Wednesday 25 July 2012

Rzhev Happiness Doll - Ржевское счастье

Hey all!   Привет!

Резюме  Ржевское счастье  - очень милая и женственная куколка. Крохотная, головастая, с длиннющей косой, крепко стоящая без поддержки, она очень символична для женщин. Куколка в общем не обережная, но такой сильный символ, подкрепленный пожеланиями при дарении может вполне стать оберегом.

    It's a long time since I told you about Russian traditional dolls. So this is another special one (well they are all special :)

The Rzhev Happiness, or simply a Doll for Happiness.
Rzhev (Ржев) is an old town located in the European part of Russia. The town history begins as of 10th century, and in the archaeological layers of the around the same time, this doll was found.



It is hard to be more feminine than she is! Isn't it? And she is, indeed, a symbolic representation of a woman or even of femininity. Fragile and robust at the same time. 

The plate (коса) is a heart of the feminine symbol, as it a very important element of Russian women appearance. At wedding, the husband-to-be was literally buying the bride's plate. Cutting the plate of a woman was a punishment and expression of total humiliation.
The long plate is attached to the doll in a simple and ingenious way, just with threads. This plate serves also a support for the doll, so she can stand solidly without any external help.

This doll is not really protective one, but rather a doll to offer or even to play.
Still though, it is made without sewing.

The doll is usually four to six centimetres high. I tried to experiment and made her a friend, which is as high as a couple of centimetres. So I needed to make a real macro shot:


Your Kukliki

2 comments:

  1. Хорошенькая!:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Они правда милые - Ржевское счастье - редко кого оставляют равнодушными. Даже очень мужественных мужчин :)

      Delete