Shadow Puppets in the Middle Ages
Brief Background
Here is where we depart from the European history. For the Middle Ages, I have not found any evidence of European shadow puppets. I can find shadow theater evidence in Indonesia, China, Turkey, and the best evidence, Egypt. As far as puppetry goes, there is more evidence and writing about shadow theater than the other types, which might be due to the cultural restrictions and people writing about how they were being performed even though they were considered improper. It also doesn't hurt that there are actually extant shadow puppets that may date to the 14th century.
Egyptian Shadow Theater-An Abstract
There is a clear description of shadow puppets from 965 CE written by ibn al-Haytham in his writing Kit al-Manazir. He was an eye doctor and he described how they were made and what they looked like. “There are holes pierced in the bodies of the shadow play figures so that they can be held against the screen with a stick….The presenter holds another stick in his other hand with this he moves their head, arms, and legs. A light of a candle or lamp placed behind them casts colored shadows of the translucent figures on the white screen.”(Necipoglu p. 39) This is the earliest and one of the most complete accounts of shadow-theater in medieval Egypt.
The puppets used in Egypt in the 14th century are Mamluk style. The Mamluk Period was 1250-1517. In that time they were made from translucent camel leather. (Mari p. 722) A puppet maker known as a qassas, or cutter, would cut out the puppet with special knives and scissors. Then a megariz would do the pierce work and install the manipulation rod in exactly the right spot for proper manipulation. (Feeney p. 1) The extant puppets that I re-created had translucent, green, and yellow leather sewn to the puppets behind the cut out areas. One can see where translucent leather was attached by the stitching lines on the extant puppets. (See picture.)
Egyptian shadow plays are listed as early as the 11th century as entertainment disapproved by Jewish leaders for their likely bawdy and near pornographic content. (Goitein p. 44) The earliest complete shadow plays in existence are from the 13th century. Shams-al-Din Muhammad ibn Daniyal, who was also an eye doctor, wrote three plays at the request of a friend because the audiences were getting bored with the stale old shadow plays of the time. There are four manuscripts in existence of the ibn Daniyal plays. (Buturovic p.150) Before ibn Daniyal’s plays, and after, no full account of shadow plays exists. The earliest plays are thought to have been religious and moral in nature and the action was directed when puppet was born from a “womb” box on one side of the screen and went into a “tomb” box when their role was completed. (Mari p.722) The plays describe society and life in Islamic Egypt. (Osnes p. 17) After ibn Daniyal, we have only partial plays. These later plays were written in verse or sung so that the puppeteers could more easily remember them. (Badawi 1987 p. 3)
See Bibliography for sources. To learn more about my whole project on shadow puppets click here.
Here is where we depart from the European history. For the Middle Ages, I have not found any evidence of European shadow puppets. I can find shadow theater evidence in Indonesia, China, Turkey, and the best evidence, Egypt. As far as puppetry goes, there is more evidence and writing about shadow theater than the other types, which might be due to the cultural restrictions and people writing about how they were being performed even though they were considered improper. It also doesn't hurt that there are actually extant shadow puppets that may date to the 14th century.
Egyptian Shadow Theater-An Abstract
There is a clear description of shadow puppets from 965 CE written by ibn al-Haytham in his writing Kit al-Manazir. He was an eye doctor and he described how they were made and what they looked like. “There are holes pierced in the bodies of the shadow play figures so that they can be held against the screen with a stick….The presenter holds another stick in his other hand with this he moves their head, arms, and legs. A light of a candle or lamp placed behind them casts colored shadows of the translucent figures on the white screen.”(Necipoglu p. 39) This is the earliest and one of the most complete accounts of shadow-theater in medieval Egypt.
The puppets used in Egypt in the 14th century are Mamluk style. The Mamluk Period was 1250-1517. In that time they were made from translucent camel leather. (Mari p. 722) A puppet maker known as a qassas, or cutter, would cut out the puppet with special knives and scissors. Then a megariz would do the pierce work and install the manipulation rod in exactly the right spot for proper manipulation. (Feeney p. 1) The extant puppets that I re-created had translucent, green, and yellow leather sewn to the puppets behind the cut out areas. One can see where translucent leather was attached by the stitching lines on the extant puppets. (See picture.)
Egyptian shadow plays are listed as early as the 11th century as entertainment disapproved by Jewish leaders for their likely bawdy and near pornographic content. (Goitein p. 44) The earliest complete shadow plays in existence are from the 13th century. Shams-al-Din Muhammad ibn Daniyal, who was also an eye doctor, wrote three plays at the request of a friend because the audiences were getting bored with the stale old shadow plays of the time. There are four manuscripts in existence of the ibn Daniyal plays. (Buturovic p.150) Before ibn Daniyal’s plays, and after, no full account of shadow plays exists. The earliest plays are thought to have been religious and moral in nature and the action was directed when puppet was born from a “womb” box on one side of the screen and went into a “tomb” box when their role was completed. (Mari p.722) The plays describe society and life in Islamic Egypt. (Osnes p. 17) After ibn Daniyal, we have only partial plays. These later plays were written in verse or sung so that the puppeteers could more easily remember them. (Badawi 1987 p. 3)
See Bibliography for sources. To learn more about my whole project on shadow puppets click here.
What did you do? The early years
When I started using shadow puppets I made them out of poster board. I cut out animals and characters that I laminated for durability. I wrote some satires about silly things that were going on in the SCA at the time and I performed them at night at bardic fires and at biffy-side Theater. I could do performances during the day if there was full sunlight, but at night I had a very bright LED light that I clipped to my bodice and did Skirt-Over-Head© theater. This was very popular. I always acquired a narrator because I wasn’t confident telling the stories at the same time I was performing. You can see Mistress Jenae reading for me in the photo to the left. At night, my husband used his beautiful herald voice for my plays.
I had recently switched from using the glove puppets to shadow puppets because they were so much more portable. They all fit inside the clipboard folder Jenae is holding. For performances, my bodice has peplums that I converted to pockets so all my characters could be organized right on my body. I could manage a much larger cast by myself. It was also nice to be able to write any story and then just cut out a new character as needed in a short amount of time, rather than have to use something from my stock of glove puppets, or make a new puppet, or create a new costume. I was writing stories like Badger’s Tale, Giant’s Tale and a couple others that I never actually had the chance to perform. This era of light-hearted shadow plays was short lived because once I realized that people really liked shadow plays, I wanted to do more research to make them more authentic. It was the very next An Tir Kingdom Bardic Championship that I won and then I was too busy for the shows and had other responsibilities. I think it would be fun to get back to the simple shows and I could easily make a travel-sized set of rawhide puppets and make a new Skirt-Over-Head© theater.
When I started using shadow puppets I made them out of poster board. I cut out animals and characters that I laminated for durability. I wrote some satires about silly things that were going on in the SCA at the time and I performed them at night at bardic fires and at biffy-side Theater. I could do performances during the day if there was full sunlight, but at night I had a very bright LED light that I clipped to my bodice and did Skirt-Over-Head© theater. This was very popular. I always acquired a narrator because I wasn’t confident telling the stories at the same time I was performing. You can see Mistress Jenae reading for me in the photo to the left. At night, my husband used his beautiful herald voice for my plays.
I had recently switched from using the glove puppets to shadow puppets because they were so much more portable. They all fit inside the clipboard folder Jenae is holding. For performances, my bodice has peplums that I converted to pockets so all my characters could be organized right on my body. I could manage a much larger cast by myself. It was also nice to be able to write any story and then just cut out a new character as needed in a short amount of time, rather than have to use something from my stock of glove puppets, or make a new puppet, or create a new costume. I was writing stories like Badger’s Tale, Giant’s Tale and a couple others that I never actually had the chance to perform. This era of light-hearted shadow plays was short lived because once I realized that people really liked shadow plays, I wanted to do more research to make them more authentic. It was the very next An Tir Kingdom Bardic Championship that I won and then I was too busy for the shows and had other responsibilities. I think it would be fun to get back to the simple shows and I could easily make a travel-sized set of rawhide puppets and make a new Skirt-Over-Head© theater.