3124 THAILAND - Traditional Thai puppets

The Thai puppetry dates back at least 300 years, the earliest recorded account of it being in 1685. Shows were often performed for the monarchy and were extremely popular during King Taksin's reign in the late 1700s. Around 1895 was first mentioned a new form of puppetry, Hun Krabok (hun means puppet, while krabok describes a type of wood which is hollow, such as the bamboo), which became shortly a popular forms of entertainmen.

1737 ITALY (Sicily) - Opera dei Pupi, Sicilian puppet theatre (UNESCO ICH)

The Opera dei Pupi is a marionette theatrical representation of Frankish romantic poems such as the Song of Roland or Orlando furioso that is one of the characteristic cultural traditions of Sicily. The sides of donkey carts are decorated with intricate, painted scenes; these same tales are enacted in traditional puppet theaters featuring hand-made marionettes of wood. The opera of the puppets and the Sicilian tradition of cantastorî (singers of tales) 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.

1708 TURKEY (Marmara Region) - Karagöz and Hacivat (UNESCO ICH)

 

Bursa was the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, between 1335 and 1363, and for that reason represents one of the richest legacies of the early Ottoman art and architecture. On the other hand, the city is famous for its Iskender Kebap, one of the best dishes of world, for the candied chestnuts (Kestane Sekeri), and for its unique peaches. As for something to purchase, Bursa is a center of the silk trade (since first silk cocoons were brought here with the caravans of the Silk Road) and towel manufacturing. It is also the homeland of the very famous Turkish folklore figures, Karagöz and Hacivat shadow puppets.

0160 INDONESIA (Java) - Wayang puppet theatre (UNESCO ICH)

Although is only the 13th largest island in the world (and the 5th in Indonesia), Java is the most populous (with 135,000,000 inhabitants), hosting 60% of the Indonesian population. Much of Indonesian history took place on this island, which was the center of powerful Hindu-Buddhist empires, the Islamic sultanates, and the core of the colonial Dutch East Indies, but also the center of the Indonesian struggle for independence during the 1930s and 40s.