Ascarecrow is adecoy ormannequin that is often in the shape of ahuman.Humanoid scarecrows are usually dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discouragebirds from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.[1] Scarecrows are used around the world byfarmers, and are a notable symbol offarms and thecountryside in popular culture.
The common form of a scarecrow is a humanoid figure dressed in old clothes and placed in open fields to discouragebirds such ascrows orsparrows from disturbing and feeding on recently cast seed and growing crops.[1] Machinery such aswindmills have been employed as scarecrows, but the effectiveness lessens as animals become familiar with the structures.[2]
Since the invention of the humanoid scarecrow, more effective methods have been developed. On California farmland, highly-reflectivealuminizedPET film ribbons are tied to the plants to produce shimmers from the sun. Another approach is using automaticnoise guns powered bypropane gas. One winery in New York has even used inflatable tube men orairdancers to scare away birds.[3]
Scarecrow ofThe BFG at Norland Scarecrow Festival, West Yorkshire, EnglandUrchfont Scarecrow Festival, Ali Baba
In England, theUrchfont 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.[18] Originally based on an idea imported fromDerbyshire, orKettlewell, North Yorkshire,[19] it was the first Scarecrow Festival to be established in the whole of southern England.[20]
Belbroughton, northWorcestershire, holds an annualScarecrow Weekend on the last weekend of each September since 1996, which raises money for local charities.[21][22] The village ofMeerbrook in Staffordshire holds an annual Scarecrow Festival during the month of May.Tetford andSalmonby,Lincolnshire, jointly host one.[20]
The festival atWray, Lancashire, was established in the early 1990s and continues to the present day. In the village ofOrton, Eden,Cumbria scarecrows are displayed each year, often using topical themes such as aDalek exterminating aWind turbine to represent local opposition to a wind farm.[20]
The village of Blackrod, near Bolton in Greater Manchester, holds a popular annual Scarecrow Festival over a weekend usually in early July.[20]
Scotland's first scarecrow festival was held inWest Kilbride,North Ayrshire, in 2004,[27] and there is also one held inMontrose. On theIsle of Skye, the Tattie bogal event[28] is held each year, featuring a scarecrow trail and other events.Tonbridge inKent also host an annual Scarecrow Trail,[29] organised by the localRotary Club to raise money for local charities.Gisburn, Lancashire, held its first Scarecrow Festival in June 2014.[20]
In the US,St. Charles, Illinois, hosts an annual Scarecrow Festival.[31] Peddler's Village in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, hosts an annual scarecrow festival and presents a scarecrow display in September–October that draws tens of thousands of visitors.[32][33]
The "pumpkin people" come in the autumn months in the valley region of Nova Scotia, Canada. They are scarecrows withpumpkin 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.[34] Meaford, Ontario, has celebrated the Scarecrow Invasion since 1996.[35][36]
In the Philippines in 2015,[37] the Province of Isabela started a scarecrow festival named after the local language: the Bambanti Festival. The province invites all its cities and towns to participate for the festivities, which last a week; it has drawn tourists from around the island of Luzon.[37]
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.[38]
^abLesley Brown (ed.). (2007). "Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles". 6th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN978-0-19-923324-3.
^Hartshorne, Henry (1881),The Household Cyclopedia of General Information, New York: Thomas Kelly,Machinery of various kinds, such as wind-mills in miniature, horse rattles, etc., to be put in motion by the wind, are often employed to frighten crows; but with all of these they soon become familiar, when they cease to be of any use whatever. Additionally, the humanoid frame of the traditional scarecrow was thought to aid in deterring the birds. The most effectual method of banishing them from a field, as far as experience goes, is to combine with one or other of the scarecrows in vogue the frequent use of the musket. Nothing strikes such terror into these sagacious animals as the sight of a fowling-piece and the explosion of gun powder, which they have known so often to be fatal to their race. Such is their dread of a fowling-piece, that if one is placed upon a dyke or other eminence, it will for a long time prevent them from alighting on the adjacent grounds. Many people now, however, believe that crows like most other birds, do more good by destroying insects and worms, etc., than harm by eating grain.
^Starkey, Ryan (7 November 2023)."Map of British English dialects".starkeycomics.com. Starkey Comics.Archived from the original on 21 November 2023. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^Kinsley, Austin (29 August 2015)."Bisterne Scarecrow Festival".silentearth.org. Silent Earth. Archived from the original on 6 December 2023. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^"Scarecrow words".relatedwords.io. Related words.Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^Warrack, Alexander (1982). "Chambers Scots Dictionary". Chambers.ISBN0-550-11801-2.
^"Bwbach".oxfordreference.com. Oxford Reference. 2023.Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved1 December 2023.
^"Devon: local history".bbc.co.uk. British Broadcasting Company (BBC). 13 May 2009.Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved1 December 2023.
^"Urchfont 25th Scarecrow Festival".urchfontscarecrows.co.uk. Urchfont Scarecrow Festival Charity. 2023.Archived from the original on 24 May 2024. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^Scarecrow Committee (a subcommittee of Belbroughton Parochial Church Council)."Belbroughton Scarecrow Festival".Archived from the original on 2018-08-10. Retrieved2014-10-02.
^Unknown, Andrew (8 February 2022)."A History Of Scarecrows".sunandseedlings.com/. Sun and Seedlings.Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^"Schedule of events 2023".scarecrowinvasion.com. Meaford Scarecrow Invasion. 2023. Archived fromthe original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved30 November 2023.
^abAbad-Bergonia, Virginia (8 February 2018)."Bambanti Festival 2018".Manila Times.Archived from the original on 26 January 2024. Retrieved30 November 2023 – via Province of Isabela.
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