Title: 
The  history  of  the  gnome.

Word Count:
487

Summary:
Greeted  by a garden gnome people often grimace in horror and mutter some displeasure  while  thinking  how  anyone  could anyone  have  one  of  those  in  their  back  garden.  But  we’re  also  told ( from  people  in  the  know) that there  are  approaching  four  million  of  them  in  southern  Germany  and  if  you  know  where  to  look  there’s  quite  a  few  in  the  US  aswell.


Keywords:
gnomes


Article Body:
Greeted  by a garden gnome people often grimace in horror and mutter some displeasure  while  thinking  how  anyone  could anyone  have  one  of  those  in  their  back  garden.  But  we’re  also  told ( from  people  in  the  know) that there  are  approaching  four  million  of  them  in  southern  Germany  and  if  you  know  where  to  look  there’s  quite  a  few  in  the  US  aswell.

Well  it  doesn’t  surprise  me  about  the  Germans, since  the  first  gnomes  graced  us  with  their  appearance  about  160  years  ago.  The  first  logged  appearance  was  in  the  UK  about  1840  in  Lamport  Hall.  According  to  local  myths  gnomes  are  very  lucky.  It  is  documented  in  the  1870’s  that  manufacture  began  on  a  large  scale.  Apparantly  they  are  meant  to  help  around  the  house  and  garden, and  in  more  isolated  areas  were  meant  to  guard  over  produce  and  livestock.

Eventually,  the  European  gnome  creators  became  experts  and  masters  of  their  work.  During  it’s  most  popular  period  a  gnome  factory  in  Griebel,  Germany  produced  over  300  different  characters.
In  1989,  after  the  collapse  of  the  iron  curtain,  savvy  businessmen  entered  the  market in the  Czech Republic  and  started  to produce  cheap  imitations  of  the  original  characters.  At  first  they  were  stopped  from  entering  Germany  by  a  law  customs  officers  confiscate  those  gnomes  who  were  infringing  copyright laws.
Unfortunately,  it  is  all  now  all  quite  slack  on  the  German  border.  The  grandson  of  the  founder,  Reinhard  Griebel,  now  has  just  one  workshop  and  the  gnome  museum.

The  first  gnomes  were  always  characterised  as  gardeners  carrying  out  daily  country  tasks,  but  this  grew  to  fishermen,  sportsmen,  musicians  and  many  more.  Then  they  started  to  model  ones  from  people  still  living  out  of  clay  or  stoneware.   

In  North  Devon,  in  the  southwest  of  England, there  is  a  gnome   reserve.  There  are  over  one  thousand  pixies  and  gnomes  in  the  four  acre  reserve.  Gnome  fishing  equipment  and  hats  are  given  out  so  the  gnomes  feel  at  ease.

They  are  others  that  have  a  very  different  opinion  about  them.  FreeTheGnomes.com  provides  Garden  Gnome  Liberation  information  and  urges  people  to  take  action.  They  proclaim  that  “ Thousands  of  gnomes  are  enslaved  across  America.  For  too  long  we  have  let  are  neighbours  usurp  the  rights  of  these  gentle  woodland  creatures.  Join  the  boycott.  Organise  a picket  demonstration.  Write  to  congress.  Free  a  gnome.  We’ll  show  you  how.”

Some  groups  have  even  crossed  to  the  wrong  side  of  the  law.  In  April  2000  the  Garden  Gnome  Liberation  Front  in  a  nighttime  raid  on  a  Paris  convention  stole  20  gnomes.

By  the  way,  if  you’re  thinking  of  selling  your  home,  a  study  made  in  2003  concluded  that  a  gnome  in  your  front  garden  would  lower  the  price  of  your  house  by  about  £400. 


For  more  info:


For  more  info:  <a href="http://www.gardeningsupply.info/articles/a_house_is_not_a_home_without_a_gnome.html">A house is not a home without a gnome.</a>


