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History

Smell Bad? That's Good!
by Toni Giarnese

To a Japanese farmer, every rice plant is precious. If you could go back to early Japan, you would see kakashi in the fields. And you would smell these scarecrows too!

Kakashi means something that has a bad smell. That's what the Japanese farmers called their scarecrows. At first, the farmers hung fish bones, old rags, and meat from bamboo poles set upright in their watery rice fields. Bamboo poles were used because they could soak up the water without rotting. Then, the poles were set on fire. The smell of the burning rags and bones kept birds and small animals away. Eventually, the Japanese farmers shaped kakashis to look like people. The scarecrows were stuffed with straw and dressed in typical farmer's clothes. They were fitted with round straw hats that were pointed in the middle and long coats made out of reeds. Sometimes, the farmer put bows and arrows in the arms of kakashis to make them look more frightening. Though these scarecrows didn't stink, they were also called kakashis.

The Japanese believed that Sohodo-no-kami¸ one of their gods, helped to protect the crops. They thought that the god's spirit left the mountains and came to the farm to enter any kakashi that looked like a person. When birds landed on scarecrows, they told secrets to the god's spirit. That's why a farmer thought his scarecrow "knew everything under heaven".

At harvest time in the fall, the farmers held a special ceremony. They brought all the scarecrows in from the fields and put them in a big pile. The farmers circled the pile with special rice cakes for the god, lit the scarecrows with a torch, and burned them. Now the gods had something to eat on their journey back to the mountains. Next year, the farmers would make new kakashi for the spirit to enter.

The Scots called it "tattie bogle". The French call it "the terrifier". The Zuni Indians named it "the watcher of the corn sprouts". The Japanese called it "something that has a bad smell". We call it a scarecrow. As long as animals threaten crops, scarecrows will continue to dot fields just as they have been for three thousand years.

A Scarecrow for your Garden

Materials:
6 foot wooden board, 1 x 3 inches, pointed at one end
2 foot wooden board, 1 x 3 inches
Hammer and some 1 ½ inch nails
Old clothes
String
White pillowcase
Straw, rags or leaves
Markers
Small stones

Directions:
Put the short board across the long one, about a foot down and nail them together.
Pull one leg of an old pair of pants on the longer board and pull them up. Put an old shirt over the arms, tuck it into the pants, and tie the waist with string. Stuff the pillowcase, and then flatten one side for the face. Slip it on top, and then tie it in place with the flat side facing you. Draw a simple face. Dig a hole, set the long board of the scarecrow into it, and fill the hole with stones so that the scarecrow will stand straight. Fill in the hole with dirt. Add a hat or a wig, and gloves for hands. Use tinfoil plates to sparkle and clank in the breeze. And, presto! You have yourself a scarecrow.

Want to see how it's done?
http://www.powen.freeserve.co.uk/kids/scarecrow/scarecrow.htm

Looking for other scarecrow projects to try?
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/thanksgiving/scarecrow

http://www.craftsforkids.com/projects/scarecrow.htm

http://www.kindergartentreehouse.com/scarecrows.html

Resource:
Haining, Peter. The Scarecrow: Fact and Fable. London: Hale, 1988.

Toni Giarnese lives with her sweetheart of thirty-five years in a Connecticut hill town, far from her humble Italian roots. She went to school every year of her life. As both student and teacher, she was equally challenged, terrified, and humbled. Of late however, she coaxes blooms from her flowers, tinkers with kitchen gadgets, socializes in sweaty gyms, and writes for children.