PuppetFestival: 2008

The puppet comes with the primitive man, when he saw his shadow reflected by making bonfires on the walls of caves. Then, to move, he moved those images and that was when the need arose to make these figures. He used the skin of animals that hunt. They were flat, made from animal skin. This was the first demonstration of puppets that existed and thus a ‘shadow play’ was created. The roots of puppetry were conserved in India, Indonesia and Burma. Puppetry originated as a sheet of paper in a single dimensional form. Then it spread everywhere. Puppetry went to Turkey and Africa. Thus the field of puppetry evolved in a new form and shape – from a shadow puppet to a newly emerging puppet with a body in a three dimensional form. The first materials to build puppets were skin and wood. Then came the figures carved in wood. Subsequently, they began to make them with more modern elements: paper mache and then came the plastic. The material evolves according to the evolution of the elements that are created. Puppets appeared before the art of puppetry. The puppet theater was used for contemporary rites, dances and pampered scenes of religious or called to the deities. They were always characters who have something to do with religion or with the tradition of the heroes or the gods of the place. The Ramayana and all the legends and eastern philosophies are the first texts that were preserved and the passed and preserved with puppetry.

The origins date back to ancient civilizations such as China (2000 BC), India, Japan, Egypt, Greece, and Italy (Rome). In the Middle Ages, the Church used it to represent biblical passages, representations were made with puppets miracles, the mysteries of the virgin and made up in the some churches. But as the puppet may be confused or linked with the idol, they were passed on and thus this gave rise to the Puppet squares and the puppeteers. The puppet scripts most popular were stories of knight, comedies and dramatic stories.
Burattini from Italy is known for hand and glove puppets. Fantoccini from France is known for marionettes and puppets that move with wire. Guignol from Spain introduced the minstrels. The figure of Punch from England. Vittorio Podrecca (1883-1959) was a famous puppet master Italian, founder of puppet theater and puppets, which toured the world under the name of Puppets Podrecca. Writers and renowned musicians wrote for Podrecca, who is said to have acted in more than five hundred cities, making fifteen thousand shows, all of exceptional quality artistic representation. When the discovery reached Americas, especially Mexico and Peru? There is no written documentation, but what is preserved is that when Hernan Cortes arrived, he brought, among its soldiers, two puppeteers who were puppets to entertain. The Indians did a lot of games and performances and also played with puppets.
In Argentina, Boca created the first stable puppet theatres. With the arrival of Federico García Lorca created another stream puppeteers. Hence, arose Mané and Javier Bernardo Villafañe. Then came all those who nurtured them and are continuing the tradition with Puppeteer Sarah Bianchi, Ariel Bufano, Brothers Di Mauro, Virginia Pasetti, Jose Ruiz and M. Lopez Ocón.

August 18, 2008
This is an example of learning by Lucia. Lucia found this in a Spanish language and then she translated it into the English language. Good Job! Manisha (Lucia’s supervisor)