Bunraku, the Japanese form of puppet theater is definitely the most striking tradition of puppetry in the world.  The stage is large, the puppets are large and some puppets are so complex it takes three puppeteers to manipulate one.

I was absolutely intrigued the moment I stumbled across Vietnamese Water Puppetry.  It is exactly what the name implies.   The puppets and puppeteers are in water giving the illusion that the puppets are floating on top of the water.

Puppetry was an integral part of the lives of the people of the First Nations who lived in Canada for centuries before the arrival of Europeans.  As with other ancient cultures around the world, masks, puppets and puppetry were used in religious ceremonies, rituals and dances.