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Garden gnome liberationists are individuals and groups advocating the "freedom" of garden gnomes, small decorative ceramic bearded characters, often stealing them and moving them to new locations. The phenomenon and the liberationists have received substantial media coverage and been featured in films, television and local news stories. == Gnomes and garden gnomes == (詳細はgnome is a mythical creature characterized by its small size and subterranean lifestyle.〔 (【引用サイトリンク】 ''Encyclopædia Britannica'' Online entry for "gnome" )〕 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.〔Londos, E. (2006). Kitsch is dead--long live garden gnomes. ''Home Cultures'', 3(3), 293-306. 〕 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.〔Peter D. Arnott, ''An Introduction to the Roman World.'' London: MacMillan, 1970; Judith Harris, ''Pompeii Awakened: A Story of Rediscovery.'' I.B.Tauris, 2007, p. 117. ISBN 1-84511-241-5. Hugh Lloyd-Jones, ''Greek in a Cold Climate.'' Rowman & Littlefield, 1991, p. 64. ISBN 0-389-20967-8.〕 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 color, and streams to saturate the soil surrounding the plants.〔Gates, T. (2002). Garden gnomes guard a serious wildflower haven. ''Farmers Weekly'', 137(5), 112.〕〔Dinkelacker, H. (1996). "The renaissance of the German garden gnome". ''Journal of Popular Culture'', 30(3), 27-33.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Garden gnome liberationists」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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