crop from devastation but caught quail for dinner that night.

About 2,500 B.C., Greek farmers carved wooden scarecrows in the image of Priapus, the son of Dionysus and Aphrodite, creating a “scarecrow” that was supposedly ugly enough to scare the birds away from their vineyards, ensuring a good harvest.

Later the Romans copied the Greek scarecrow custom and introduced it to Europe when their armies marched through.

About the same time, Japanese farmers started making their version of the scarecrow to protect rice fields. Their scarecrows were shaped like people, dressed in raincoats and straw hats.

In Germany, scarecrows were originally wooden, made to resemble witches, and in medieval Britain, young boys and girls were used as live scarecrows or “bird scarers” where they would patrol the fields of crops and scare away the birds by waving their arms or throwing stones. This eventually led to farmers stuffing sacks with straw and using painted gourds to make heads and faces to create “straw men” which they would then lean up against a pole to scare away the birds.

Meantime in the United States, immigrant German farmers began making human-like scarecrows called “bootsamon” or “bogeyman” that they would dress up in old clothes stuffed with straw with the proverbial red bandana tied around their neck. (Info here)

Tiffi never even thought about scarecrows before. She doesn’t leave on a farm and she never noticed any of the neighbors putting a scarecrow outdoors. 

Let’s continue here - Making a scarecrow

Start at the beginning - Seasons come and season go – the scarecrow