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.
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.
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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Why Do Puppets Exist?
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.
Different Types of Puppets
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.
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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Wolves in Books
In our previous blog article we listed a few links to craft projects featuring wolves that we found around the web. We also had a free download of a wolf paper bag puppet pattern.
Wolf Fun Facts
Our pattern of the month is the Wolf! Wolves are the largest of the Canada family which includes domestic dogs, coyotes, dingoes, African hunting dog, and many types of foxes and jackals. Interestingly, wolves do not make good guard dogs. They are naturally afraid of unfamiliar visitors and will hide rather than bark.
Rabbits in Books
In our previous blog article we listed a few links to craft projects featuring rabbits that we found around the web. We also had a free download of a rabbit paper bag puppet pattern.