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.
The Hopi who live in the southwest region of the United States utilized quite a few puppets in religious ceremonies. The pageantry of the ceremonies complete with the costumes, dancing, singing and plays could rival any pageant performed today. One ceremony using puppets involves the Maiden Corn Grinders.
Use our plans and instructions PDF to build your own portable puppet stage.
In this blog, we are traveling to southeast Alaska. The puppets of the Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest Coast were very elaborate and more varied than the puppets of both the northern region of the United States and Arctic Alaska. The ceremonies were also huge productions.
In this blog we will travel to the frozen Arctic Zone of North America where the Inuit lived. The Yup’ik speakers of Western Alaska still use mechanical figures. Ceremonies were held to celebrate important occasions and to ensure successful hunting.
Continue reading “Origins of Puppetry in the Arctic of Western Alaska”
I wanted to do a blog series on the history of puppets in the United States. While searching for information, I discovered that puppetry has been around a lot longer than I thought. Puppetry used by the Native American Nations is fascinating.
Continue reading “Origins of Puppetry in Northern United States”
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Next puppet of the month: Chicken
Why did puppets and puppetry ever get started? The consensus of historians is that all over the world puppetry started in the area of the sacred with religious ceremonies. Puppets were used as ritual objects that were animated to either bring forth or to appeal to supernatural forces.
50% off the Pig puppet pattern. Website only sale ends 8-31-22.
Next puppet of the month: Dog
I admit that my knowledge of puppet history is pretty limited. I’m aware of Asian shadow puppetry, Punch and Judy and Carnival puppets. That was pretty much it, so I started to investigate with the ever so helpful Google.
