& India
by Jennifer J.
Images of the famous Mr. Punch
The Netherlands
'Jan Klaassen' is the Dutch equivalent to Mr. Punch. 'Mr. Punch' is the embodiment of traditional Dutch puppet theatres. In the seventeenth century 'Jan Klaassen' and 'Katrijn' first appeared in Amsterdam. The performances can still be seen. Their performances would mostly attract children.
In the earlier times puppet theatres were a large form of entertainment for the common folk of Amsterdam. They would often call it 'The Poor Man's Theatre'.
India
India has a lot of different types of puppets. You can tell their personality by the colour of their faces such as puppets with green faces are either heroes, gods or kings. Red or black-faced puppets are bad guys and orange-faced puppets are either women or wise people.
'Krishn'a played a big role in hero stories. The stories were about a brother and a cousin who were always fighting. 'Krishna' gave the brother good advice because the cousin was always being mean to her. As you probably already know, 'Krishn'a is a hero. You can tell by its green face.
Materials copyright © 1996-97 M. Hos-McGrane, Grade 6 Social Studies Class
Punch graphic based on images © The Punch Gallery (used with permission)
Web pages created by L.C. Swanson.