SCARECROWS RISING!!!

THE TATTIE-BOGLE

The tattie-bogle wags his airms:
Caw! Caw! Caw!
He hasna onie banes or thairms:
Caw! Caw! Caw!
We corbies wha hae taken tent,
And wamphl'd round, and glower'd asklent,
Noo gang hame lauchin owre the bent:
Caw! Caw! Caw!
              -- Scottish, William Soutar

     Tattie-Bogle. Orang-orang (Malaysian). Kakashi (Japanese). Matarsack (Persian). Fuglekremsal (Norwegian). Espantapájaros (Spanish). These are the folkloric names for scarecrows, known to come alive and dance in the fields late last night, All Hallow's Eve, hay-splitting-from-their-sides and hair-a-flying-in-the-wind. Scarecrows are traditional Protector Spirits, 24/7 Guardians of the Harvest, on the look-out for black marauders (ravens and crows) and rutting ungulates with nibbling lips. The most famous scarecrow, played by Ray Bolger in the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, had a bit of a learning impediment. "If I Only Had A Brain!"
     Pagan mythology affirms the Scarecrow as the wisest of the lot - for example, a scarecrow in Japan's oldest surviving book appears as a "deity who cannot walk, yet knows everything about the world." The saying, "Everything there is to know can be found in your own back-yard" is attributed to them! 

                                       A Pumpkin-Headed Elder shares her heart…..
     

                                          Pumpkin-People Madonna with Child
     The valley regions of Nova Scotia celebrate 'The Scarecrow Invasion', when legendary Pumpkin-Headed People manifest, like zombies, during the Harvest season. Fiddles and penny-whistles strike up the tune, and hot apple cider's tippled 'round the bonfire. On November 5th, we set a-blaze scarecrow effigies of the radical anarchist, Guy, or Guido, Fawkes, who took part in the infamous Gunpowder Plot of 1605, a failed attempt to blow-up British Parliament. Mr. Fawkes has since become a role model for revolutionaries, his likeness, in the form of a mask (immortalized in the V for Vendetta film, from the popular graphic novel by Alan Moore) has been adopted by anti-imperialists and anti-capitalists in the Occupy and Anonymous movements.

     I enjoyed the raucous vibe at the Ukiah Pumpkin Fest in Mendocino County, whose theme is to "Grow Peace and Love." Children from local schools submitted scarecrows for the Festival's yearly contest. A Halloween parody of California's beloved rock n' roll / blues band, The Grateful Dead, won acclaim, entering the Hallowed Halls of Scarecrowdom, alongside iconic musician Jimi Hendrix!!! 

                   Scary Jerry, Phil Flesh, and Bobby Weird, Day of the Grateful Dead
                                               (oops, Phil wasn't the drummer, kids!)

                                 A psychedelic Day of the Dead altar for Jimi Hendrix!    

To read more about the complicated history of Guy Fawkes and The Gunpowder Plot:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes