Today, March 21st, is World Puppetry Day.
by Dennis Walker
The craft of puppetry has deep roots in varied cultures across the globe. From India to Vietnam, from Mexico to Nigeria, the art of puppetry is a living folk tradition that educates and inspires audiences with the magic of storytelling and stagecraft.
The historical role of the puppeteer is equal parts cultural archivist and trickster, historian and entertainer. Traditional puppet performances often educate audiences about cultural values by spinning witty and engaging morality tales that help calibrate and guide the people who inherit the traditions. Every culture has their own unique interpretation of the craft, lending to a global folk heritage that is as rich and varied as the individual cultures who collectively comprise our global village.
One notable example of the craft hails from the island of Bali, Indonesia. In Bali, the traditional ‘Wayang Kulit’ shadow puppet craft features flat leather cut puppets affixed to sticks that are projected onto white cloth screens via kerosene lamps or flickering candles set behind the puppets. The show also contains a musical element produced by the native Gamelan instruments. The primary subject matter of shadow puppet theater focuses on Hindu mythology, bringing stories from such texts as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata Hindu texts to modern audiences.
The famed water puppets of Vietnam originated when farmers began converting their flooded rice fields into aqueous theatrical spectacles, manipulating little wooden puppets via a network of subaquatic strings to create the illusion of puppets dancing on water.
Puppeteers on the African continent were first documented in the 19th Century, though it’s believed that the craft hails to the precolonial era with ancient roots that are difficult to pinpoint. The written account of puppeteers on the African continent comes from Nigeria in 1829, when a duo of traveling puppeteers on mules were encountered by the Englishman Hugh Clapperton.
The famous Italian folktale Pinocchio is emblematic of traditional Italian puppetry. The morality tale spun here focuses on the value of being truthful and earnest, as evidenced by the growth of Pinocchio’s nose whenever he tells a lie. Though it’s difficult to substantiate, the advanced state and presence of puppetry in 15th Century Italy suggests that the craft of puppetry likely dates back to the Roman empire or efore in the region of present day Italy.
In Japan, Bunraku Puppetry started as a popular form of entertainment song commoners in the Edo Period in Osaka sometime in the late 17th Century.
In contemporary culture, The Muppets stand as a testament to the enduring power of the puppet craft. Characters such as Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, The Cookie Mobster, Big Bird, and Oscar the Grouch have enthralled audiences around the world for the last 40 + years.
More recently, Team America: World Police debuted as a satirical social commentary on the imperial ambitions of the United States, though it is intended for a more mature audience given its creators are Trey Parker and Matt Stone of South Park fame.
Today, the Psychedelic Puppet Show emerges to carry on the ancient craft of puppetry and to interpret it for the age of digital media and artificial intelligence. We honor the roots of the craft while opening it up to advances in technology, bringing the magic of storytelling and puppetry into a new era. We flip the traditional relationship between puppeteers and their audience on its head, inviting our audience to participate by submitting content that helps to educate, inspire, and uplift the psychedelic community en route to the mainstreaming of psychedelic culture.
We invite you to join us on this adventure as we continue to explore the vanguard of psychedelics, storytelling, and technology through the art of the puppet.