Origins of Puppetry of Southeast Alaska

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.

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Origins of Puppetry in the Arctic of Western Alaska

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. 

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Origins of Puppetry in Northern United States

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.
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Creation Process of the Person Puppet

Even though we’ve been designing animal hand puppet patterns since 2014, it wasn’t until 2019 that we designed a human type puppet pattern. Up until then, we focused on animal hand puppet sewing patterns. In all honesty, it took me that long to figure out how to create a human puppet pattern. Making most animal patterns is easy, because animals have muzzles. The hand operating the puppet fits perfectly in the muzzle. Humans really don’t have muzzles to put a hand in. Our mouths are inside our heads, not an extension like animals or birds.
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