Now that fall is here, we are starting to turn our attentions to some of the lesser known myths and legends regarding this time of year. And what better way to kick off the autumn season than with the myths surrounding the scarecrow? Therefore, today we will be looking at a few of the origin stories of scarecrows from around the world.
Scarecrows have been around since the ancient world, used by farmers to ward off birds from fields in order to keep the crop before it is harvested. The earliest signs of scarecrows being in use actually comes to us from ancient Greece. Aphrodite had a son named Priapus — God of fertility and horticulture — who was considered horribly ugly, and it was discovered that birds had tended to avoid any fields in which Priapus had been. Therefore, wooden statues of Priapus were erected in fields in order to keep the birds at bay.
However, the ancient Greeks were not the only ones to use a scarecrow. In pre-feudal Japan, scarecrows of different styles littered the rice fields. The most popular of the scarecrows used, however, were called the kakashi. These scarecrows were thrown together using old, dirty rags and bells and stick and were mounted on a pole before being lit on fire. Due to the smoke and the smell — kakashi literally translates to “something stinky” — the birds would stay away. The kakashi were actually based off of a Japanese deity named Keubiko who was a god of agriculture and wisdom. He couldn’t walk, but he knew everything, and his likeness was mimicked in the creation of the kakashi.
Human-like figures weren’t always used as scarecrows, and sometimes keeping the birds away was a full-time job. In Europe during the Middle Ages, small children would run around in the fields and clap blocks of wood together in order to scare away the birds. These children were called “crow-scarers.” Though after the plague struck, leaving fewer children around, the farmers decided to try to stuff old clothes with straw, placing a turnip or gourd on top as a head, mounting these figures in the fields. This method worked, of course, and soon these human-esque figures were used instead.
Of course, we still see this tradition continuing on today. Straw-stuffed clothes and fabric disguised as human-like guardians are still used, leaving them to protect not only our fields, but to decorate our homes during the fall season. So next time you see a scarecrow, keep in mind the history of such a simple figure, and remember what our ancestors did in order to ensure that the birds would stay away.
For more reading on the scarecrow (sources):
https://japanesemythology.wordpress.com/tag/kuebiko/
https://www.thoughtco.com/scarecrows-guardians-of-the-harvest-2562307
While pagan traditions tend to lean towards the harvest itself, Japanese tradition tends to focus inward towards their own family and ancestors. However, it isn’t just the autumnal equinox but both, and these periods are called Ohigan. According to Japanese Buddhist beliefs, the land of the afterlife is due west, and during these times the sun sets directly west, causing these solstices to become symbolic of both the deceased and the transitions of life. During the weeks surrounding the equinoxes, it is common to visit both your living relatives and the graves of one’s ancestors in order to both pay respect and clean the grave site, leaving flowers behind when you depart. 
Are you ever terrified of traveling alone at night down dark roads? What if there were reports of a large, black dog that jumps on top of travellers and viciously attacks them? Terrified now? Well, in Dutch folklore there exists such a creature, and it is called the Kludde.
Vampires. The world has seen quite the evolution for the blood suckers in pop-culture, from Dracula to Interview with a Vampire all the way to Twilight, though one thing remains
Structures made of bones have been a topic of fascination for as long as they have been around. From catacombs to religious structures to homes, bones have become a part of contstruction that we rarely hear about anymore, but still exist.
In 1631 the Capuchin Friars arrived in Rome with the remains of their deceased. They interred their brethren beneath the church and, as time went on, others were brought via pilgrimage and laid to rest within as well. Of course, that’s when they exhumed the remains of their earlier-buried brethren in order to place them on display within the five alcoves. While this may seem a bit morbid to some, it actually makes sense within Christianity to become fascinated by what we have left behind, especially since the belief in the Resurrection shows that our time on Earth is fleeting. In fact, a sign now greets visitors who flock to the church doors to this day, reading, “As you are, we once were. As we are, you shall one day be.” Though this was supposed to be a reminder as to what we leave behind, it is quite a sight to see the monks still in their habits, their skeletal faces gleaming beneath their hoods.
Some other places made of bones — though not necessarily human — include the catacombs in Paris (which houses the remains of over six million bodies), the prehistoric mammoth bone huts that were discovered near the Ukrainian village of Mezhyrich, cattle bone houses in Texas that have been constructed over the last fifteen years and are still being made (though not fully made of bones, they are used in the construction of homes), and the dinosaur bone house in Wyoming that was constructed in 1933 and made of 5,796 dinosaur bones (mortared together) in order to draw in business to the family’s gas station.