When is the Holiday

International Day of Puppetry, or World Puppetry Day, has been celebrated all over the world in early spring, March 21, since 2003.

history of the holiday

The history of the holiday began in 2000 at the XVIII Congress of the International Union of Puppet Theater Figures (Union Internationale de la Marionnette, UNIMA) in Magdeburg. Exactly then, Jivada Zolfagariho, an Iranian figure of the puppet theater, proposed to establish a Day of the Puppeteer, urging: “Let puppet shows play on this day, hold discussions, arrange meetings, let all professionals and amateurs of one of the most ancient forms of art unite! Let everyone around you become participants in the holiday! Let everyone be in the puppet theater! "

Two years later, in Atlanta, a date was set for the celebration.

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  "Dollmaker". Angelo Comte de Courten (1848-1925) La fabricante de poupées Art Dolls

"Puppets". Victor Gabriel Gilbert (French, 1847-1933) Les Marionettes.

Interesting Facts

The puppet theater has been developing since ancient times. There is evidence of ritual mysteries in Egypt. The actions took place with a character depicting the supreme god of fertility and the lord of the afterlife, Osiris. The ancient Greek philosophers Herodotus, Xenophon and Aristotle also mention play dolls.

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  "The man is playing." Emzar Kiknavelidze (Georgia, 1964) "Homo ludens"

Puppet shows came to Greece and Rome with troupes of itinerant artists from India and China. It was in Greece that the idea arose to depict the world using a box without a front wall. At the bottom of the structure, through the slots, sticks were inserted to control the dolls.

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  Syuzeva Natalya Gennadievna (Russia, 1965) "Puppeteer"

The profession has been known in Russia since ancient times handicraftsmen, who dressed up the finished doll and decorated it with embroidery, lace and beads, from head to toe. Later, this profession became known as a master of decorating dolls.

Actor of the Tver Puppet Theater Alexander Stanko is the winner of the International Online Festival "Puppet Island" 2020.

The puppet theater is a truly folk art.

"Final rehearsal". Jie Wei Zhou (Chinese, born 1962) Final Rehearsal. 2010

Vietnam

Puppet theater on the water

- Vietnamese tradition, formed by the XI century AD. He appeared in the north of the country, in the villages located by the river Hongha... During the period of regular floods, the peasants gathered theatrical performances for entertainment. The characters were created from varnished wood. The performance is still held in a shallow pool, according to ancient tradition.

Italy

In Sicily the basis of the plots of traditional puppet shows is a poem by an Italian writer Ludoviko Ariosto, "Furious Roland". The characters of the work are Noble knights-paladins, fanatically devoted to any idea or person. Dolls are made of wood, richly decorated with outfits and military ammunition. Some puppets are more than one and a half meters tall.

France, Italy, Spain, Germany, Russia

One of the favorite characters in the French puppet theater - Polichinelle, the prototype of the Russian Petrushka, who loves to tell the secrets known to the whole district. Appeared on the stage of the theater in the 16th century.

Punchinelle - Pulcinello (Pulcinella Mostro - Arte Napoli)

Pulcinella. Author: Natalia Eroshenko

Author: Tatiana Chvileva

Parsley. Author: Lyubov Rogozina

Author: Lyubov Rogozina

The profession of a puppeteer

Important qualities of the profession

The profession of a puppeteer assumes artistic and creative abilities, a rich imagination. This is good vision and an eye, the ability to notice characteristic or unusual features in others. And also you need originality and resourcefulness, a tendency to work with your hands, a sense of harmony and taste, perseverance and a sense of humor.

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  Petersburg Puppet Museum: Themed Tour - Profession: Puppet Artist

Knowledge and skills

A doll artist has to work with fabrics, wood, polymer clay, porcelain, paints and many other materials. The process of creating dolls is a symbiosis of various types of arts and technologies. This is sculpture and painting, modeling and sewing of clothes and shoes, this is also hairdressing. Engineering thinking skills are sometimes useful.

Master puppeteers, whose creativity and professionalism we sincerely admire, work in different styles and directions. Their dolls are not at all alike. In some works, mastery of color is amazing, in others - a thorough study of the anatomy and deep understanding of the image. It happens that the work of a master who works in a not too close style is unexpectedly mesmerizing. Delights, does not let go, makes you think and fantasize.

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  The Old Puppeteer. Photo: Alexander Korolev, 2015

Every year the number of lovers of plunging into the fairy-tale puppet world is growing. Many people want to buy an unusual gift or be surprised at the skill of execution, unrestrained imagination, painstaking, jewelry work of the master, because dolls are able to evoke sincere feelings and emotions.

On the one hand, the Day of the Puppeteer is a professional holiday, the day of those who participate in the creation of new dolls, in the restoration of old ones, in the preservation of the heritage of puppet art, employees of museums and theaters. On the other hand, it is a holiday for lovers of dolls, children and adults.

Congratulations to everyone who considers this holiday their own!

All photos are taken from open sources on the Internet.

With love and respect, Tatiana Kalinina

Instagram @tatakalinyshka