TRADITIONAL TOYS

TRADITIONAL TOYS, various items and devices for entertainment and children’s development, reflecting the peculiarities of national culture, lifestyle and everyday life. For the manufacture of T.t. Bashkirs widely used natural materials. The materials used for making dolls were wood: a twisted twig served as the body and legs of a doll; straws: a twisted bundle of straws, bent in half, and bandaged with threads along the neck and waist served as a doll; pieces of cloth: stitched details for the head, body, hands, and feet were filled with moss and joined together thus making up a doll. The hair was made of hemp, inner bark and wool, while eyes and eyebrows were drawn with coal. Faceless dolls were used in rituals and healing ceremonies. The T.t. also included items resembling military and hunting equipment. Among such toys, bows and arrows were the most popular. Wooden sabers, spears, and birch quivers for arrows were common among children as well. A big number of T.t. imitated various household objects: rakes, ploughs, scythes, mills, carts, etc.