Gnomes and Garden Gnomes
A gnome is a mythical creature characterized by its extremely small size and subterranean lifestyle. Reports of people claiming to have seen real, living gnomes have surfaced in several countries, with major media outlets carrying stories about purported gnome sightings. Garden gnomes are small ceramic bearded characters (usually male) that are used as decoration in gardens and lawns. The first garden gnomes were made in Gräfenroda, a town known for its ceramics in Thuringia, Germany in the mid-19th century. The garden gnome quickly spread across Germany and into France and England, and wherever gardening was a serious hobby. Currently, there are an estimated 25 million garden gnomes in Germany.
It has been suggested by some scholars that the garden gnome is based on the Greco-Roman fertility god Priapus, whose statue was often found in ancient gardens. According to folklore, garden gnomes were willing to help in the garden at night. When no one is around, the folklore suggests the garden gnomes awaken from their ceramic state and work on the gardens and lawns in which they reside. In these stories they are said to touch plant life with their magic, causing flowers to bloom, leaves to change colors, and streams to saturate the soil surrounding the plants.
Read more about this topic: Garden Gnome Liberation Front
Famous quotes containing the word garden:
“In a coign of the cliff between lowland and highland,
At the sea-down’s edge between windward and lee,
Walled round with rocks as an inland island,
The ghost of a garden fronts the sea.”
—A.C. (Algernon Charles)