The history of hand puppets
The history of hand puppets is fairly consistent, in that hand puppets have always been a part of society and are historically important to our development.
Puppets first came into our culture in the form of tribal masks that were used in rituals; these puppets were tribal ritual masks with hinged jaws or jointed skulls used in religious ceremonies. They evolved from this stage in the history of hand puppets into doll like creations with moving limbs. Native American tribes often used them as an integral part of their corn festivals and ceremonial dances.
The next evolution in the history of hand puppets seems to have been brought about by the Egyptians by the invention of jointed puppets that they made out of terracotta.
Famous philosophers mentioning puppets in their writings dot the history of hand puppets; both Plato and Aristotle mention puppet theatre in their musings on life.
There has been much debate over the years as to exactly when the Chinese culture first came into the picture in regard to the history of hand puppets; it is thought that about two thousand years ago is a good guess. They were the first people to use shadow puppets, which are puppets that are translucent and often colored with paint. The first shadow puppets were often made from stretched donkey skins, dried sheepskin, water buffaloes, pigs, or fish. A light is shone behind the figure and a screen is in front of it so that the shadow of the figure is all that is seen.
The Turkish puppeteers added waist movement to their shadow puppets and began controlling rod arm movements from the side, rather than the bottom, as the Chinese had done.Three dimensional rod puppets evolved from shadow puppets.
But many of these puppets were complicated to make and operate, and hand puppets are one of the more popular designs that have stood the test of time.
Hand puppets, like those used today, came into existence in the Middle Ages. It was at about this time that the Catholic Church started to become involved with the history of hand puppets with them being used as the primary way of spreading church doctrine. The people who did these Christian puppet shows were the priests or monks who traveled around spreading the word.
However, The Church decided puppets were no longer suitable for their teaching. Puppet Theater found a new home in the streets and fairs of the working class. The history of hand puppets changed slightly sometime in the fourteenth or fifteenth century, it is not clear, with the church deciding that it was no longer useful to use inanimate puppets to spread the word so they started using animated ones.
The history of hand puppets came into its own in the seventeenth century when hand puppets were used on a large scale to put on plays and theatres. The history of hand puppets would not be complete without Punch and Judy getting a mention. They are an important part of the history of hand puppets because they were used for the purpose of political comment in a time were it would have been suicide to do so.
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The_history_of_hand_puppets11.htm