The World Puppetry Day is annually observed across the globe on 21st March to promote the puppetry arts and allows the association of the puppet actors of the same territory.
The day is celebrated across the globe through Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA)’s national centres and their members.
Objective:
- To promote puppet arts.
- To maintain and safeguard the traditions of puppetry along with the renewal of the art of puppetry.
- To utilize puppetry as a means of ethical and aesthetic education.
Background:
i.The World Puppetry Day was launched by UNIMA, a non-governmental organisation affiliated to UNESCO, in 2003.
ii.The first World Puppetry Day was observed on 21st March 2003.
Puppetry:
i.Puppetry is a type of narrative theatre that includes the manipulation of puppets, the inanimate objects that resemble humans or animals.
ii.The person who manipulates the puppet is known as a puppeteer.
iii.The puppets are majorly classed into 6 families,
- Marionettes – manipulated by strings
- Rod marionettes – supported by a rod
- Hand puppets – slipped over the hand
- Rod puppets – activated from below with the support of a wand.
- Shadow figures – glide behind a backlit screen
- Bunraku-style puppets – manipulated in full view of the audience.
Facts about puppetry:
The puppetry is listed under UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity which contains around 12 different forms of puppetry such as Rūkada Nātya(Sri Lanka), Puppetry in Slovakia and Czechia, Karagöz(Turkey), Sbek Thom(Cambodia), Opera dei Pupi(Italy) among others.
