World Puppetry Day (WPD) is annually observed across the globe on 21st March to recognise puppetry as a global art form. The day also aims to promote and honour the puppeteers across the world.
- The theme of WPD 2024 is “The Climate”.
The annual observance is led by the Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA – International Puppetry Association), a non-governmental organization affiliated to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
Background:
i.UNIMA launched World Puppetry Day in 2003 as a tool to promote puppetry.
ii.The first–ever World Puppetry Day was celebrated on 21st March 2003.
About Puppetry:
i.Puppetry is the art of making and manipulating puppets for use in some kind of theatrical show.
ii.Puppets are inanimate objects which often resemble some type of human or animal figure. The person animating or manipulating the puppet is called a puppeteer.
iii.The different forms of puppetry include Marionettes, Rod puppets, Hand puppets, Flat-figure puppets, Shadow puppets, Bunraku puppets, Stick puppets and Finger puppets.
Points to note:
i.The term Puppet is derived from the Latin word ‘Pupa’ which means “doll”.
ii.India is known as the home of puppets and the earliest reference to the art of puppetry is found in Tamil classic ‘Silappadikaaram’ written around the 1st or 2nd century B.C by Ilango Adigal.
UNESCO recognition:
i.Several forms of puppetries are inscribed on the UNESCO’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity and the Register of Good Safeguarding Practices.
ii.Some of the puppet technics on the lists are, Indonesia’s Wayang puppet theatre (2008); Italy’s Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian puppet theatre(2008); China’s Nanyin (2009) and Chinese shadow puppetry (2011); Republic of Korea’s Namsadang Nori(2009); Türkiye’s Karagöz (2009); Egypt’s Traditional hand puppetry(2018); Sri Lanka’s Rūkada Nātya(2018).
About Union Internationale de la Marionnette (UNIMA):
UNIMA is a non-governmental organization affiliated to UNESCO.
President– Karen Smith
Founded on 20th May 1929
Headquarters– Charleville-Mézières, France
