Basque ethnography at a glance

Scarecrow. Azkoitia (Gipuzkoa), 2018. Idoia Tolosa. Labayru Fundazioa Photographic Archive.

Placed in open cultivated fields, vineyards and fruit groves, homemade humanoid scarecrows have been a common way to protect freshly broadcast seed, growing crops and fruit harvests from birds, though in recent times are being partly substituted by more effective methods. They have been mostly used in fields of wheat and maize, and still guard young onion plants, turnip intended for seed, broad beans and green peas with filled pods… Several dummies might be needed for large areas. In fields of crops they are installed in June, and in vineyards in September; fruit trees with abundant ripe fruit, especially cherry trees, are also protected. Common names for ‘bird scarers’ are espantapájaros, in Spanish, and txorimaloak, txori-jagoleak or kusoak, among others, in Basque. (more…)