Mid August - Kettlewell Scarecrow Festival

Written by Anne Newman - 25th August 2020 updated 2024

Each year, for one week mid-August, hundreds of scarecrows holiday in the delightful Dales village of Kettlewell, Skipton, North Yorkshire.

Human visitors try to find them all, solving clues and puzzles as they hunt.

The Scarecrow Festival website is a great way for the whole family to discover this lovely village in Wharfedale and has now been running for 26 years. There are plenty of refreshments available with three pubs and two cafes as well as places to picnic by the river. The whole event raises money to support local community facilities such as the school and village hall.

Origins

Scarecrow traditions and function is just that - to protect growing crops from birds that might eat the harvest before the humans can gather it in. During this busy time it would also have been the children's job to run around the fields and scare off any invading creatures and the more recent festivals have always been a family friendly and community occasion.

The Egyptians frightened off birds pecking at newly planted seeds near the Nile, 3000 years ago, by hanging cloths on reeds....

In Greece around 2500 BC, Greek farmers carved Priapus, one of their gods, into pieces of wood to scare birds away from their vineyards. Priapus was the god of fertility and horticulture and his image in the field may have simultaneously blessed the crop while frightening the birds.

Japanese farmers created Kakashi, to protect their rice fields, dressed in hats and raincoats. Kuebiko, the Shinto god of folk wisdom, knowledge, and agriculture, is represented in Japanese mythology as a scarecrow.

Of course they can be taken as a spiritual guardian, staving off negativity and celebrating the cycles of growth and harvest, mirroring nature in our own lives. They can be seen as frightening but not harmful and will not attack but are a warning.

The All-Ireland Scarecrow Championship takes place in Durrow, Co. Laois every year.