Puppetry is a form of theatre or performance that involves the manipulation of puppets – inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer . Such a performance is also known as a puppet production. The script for a puppet production is called a puppet play. Puppeteers use movements from hands and arms to control devices such as rods or strings to move the body, head, limbs, and in some cases the mouth and eyes of the puppet. The puppeteer sometimes speaks in the voice of the character of the puppet, while at other times they perform to a recorded soundtrack.
96-500: Fredbird is the official mascot for the St. Louis Cardinals major league baseball team. He is an anthropomorphic cardinal wearing the team's uniform. Fredbird can always be found entertaining young children during baseball games at Busch Stadium . His name is derived from "Redbird", a synonym for the cardinal bird and for the Cardinals themselves. Fredbird was introduced on April 6, 1979, by
192-549: A band mascot is Eddie of the English heavy metal band Iron Maiden . Eddie is a zombie -like creature which is personified in different forms on all of the band's albums, most of its singles and some of its promotional merchandise. Eddie is also known to make live appearances, especially during the song "Iron Maiden". Another notable example of a mascot in music is Skeleton Sam of The Grateful Dead . South Korean hip hop band B.A.P uses rabbits named Matoki as their mascot, each bunny
288-521: A catalyst for social and psychological change in transformative arts . Puppetry is a very ancient art form, thought to have originated about 4000 years ago. Puppets have been used since the earliest times to animate and communicate the ideas and needs of human societies. Some historians claim that they pre-date actors in theatre. There is evidence that they were used in Egypt as early as 2000 BCE when string-operated figures of wood were manipulated to perform
384-530: A character borrowed from the Italian commedia dell'arte . By 1804 the success was such that he gave up dentistry altogether and became a professional puppeteer, creating his own scenarios drawing on the concerns of his working-class audience and improvising references to the news of the day. He developed characters closer to the daily lives of his Lyon audience, first Gnafron, a wine-loving cobbler, and in 1808 Guignol. Other characters, including Guignol's wife Madelon and
480-422: A different color representing each member. Although rabbits have an innocent image, BAP gives off a tough image. Hip hop artist Kanye West used to use a teddy bear named Dropout Bear as his mascot; Dropout Bear has appeared on the cover of West's first three studio albums, and served as the main character of West's music video, " Good Morning ". The question of whether a "hype-man" can legitimately be considered
576-562: A folk tradition. The importance of Marathi artists is evidenced, states Blackburn, from the puppeteers speaking Marathi as their mother tongue in many non-Marathi speaking states of India. According to Beth Osnes, the tholu bommalata shadow puppet theatre dates back to the 3rd century BCE, and has attracted patronage ever since. The puppets used in a tholu bommalata performance, states Phyllis Dircks, are "translucent, lusciously multicolored leather figures four to five feet tall, and feature one or two articulated arms". The process of making
672-521: A hip-hop organization's mascot is currently an active subject of debate within academic Hip-Hop circles. However, local polling in relevant regions suggests acceptance of the "hype-man" as a legitimate organizational mascot. Some television series have mascots, like the Cleatus the Robot animated cartoon figure on the U.S. sports television show Fox NFL Sunday . Another example of a cartoon mascot on television
768-651: A hundred, paraded through town during the Higantes Festival . These puppets are made as a devotion to San Clemente and as a mockery against colonial-era land owners who discriminated Filipinos. Various traditions are connected with the higantes . Since the 20th century, multiple puppet arts have developed in the Philippines. A notable Filipino puppeteer is Amelia Lapeña Bonifacio . In Burma , today called Myanmar, an elaborate form of puppet shows, called Yoke thé , evolved, based on royal patronage. The probable date of
864-518: A long tradition of puppetry. In the ancient Indian epic Mahabharata there are references to puppets. Another ancient reference to puppetry is found in Tamil classic ‘Silappadikaaram’ written around 1st or 2nd century B.C. Kathputli , a form of string puppet performance native to Rajasthan , is notable and there are many Indian ventriloquists and puppeteers. The first Indian ventriloquist, Professor Y. K. Padhye , introduced this form of puppetry to India in
960-680: A major role in shadow play theatre in most parts of India, except in Kerala and Maharashtra. Almost everywhere, except Odisha, the puppets are made from tanned deer skin, painted and articulated. Translucent leather puppets are typical in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, while opaque puppets are typical in Kerala and Odisha. The artist troupes typically carry over a hundred puppets for their performance in rural India. Rod puppets are an extension of glove-puppets, but are often much larger and supported and manipulated by rods from below. This form of puppetry now
1056-411: A number of strings, plus sometimes a central rod attached to a control bar held from above by the puppeteer. Rod puppets are made from a head attached to a central rod. Over the rod is a body form with arms attached controlled by separate rods. They have more movement possibilities as a consequence than a simple hand or glove puppet. Puppetry is a very ancient form of theatre which was first recorded in
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#17328985578051152-453: A pair of ferrets . The Norwegian Royal Guard adopted a king penguin named Nils Olav as its mascot on the occasion of a visit to Edinburgh by its regimental band. The (very large) penguin remains resident at Edinburgh Zoo and has been formally promoted by one rank on the occasion of each subsequent visit to Britain by the band or other detachments of the Guard. Regimental Sergeant Major Olav
1248-625: A puppet show within a castelet (shown right) illustrates fol. 54v of Li romans du boin roi Alixandre ('The Romance of the Good King Alexander'), a Flemish manuscript illuminated by the workshop of Jehan de Grise between 1338 and 1344. In Sicily , the sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate, painted scenes from the Frankish romantic poems, such as The Song of Roland . These same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theatres featuring hand-made marionettes of wood. In Sicilian this
1344-509: A sock and operated by inserting one's hand inside the sock, with the opening and closing of the hand simulating the movement of the puppet's "mouth". A hand puppet or glove puppet is controlled by one hand which occupies the interior of the puppet and moves the puppet around. Punch and Judy puppets are familiar examples. Other hand or glove puppets are larger and require two puppeteers for each puppet. Japanese Bunraku puppets are an example of this. Marionettes are suspended and controlled by
1440-536: A somewhat different feel to the game and to strike fear upon the rivalry teams. As time went on, mascots evolved from predatory animals, to two-dimensional fantasy mascots, to finally what we know today, three-dimensional mascots. Stylistic changes in American puppetry in the mid-20th century, including the work of Jim Henson and Sid and Marty Krofft , soon were adapted to sports mascots. It allowed people to not only have visual enjoyment but also interact physically with
1536-650: A stick, achieving minimum animation in both cases. Puppets are described in the epic Mahabharata , Tamil literature from the Sangam era , and various literary works dating from the late centuries BC to the early centuries AD, including the Edicts of Ashoka . Works like the Natya Shastra and the Kama Sutra elaborate on puppetry in some detail. China has a history of puppetry dating back 3000 years, originally in pi-yung xi ,
1632-480: A version that was a person wearing a costume. In the United Kingdom , some teams have young fans become "mascots". These representatives sometimes have medical issues, and the appearance is a wish grant, the winner of a contest, or under other circumstances. Mascots also include older people such as Mr England , who are invited by national sports associations to be mascots for the representative teams. One of
1728-466: A week on the Cardinals Kids TV show with former Cardinal Brad Thompson . He came under slight controversy in 2015 when he was seen holding a sign saying " Police Lives Matter " when the Cardinals said that Fredbird was not involved in any sort of political activity. However, a man and a woman asking for a quick photo with Fredbird said that he was unaware of the sign. Eventually, the Cardinals asked
1824-531: A wide range of styles and approaches. There are also a number of British theatre companies, including Horse and Bamboo Theatre , and Green Ginger , which integrate puppetry into highly visual productions. From 1984 to 1996, puppetry was used as a vehicle for political satire in the British television series Spitting Image . Puppetry has also been influencing mainstream theatre, and several recent productions combine puppetry with live action, including Warhorse , at
1920-572: Is Tommy Trojan who rides on his horse (and the official mascot of the school) Traveler. Many sports teams in the United States have official mascots, sometimes enacted by costumed humans or even live animals. One of the earliest was a taxidermy mount for the Chicago Cubs , in 1908, and later a live animal used in 1916 by the same team. They abandoned the concept shortly thereafter and remained without an official "cub" until 2014, when they introduced
2016-526: Is a manifestation of the Lord of Misrule and Trickster , figures of deep-rooted mythologies. Punch's wife was originally "Joan", but later became "Judy". In the late 18th and early 19th centuries, the familiar Punch and Judy puppet show which existed in Britain was performed in an easily transportable booth . The British Puppet and Model Theatre Guild in the early 20th century instigated a resurgence of puppetry. Two of
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#17328985578052112-516: Is a strong tradition of puppetry native to Indonesia , especially in Java and Bali . In Java, wayang kulit , an elaborate form of shadow puppetry, is very popular. Javanese rod puppets have a long history and are used to tell fables from Javanese history. Another popular puppetry form in Indonesia is wayang golek . Thailand has hun krabok , a popular form of rod puppet theatre. Vietnam developed
2208-575: Is also a marionette theatre at Schoenbrunn Palace in Vienna founded by Christine Hierzer-Riedler and Werner Hierzer over 40 years ago. The marionette theatre performs world famous operas, musicals and fairy tales. Marionette puppet theatre has had a very long history in entertainment in Prague , and elsewhere in the former Czechoslovakia and then in the Czech Republic and Slovakia . It can be traced deep into
2304-501: Is also found in pictorial traditions in India, such as temple mural painting, loose-leaf folio paintings, and the narrative paintings. Dance forms such as the Chhau of Odisha literally mean "shadow". The shadow theatre dance drama theatre are usually performed on platform stages attached to Hindu temples , and in some regions these are called Koothu Madams or Koothambalams . In many regions,
2400-599: Is also used to refer to mascots created by businesses to promote their products. Camilla Corona SDO is the mission mascot for NASA 's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and assists the mission with Education and Public Outreach (EPO). Mascots are also popular in military units. For example, the United States Marine Corps uses the English Bulldog as its mascot, while the United States Army uses
2496-636: Is believed that the word marionette originates from the little figures of the Virgin Mary , hence the word "marionette" or "Mary doll. Comedy was introduced to the plays as time went by, and ultimately led to a church edict banning puppetry. Puppeteers responded by setting up stages outside cathedrals and became even more ribald and slapstick . Out of this grew the Italian comedy called Commedia dell'arte . Puppets were used at times in this form of theatre and sometimes Shakespeare 's plays were performed using marionettes instead of actors. An early depiction of
2592-586: Is called " Opera dei pupi ", or "Opera of the puppets". The "Opera dei pupi" and the Sicilian tradition of cantastorie, the word for storyteller, are rooted in the Provençal troubadour tradition , in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor , in the first half of the 13th century. The 18th century was a vital period in the development of all Italian theatre , including the marionette theatre. The rod puppet
2688-511: Is especially true when the team's nickname is something that is a living animal and/or can be made to have humanlike characteristics . For more abstract nicknames, the team may opt to have an unrelated character serve as the mascot. For example, the athletic teams of the University of Alabama are nicknamed the Crimson Tide , while their mascot is an elephant named Big Al . Team mascots may take
2784-486: Is found mostly in West Bengal and Orissa . The traditional rod puppet form of West Bengal is known as Putul Nautch . They are carved from wood and follow the various artistic styles of a particular region. The traditional rod puppet of Bihar is known as Yampuri . Glove puppets are also known as sleeve, hand or palm puppets. The head is made of either papier mâché , cloth or wood, with two hands emerging from just below
2880-716: Is influenced by the Islamic culture. Karagoz , the Turkish Shadow Theatre, has widely influenced puppetry in the region and it is thought to have passed from China by way of India. Later, it was taken by the Mongols from the Chinese and passed to the Turkish peoples of Central Asia. The art of Shadow Theater was brought to Anatolia by the Turkish people emigrating from Central Asia. Other scholars claim that shadow theater came to Anatolia in
2976-659: Is located. Similarly, Pittsburg State University uses Gus the Gorilla as its mascot, "gorilla" being an old colloquial term for coal miners in the Southeast Kansas area in which the university was established. In the United States, controversy surrounds some mascot choices, especially those using human likenesses. Mascots based on Native American tribes are particularly contentious , as many argue that they constitute offensive exploitations of an oppressed culture. However, several Indian tribes have come out in support of keeping
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3072-786: Is not allowed. For example, many corporate mascots can attend non-profit events, or sports and promote their brand while entertaining the crowd. Some mascots are simply cartoons or virtual mascots, others are characters in commercials, and others are actually created as costumes and will appear in person in front of the public at tradeshows or events. American high schools, colleges, and even middle and elementary schools typically have mascots. Many college and university mascots started out as live animals, such as bulldogs and bears that attended sporting events. Today, mascots are usually represented by animated characters, campus sculptures, and costumed students who attend sporting events, alumni gatherings, and other campus events. The mascots that are used for
3168-475: Is the Sir Seven knight character on Wisconsin's WSAW-TV . Puppetry There are many different varieties of puppets, and they are made of a wide range of materials, depending on their form and intended use. They can be extremely complex or very simple in their construction. The simplest puppets are finger puppets , which are tiny puppets that fit onto a single finger, and sock puppets , which are formed from
3264-697: The Odyssey were presented using puppetry. The roots of European puppetry probably extend back to the Greek plays with puppets played to the "common people" in the 5th century BC. By the 3rd century BC these plays would appear in the Theatre of Dionysus at the Acropolis . In ancient Greece and ancient Rome clay dolls, and a few of ivory, dated from around 500 BC, were found in children's tombs. These dolls had articulated arms and legs, and in some cases an iron rod extending up from
3360-821: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders have a Shetland pony as their mascot, a ram for The Mercian Regiment; an Irish Wolfhound for the Irish Guards and the Royal Irish Regiment ; a drum horse for the Queen's Royal Hussars and the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards; an antelope for the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers ; and a goat for the Royal Welsh . Other British military mascots include a Staffordshire Bull Terrier and
3456-548: The Munich Marionette Theatre . A German dramatist, poet, painter and composer, Pocci wrote 40 puppet plays for his theatre. Albrecht Roser has made a considerable impact with his marionettes in Stuttgart . His characters Clown Gustaf and Grandmother are well-known. Grandmother , while outwardly charming, is savagely humorous in her observations about all aspects of society and the absurdities of life. In Lindau ,
3552-446: The Qajar era (18th and 19th centuries) as influences from Turkey spread to the region. Kheimeh Shab-Bazi is a traditional Persian puppet show which is performed in a small chamber by a musical performer and a storyteller called a morshed or naghal . These shows often take place alongside storytelling in traditional tea and coffee-houses ( Ghahve-Khane ). The dialogue takes place between
3648-884: The Royal National Theatre and Madam Butterfly at the English National Opera . Many regional variants of Pulcinella were developed as the character spread across Europe. In the Netherlands it is Jan Klaassen (and Judy is Katrijn ); in Denmark Mester Jackel ; in Russia Petrushka ; and in Romania Vasilache . In Russia, the Central Puppet Theatre in Moscow and its branches in every part of
3744-622: The Salzburg Marionette Theatre was founded in 1913 by Professor Anton Aicher and is world-famous. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre still continues the tradition of presenting full-length opera using marionettes in their own purpose built theatre until recently under the direction of Gretl Aicher . It performs mainly operas such as Die Fledermaus and The Magic Flute and a small number of ballets such as The Nutcracker . The Salzburg Marionette Theatre productions are aimed for adults although children are of course welcome. There
3840-619: The Seattle Kraken mascot: Buoy , and the Washington Commanders ' mascot: Major Tuddy . Costumed mascots are commonplace, and are regularly used as goodwill ambassadors in the community for their team, company , or organization . It was sports organizations that initially first thought of using animals as a form of mascot to bring entertainment and excitement for their spectators. Before mascots were fictional icons or people in suits, animals were mostly used in order to bring
3936-407: The gendarme Flagéolet soon followed, but these are never much more than foils for the two heroes. Guignol's inevitable victory is always the triumph of good over evil. The traditional British Punch and Judy puppetry traces its roots to the 16th century to the Italian commedia dell'arte . The character of "Punch" derives from the character Pulcinella , which was Anglicized to Punchinello . He
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4032-705: The mule , the United States Navy uses the goat , and the United States Air Force uses the Gyrfalcon . The goat in the Royal Welsh is officially not a mascot but a ranking soldier. Lance Corporal William Windsor retired on 20 May 2009, and his replacement "William Windsor II" was captured and formally recruited on June 15 that same year. Several regiments of the British Army have a live animal mascot which appear on parades . The Parachute Regiment and
4128-688: The "theatre of the lantern shadows", or as it is more commonly known today, Chinese shadow theatre . By the Song dynasty (960–1279 AD), puppets played to all social classes including the courts, yet puppeteers, as in Europe, were considered to be from a lower social stratum. In Taiwan , budaixi puppet shows, somewhat similar to the Japanese bunraku, occur with puppeteers working in the background or underground. Some very experienced puppeteers can manipulate their puppets to perform various stunts, for example, somersaults in
4224-585: The 16th century from Egypt . The advocates of this view claim that shadow theatre found its way into the Ottoman palaces when Yavuz Sultan Selim conquered Egypt in 1517. He saw shadow theatre performed during a party in his honour and he was said to be so impressed with it that he took the puppeteer back to his palace in Istanbul where his 21-year -old son, later Sultan Suleyman the Magnificent , developed an interest in
4320-407: The 1920s and his son, Ramdas Padhye, subsequently popularised ventriloquism and puppetry. Almost all types of puppets are found in India. India has a rich and ancient tradition of string puppets or marionettes. Marionettes with jointed limbs controlled by strings allow far greater flexibility and are therefore the most articulate of the puppets. Rajasthan, Orissa, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu are some of
4416-428: The 1930s and thereafter, states Stuart Blackburn, these fears of its extinction were found to be false as evidence emerged that shadow puppetry had remained a vigorous rural tradition in central Kerala mountains, most of Karnataka, northern Andhra Pradesh, parts of Tamil Nadu, Odisha and southern Maharashtra. The Marathi people, particularly of low caste, had preserved and vigorously performed the legends of Hindu epics as
4512-512: The 5th century BC in Ancient Greece . Some forms of puppetry may have originated as long ago as 3000 years BC . Puppetry takes many forms, but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects to tell a story. Puppetry occurs in almost all human societies where puppets are used for the purpose of entertainment through performance, as sacred objects in rituals , as symbolic effigies in celebrations such as carnivals , and as
4608-427: The Cardinals, then owned by Anheuser-Busch , to entertain younger fans at the games. He quickly became popular with fans for his dancing, habit of "beaking" the heads of supporters, and for throwing T-shirts into the stands. In later years, he has been joined by "Team Fredbird", a group of young women employed by the club who help him with his T-shirt toss and occasionally in other duties. He can also be seen rallying
4704-531: The Czech Association of Friends of Puppet Theatre and in 1912 advocated the publication of the oldest specialist puppet-theatre magazine still published today, Loutkář . Veselý played a key role in founding UNIMA (International Puppetry Association) in 1929, and was elected its first president. In 1920 and 1926 respectively, Josef Skupa created his most famous puppet characters: Spejbl and Hurvínek , comical father and his rascal son. In 1930, he set up
4800-585: The Guild's founders, H. W. Whanslaw and Waldo Lanchester , both worked to promote and develop puppetry with publications of books and literature, mainly focusing on the art of the marionette. Lanchester had a touring theatre and a permanent venue in Malvern, Worcestershire , regularly taking part in the Malvern Festival and attracting the attention of George Bernard Shaw . One of Shaw's last plays, Shakes versus Shav ,
4896-544: The Lindau Marionette Opera was founded in 2000 by Bernard Leismueller and Ralf Hechelmann . The company performs a large number of operas as well as a marionette ballet, Swan Lake . In Augsburg, the historic Augsburg Marionette Theatre was founded in 1943 by Walter Oehmichen . It continues to this day along with an adjoining puppet museum under the grandsons of the founder, Klaus Marschall and Juergen Marschall . Much earlier in nearby Salzburg , Austria,
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#17328985578054992-532: The Olympic and Paralympic games to each have their own mascots, which are presented together. For example, the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo is represented by Miraitowa , while the 2020 Summer Paralympics are represented by Someity , and the two often appear together in promotional materials. In Japan , many municipalities have mascots, which are known as Yuru-chara ( Japanese : ゆるキャラ Hepburn : yuru kyara). Yuru-chara
5088-582: The Summer and Winter Olympic games are fictional characters, typically a human figure or an animal native to the country to which is holding that year's Olympic Games. The mascots are used to entice an audience and bring joy and excitement to the Olympics festivities. Likewise, many World expositions since 1984 have had mascots representing their host city in some way, starting with the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition 's mascot Seymore D. Fair . Since 1968, nearly all of
5184-509: The action of kneading bread. Wire controlled, articulated puppets made of clay and ivory have also been found in Egyptian tombs. Hieroglyphs also describe "walking statues" being used in ancient Egyptian religious dramas. Puppetry was practiced in ancient Greece and the oldest written records of puppetry can be found in the works of Herodotus and Xenophon , dating from the 5th century BC. Sub-Saharan Africa may have inherited some of
5280-458: The air. Japan has many forms of puppetry, including the bunraku. Bunraku developed out of Shinto temple rites and gradually became a highly sophisticated form of puppetry. Chikamatsu Monzaemon , considered by many to be Japan's greatest playwright, gave up writing kabuki plays and focused exclusively on the puppet-only bunraku plays. Initially consisting of one puppeteer, by 1730 three puppeteers were used to operate each puppet in full view of
5376-502: The art form of water puppetry , unique to that country. The puppets are built out of wood and the shows are performed in a waist-high pool. A large rod under the water is used by puppeteers to support and control the puppets, creating the appearance of the puppets moving over water. The origin of this form of puppetry dates back seven hundred years when the rice fields would flood and the villagers would entertain each other. Puppet show competitions between Vietnamese villages eventually led to
5472-507: The audience. The puppeteers, who dressed all in black, would become invisible when standing against a black background, while the torches illuminated only the carved, painted and costumed wooden puppets. Korea 's tradition of puppetry is thought to have come from China. The oldest historical evidence of puppetry in Korea comes from a letter written in 982 A.D. from Choe Seung-roe to the King. In Korean,
5568-411: The choice of the mascot reflects the desired quality; a typical example of this is the "fighting spirit," in which a competitive nature is personified by warriors or predatory animals. Mascots may also symbolize a local or regional trait, such as the Nebraska Cornhuskers ' mascot, Herbie Husker : a stylized version of a farmer, owing to the agricultural traditions of the area in which the university
5664-525: The cities that have hosted the Summer or Winter Olympic Games have designed and promoted a mascot that relates to the culture of the host country the overall "brand" of that year's Games. Recent Winter/Summer Olympic games mascots include Miga, Quatchi, Mukmuk ( Vancouver, 2010 ), Wenlock and Mandeville ( London, 2012 ), Bely Mishka, Snow Leopard, Zaika ( Sochi, 2014 ) and Vinicius and Tom ( Rio, 2016 ) have all gone on to become iconic symbols in their respective countries. Since 2010, it has been common for
5760-442: The corporate world. Recognizable mascots include Chester Cheetah , Keebler Elf, the Fruit of the Loom Guys, Mickey Mouse, Pizza Pizza Guy for Little Caesars, Rocky the Elf, Pepsiman and the NBC Peacock . These characters are typically known without even having to refer to the company or brand. This is an example of corporate branding , and soft selling a company. Mascots are able to act as brand ambassadors where advertising
5856-554: The country enhanced the reputation of the puppeteer and puppetry in general. There is a long tradition of puppetry in Germany and Austria. Much of it derives from the 16th-century tradition of the Italian commedia dell'arte . The German version of the British character of 'Punch' is called Kasperle of Kaspar while Judy is called Grete . In the 18th century, operas were specifically composed for marionette puppets. Gluck , Haydn , de Falla and Respighi all composed adult operas for marionettes. In 1855, Count Franz Pocci founded
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#17328985578055952-512: The creation of secretive and exclusive puppet societies. The Philippines first developed its art of puppetry during the Spanish colonial period. The oldest known Filipino puppetry is the carrillo , also known as kikimut , titire , and potei . It was first recorded in 1879. It involves small carts used in puppet plays with figures made of cardboard utilized for shadow plays. In the late 1800s, another Filipino puppetry developed. Higantes are giant papier-mâché puppets, numbering more than
6048-426: The crowd regularly during pregame on-field ceremonies, and, occasionally, he finds time to sit behind (or on top of) the dugout to get the crowd going. After every Cardinal home victory, Fredbird takes a flag with the team's logo onto the field and waves it around. He is one of baseball's best-known mascots, and he makes hundreds of appearances year-round in the St. Louis area. Fredbird can also be seen on television once
6144-455: The dialogue, the movement of the puppet and the beat of the dholak are well synchronised and create a dramatic atmosphere. In Kerala , the traditional glove puppet play is called Pavakoothu . Afghanistan has produced a form of puppetry known as buz-baz . During a performance a puppeteer will simultaneously operate a marionette of a markhor while playing a dambura (long-necked lute). Middle Eastern puppetry, like its other theatre forms,
6240-419: The earliest was Ken Baily , whose John Bull -inspired appearance was a regular at England matches from 1963 to 1990. On October 28, 1989, University of Miami mascot Sebastian the Ibis was tackled by a group of police officers for attempting to put out Chief Osceola's flaming spear prior to Miami 's game against long-standing rival Florida State at Doak Campbell Stadium in Tallahassee . Sebastian
6336-432: The early part of the Middle Ages. Marionettes first appeared around the time of the Thirty Years' War . The first noted Czech puppeteer was Jan Jiří Brat, who was born in 1724. He was the son of a local carpenter and created his own puppet theatre. Matěj Kopecký was the most famous 19th-century Czech puppeteer, and was responsible for communicating the ideas of national awareness. In 1911, Jindřich Veselý co-founded
6432-401: The epic can take forty-one nights, while an abridged performance lasts as few as seven days. One feature of the tholu pava koothu show is that it is a team performance of puppeteers, while other shadow plays such as the wayang of Indonesia are performed by a single puppeteer for the same Ramayana story. There are regional differences within India in the puppet arts. For example, women play
6528-471: The first modern professional puppet theatre. An important puppet organisation is the National Marionette Theatre in Prague. Its repertoire mainly features a marionette production of Mozart 's opera Don Giovanni . The production has period costumes and 18th-century setting. There are numerous other companies, including Buchty a Loutky ("Cakes and Puppets"), founded by Marek Bečka . Puppets have been used extensively in animated films since 1946. Jiří Trnka
6624-402: The form of a logo , person, live animal, inanimate object, or a costumed character , and often appear at team matches and other related events. Since the mid-20th century, costumed characters have provided teams with an opportunity to choose a fantasy creature as their mascot, as is the case with the Philadelphia Phillies ' mascot: Phillie Phanatic , the Philadelphia Flyers ' mascot: Gritty ,
6720-438: The function of transmitting cultural values and ideas that in large African cities is increasingly undertaken by formal education, books, cinema, and television. There is evidence for puppetry in the Indus Valley civilization . Archaeologists have unearthed one terracotta doll with a detachable head capable of manipulation by a string dating to 2500 BC. Another figure is a terracotta monkey which could be manipulated up and down
6816-405: The glove puppet comes alive. The tradition of glove puppets in India is popular in Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, West Bengal and Kerala. In Uttar Pradesh , glove puppet plays usually present social themes, whereas in Orissa such plays are based on stories of Radha and Krishna. In Orissa , the puppeteer plays a dholak (hand drum) with one hand and manipulates the puppet with the other. The delivery of
6912-463: The mascots. Marketers quickly realized the great potential in three-dimensional mascots and took on board the costumed puppet idea. This change encouraged other companies to start creating their own mascots, resulting in mascots being a necessity amongst not only the sporting industry but for other organisations. The word 'mascot' originates from the French term 'mascotte' which means lucky charm . This
7008-749: The morshed and the puppets. A recent example of puppetry in Iran is the touring opera Rostam and Sohrab . Although there are few remaining examples of puppets from ancient Greece , historical literature and archaeological findings shows the existence of puppetry. The Greek word translated as "puppet" is "νευρόσπαστος" ( nevrospastos ), which literally means "drawn by strings, string-pulling", from "νεῦρον" ( nevron ), meaning either "sinew, tendon, muscle, string", or "wire", and "σπάω" ( spaō ), meaning "draw, pull". Aristotle referred to pulling strings to control heads, hands and eyes, shoulders and legs. Plato 's work also contains references to puppetry. The Iliad and
7104-463: The motto of a prominent Lyon troupe: "Guignol amuses children… and witty adults". Laurent Mourguet , Guignol's creator, fell on hard times during the French Revolution, and in 1797 started to practice dentistry , which in those days was simply the pulling of teeth. To attract patients, he started setting up a puppet show in front of his dentist's chair. His first shows featured Polichinelle ,
7200-746: The names. For example, the Utah Utes and the Central Michigan Chippewas are sanctioned by local tribes, and the Florida State Seminoles are supported by the Seminole Tribe of Florida in their use of Osceola and Renegade as symbols. FSU chooses not to refer to them as mascots because of the offensive connotation. This has not, however, prevented fans from engaging in " Redface "—dressing up in stereotypical, Plains Indian outfits during games, or creating offensive banners saying "Scalp 'em" as
7296-421: The neck. The rest of the figure consists of a long, flowing skirt. These puppets are like limp dolls, but in the hands of an able puppeteer, are capable of producing a wide range of movements. The manipulation technique is simple the movements are controlled by the human hand, the first finger inserted in the head and the middle finger and the thumb in the two arms of the puppet. With the help of these three fingers,
7392-520: The origin of Burmese marionettes is given as around 1780, during the reign of King Singu Min , and their introduction is credited to the Minister of Royal Entertainment, U Thaw. From their inception, marionettes enjoyed great popularity in the courts of the Konbaung dynasty . Little has changed since the creation of the art by U Thaw, and the set of characters developed by him is still in use today. India has
7488-527: The people of France as a slang word used by gamblers. The term is a derivative of the word 'masco' meaning sorceress or witch. Before the 19th century, the word 'mascot' was associated with inanimate objects that would be commonly seen such as a lock of hair or a figurehead on a sailing ship. From then to the twentieth century, the term has been used in reference to any good luck animals, objects etc., and more recently including human caricatures and fictional creatures created as logos for sports teams . Often,
7584-593: The plays. In other areas, the style of shadow puppetry known as khayal al-zill , a metaphor translated as "shadows of the imagination" or "shadow of fancy", still survives. This is a shadow play with live music, "the accompaniment of drums, tambourines and flutes...also..."special effects" – smoke, fire, thunder, rattles, squeaks, thumps, and whatever else might elicit a laugh or a shudder from his audience" In Iran , puppets are known to have existed much earlier than 1000 AD, but initially only glove and string puppets were popular . Other genres of puppetry emerged during
7680-631: The police association that had the sign to take the sign down. This article about a sports, promotional, or other mascot is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck , or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school , sports team , society , military unit , or brand name . Mascots are also used as fictional, representative spokespeople for consumer products. In sports, mascots are also used for merchandising. Team mascots are often related to their respective team nicknames . This
7776-771: The pre-recorded character dialogue to the puppets' mouth movements. Anderson returned to puppetry in 1983 with Terrahawks and the unaired pilot Space Police in 1987. Current British puppetry theatres include the Little Angel Theatre in Islington , London, Puppet Theatre Barge in London, Norwich Puppet Theatre , the Harlequin Puppet Theatre , Rhos-on-Sea , Wales, and the Biggar Puppet Theatre, Biggar, Lanarkshire , Scotland . British puppetry now covers
7872-575: The puppet drama play is performed by itinerant artist families on temporary stages during major temple festivals. Legends from the Hindu epics Ramayana and the Mahabharata dominate their repertoire. However, the details and the stories vary regionally. During the 19th century and early parts of the 20th century of the colonial era, Indologists believed that shadow puppet plays had become extinct in India, though mentioned in its ancient Sanskrit texts. In
7968-443: The puppet traditions of ancient Egypt. Certainly, secret societies in many African ethnic groups still use puppets (and masks ) in ritual dramas as well as in their healing and hunting ceremonies. Today, puppetry continues as a popular form, often within a ceremonial context, and as part of a wide range of folk forms including dance, storytelling, and masked performance . In the 2010s throughout rural Africa, puppetry still performed
8064-472: The puppets is an elaborate ritual, where the artist families in India pray, go into seclusion, produce the required art work, then celebrate the "metaphorical birth of a puppet" with flowers and incense. The tholu pava koothu of Kerala uses leather puppets whose images are projected on a backlit screen. The shadows are used to creatively express characters and stories in the Ramayana . A complete performance of
8160-401: The regions where this form of puppetry has flourished. The traditional marionettes of Rajasthan are known as Kathputli . Carved from a single piece of wood, these puppets are like large dolls that are colourfully dressed. The string puppets of Orissa are known as Kundhei . The string puppets of Karnataka are called Gombeyatta . Puppets from Tamil Nadu , known as Bommalattam , combine
8256-416: The rod and two strings, Radillo's marionettes were controlled by as many as eight strings, which increased control over the individual body parts of the marionettes. Guignol is the main character in the French puppet show which has come to bear his name. Although often thought of as children's entertainment, Guignol's sharp wit and linguistic verve have always been appreciated by adults as well, as shown by
8352-815: The techniques of rod and string puppets. Shadow puppets are an ancient part of India's culture and art, particularly regionally as the keelu bomme and Tholu bommalata of Andhra Pradesh , the Togalu gombeyaata in Karnataka , the charma bahuli natya in Maharashtra , the Ravana chhaya in Odisha , the Tholpavakoothu in Kerala and the thol bommalatta in Tamil Nadu . Shadow puppet play
8448-499: The tops of their heads. This rod was used to manipulate the doll from above, as it is done today in Sicilian puppetry. A few of these dolls had strings in place of rods. Some researchers believe these ancient figures were simply toys and not puppets, due to their small size. Italy is considered by many to be the early home of the marionette due to the influence of Roman puppetry. Xenophon and Plutarch refer to them. The Christian church used marionettes to perform morality plays . It
8544-479: The word for puppet is Kkoktugakshi . Gagsi means a "bride" or a "young woman", which was the most common form the dolls took. A kkoktugakshi puppet play has eight scenes. The Indonesian wayang theater was influenced by Indian traditions. Some scholars trace the origin of puppets to India 4000 years ago, where the main character in Sanskrit plays was known as Sutradhara , "the holder of strings". Wayang
8640-589: Was an acknowledged leader in this area. Miroslav Trejtnar is a master puppeteer and teacher of traditional Czech marionette-making skills. In 2016, Czech and Slovak Puppetry was included on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists . Throughout this period, puppetry developed separately from the emerging mainstream of actor theatres, and the 'ragged' puppeteers performed outside of theatre buildings at fairs, markets etc., continuing to be classified along with bandits and gypsies. In
8736-557: Was awarded the Norwegian Army's Long Service and Good Conduct medal at a ceremony in 2005. The U.S. Forest Service uses mascot Smokey Bear to raise awareness and educate the public about the dangers of unplanned human-caused wildfires . Some bands, particularly in the heavy metal genre, use band mascots to promote their music. The mascots are usually found on album covers or merchandise such as band T-shirts, but can also make appearances in live shows or music videos. One example of
8832-498: Was mainly of lower-class origin, but the marionette theatre was popular in aristocratic circles, as a celebration of the Age of Enlightenment . The effects, and the artful and complex construction of the puppets, the puppet theatres, and the puppet narratives, were all popular, particularly in Venice. In the 19th century, the marionettes of Pietro Radillo became more complex and instead of just
8928-400: Was seen at the 2014 Rose Bowl. Some sports teams have "unofficial" mascots: individual supporters or fans that have become identified with the team. The New York Yankees have such an individual in fan Freddy Sez . Former Toronto Blue Jays mascot BJ Birdie was a costumed character created by a Blue Jays fan, ultimately hired by the team to perform at their home games. USC Trojans mascot
9024-521: Was used to describe anything that brought luck to a household. The word was first recorded in 1867 and popularised by a French composer Edmond Audran who wrote the opera La mascotte , performed in December 1880. The word entered the English language in 1881 with the meaning of a specific living entity associated with a human organization as a symbol or live logo. However, before this, the terms were familiar to
9120-484: Was wearing a fireman’s helmet and yellow raincoat and holding a fire extinguisher. When a police officer attempted to grab the fire extinguisher, the officer was sprayed in the chest. Sebastian was handcuffed by four officers but ultimately released. University of Miami quarterback Gino Torretta told ESPN , "Even if we weren't bad boys, it added to the mystique that, 'Man, look, even their mascot's getting arrested.'" Mascots or advertising characters are very common in
9216-404: Was written for and first performed in 1949 by the company. From 1957 to 1969, Gerry Anderson produced many television series starring marionettes, starting with Roberta Leigh 's The Adventures of Twizzle and ending with The Secret Service . Many of these series (the most famous of which was Thunderbirds ) employed a technique called Supermarionation , which automatically synchronized
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