A small rag doll called Kuvadka, which came from the depths of centuries, was in ancient times the main attribute in the ceremony of the birth of man. This rag doll, whose appearance is very familiar to us at the level of subconscious memory, was in every family, in every house of our ancient Slavic ancestors. They were made together with young children, and each Kuwadka doll had its own purpose, mainly aimed at protecting from unkind spirits and attracting health, prosperity and welfare.
Mystery of birth
Unfortunately, many details of some interesting ancient Russian rites and customs have not reached our times. The Kuwada rite ceased to exist about 150 years ago, but we know some of the details of its conduct.
The value of the Kuwadka doll was great in this ancient rite, which is associated with the birth of a person and is aimed at protecting the newborn. A bath room was always prepared for childbirth in Russia - the availability of hot water was at hand, and it was not customary to give birth in a house where other relatives and older children could be. Sensing the approach of childbirth, the woman with the midwife went to the bathhouse, and the future father, with all responsibility and seriousness, proceeded to “quit” in the waiting room.
Rite of Kuwada
For the Kuwada rite, it was necessary to hang several Kuwadok dolls along the walls of the dressing room. Then the man took a basket with eggs and sat on it in the dressing room, depicting a hen-hen. The more the woman in labor screamed during the attempts, the more the husband also tried to moan and scream. This was done so that evil spirits would be distracted from the woman in childbirth and not do anything wrong to the mother and child, and harming a baptized adult man is not so easy.
And why are Kuwadki dolls, you ask? Our ancestors believed: after giving birth, evil spirits could sense that they were deceived, and very angry. To place their malice, they should have been on humanoid dolls. The newborn was hidden for some time in a closet, and his father wore a rag bundle until the infant was baptized, and his mother changed into men's clothes. After the baptism, which was usually carried out 7-10 days after the birth of the baby, dolls and parcels were burned. It was believed that fire clears all the negativity and malice of evil spirits stored in them.
Over time, the child grew up, and 3-5-7 new Kuwadok dolls were made for him, always in an odd amount, otherwise the property of the amulet would be lost. Dolls served as the first toys for the child, so to speak, prototypes of rattles, and also protected the baby from all the bad things.
Amulets dolls
Nowadays, this rite can be treated with irony, but it doesn’t hurt to know where the Kuwadka amulets come from. You can also tell children about this in an accessible way, while developing a child and introducing him to Russian culture.
Kuvadka doll is one of the oldest among the rag Russian amulets, of which there are many species. Puppets amulets in Russia played a large and significant role throughout the life of a person. The most famous amulet dolls are the Bereginya doll, which guarded the hearth, the Insomnia doll (was on guard of children's sleep and ward off nightmares), the Uspusknaya doll (attracted success in any business), the Shestirochka doll or Filippovka (helped needlewomen do the work quickly and efficiently) . Since ancient times, many other dolls-amulets have been known, which helped our ancestors in any life cases.
Children from 4-5 years old can be involved in the manufacture of Kuwadok dolls. The youngest ones will be interested in looking at the process, choosing the material, helping to present something, and older children can make such a doll on their own.
Material needed
Ritual dolls Kuvadki in Russia were made without the use of piercing and cutting objects, that is, without needles and scissors. It was believed that the use of sharp scissors spoils relations in the family, and the sound of tearing fabric should scare away evil spirits, who strove to prevent them from making a talisman doll. By the way, only women were engaged in the manufacture of dolls for amulets, starting to needlework in a good, positive mood and saying the necessary prayer or conspiracy.
But we will not blindly follow the traditions. For the manufacture of Kuwadki dolls with our own hands from fabric, we will use a good mood, and for convenience you can also use scissors.
When choosing a fabric should take into account its naturalness. Pieces of flax, calico or any cotton fabric, both variegated and plain, are perfect, as there are. The size of one piece of fabric should correspond to the size of the hand, about 20x10 cm. The second piece can be made square, 10x10 cm. You should not strictly adhere to these sizes, you can take either a larger or smaller size, the main thing is to keep the proportions - a rectangle and a square.
You will also need threads to match the fabric, or, conversely, contrasting. You can take the floss or fold the usual threads in several layers.
Central Russian
The assumption that each Russian province had its own version of the doll, expressed in a special torsion or color of clothes, is proved by the Tula and Vyatka Kuvadki that have survived to our time. They are based on the Central Russian doll Kuvadka, a master class on the manufacture of which will help even an absolute beginner in this matter.
To do this, take a rectangular flap and bend it along the length from the edges to the center to get 3-4 bends on each side. The resulting long, narrow, multi-layered strip of fabric is bent in half across and tied with thread, thus marking the head of the doll. You do not need to break the thread.
We turn the second square flap in the same way into several layers, wrap the threads around the edges - these will be the hands of the doll with its palms.
Under the folded first flap, in the center, place our hands, and with the thread coming from the head, we wrap the chest crosswise and the doll’s waist. Everything, you can admire the doll made by Kuwadka with your own hands!
Tula
To make a Tula doll, you need to slightly twist the twist. To do this, a rectangular piece of fabric folded several times, as in the first version, needs to be scrolled several times in the center. Then, from the scrolled fabric, we form the doll’s head - we connect the twisted fabric into a ring and tie it with a stronger thread, without breaking it.
The handles of the Tula Kuvadka are the same as those of the Central Russian. We insert them under the head of our doll and bandage her chest and belt. The skirt of the Tula Kuvadka needs to be straightened, it turns out magnificent, in the form of a trapezoid.
Vyatka
How to make a doll Kuvyadka Vyatka? To do this, you need to take two pieces of fabric (preferably the same) of rectangular and square shape.
At the Vyatka Kouvadka, the hands and head will be from one piece of fabric, and the body dress from the second. We take the first square shred and fold it in half diagonally - it will look like a triangle. Then we fold the fabric in several layers from an acute angle to the center. We round off the central part to form the head and fix the loop formed with our fingers. It turns out the head and handles on the sides. Then, holding a loop, we pass a rectangular flap into the doll’s head, after collecting it in beautiful folds. We bend our dress in half, the front skirt can be made more authentic. We fix the flap dress at the “neck” of the Kuvadka doll with a thread. Cross the threads through the chest of the doll and tie it on the belt. The Vyatka doll Kuvadka is ready, you just need to straighten the skirt.
Kouvadka doll: a master class for children, tips
There is nothing more entertaining than joint creativity with a child. At the sight of the result of his handmade work, the child's eyes light up and creative “wings” grow. And what can we say about the benefits of such activities! This is the development of perseverance, fine motor skills, imagination and tactile sensations, as well as an important acquisition of new skills.
The Kuvadka doll is so simple and uncomplicated in its manufacture that after making one doll with a child, he can try to make the rest himself. To do this, you can only slightly alleviate the task for the smallest ones, replacing, for example, always tangled threads with a comfortable thin satin braid. You can also replace the fabric with paper napkins, and then paint the resulting doll as desired with colored crayons or felt-tip pens.
Thus, dolls can be made as many as you want. They can be divided into boys and girls, into "adult" dolls and their children. Try to come up with stories of games with your own made dolls. Your child will be delighted and will keep these joint games in mind.
Boy and girl
We’ll make small corrections in the manufacture of the Central Russian Kuvadka doll, given above, so that we get a boy doll. Boys are "determined" primarily by pants. It is very simple to make them, you just need to bifurcate the ends of the doll’s body and thread each edge of the fabric with thread, forming the feet of the doll-boy.
To give even more recognition to the girl, you can make Central Russian Kuvadka long hair from floss or yarn. To do this, cut the length of the threads, approximately equal to the hands of the doll. Then put them in the upper part of the flap-head, fold in half, and after that, tie the head of the pupa with thread. Hair can be braided in one or two braids.
Decoration of Kuwadok dolls
It is not forbidden to draw with a felt-tip pen the eyes, nose and mouth of the doll. Faces can be with different expressions. Although our Slavic ancestors categorically did not do this, believing that evil spirits could infuse a doll with a face and cause harm.
Also, having shown imagination, you can create a headpiece for a doll from a small piece of fabric - a scarf, a hat or even a hat, or a miniature handbag thrown over the doll’s shoulder. For a girl doll, you can cut an apron or even another dress and arrange a game with changing clothes.
You can create a garland from cute rag Kuvadok and hang it as an interior decoration. For this, you just need to pass a thread through the heads of the dolls, as if stringing them. An excellent solution would be to use Kuvadok as a Christmas tree toy.
Hand-made small dolls will be an excellent gift for loved ones, keeping the warmth of your hands and soul.