History and evolution of Babushka Dolls

Dolls are girl’s best friend

Dolls are girl’s best friend be it a small girl or a grown up teenager, a girl can always talks her heart out to the dolls. Dolls are not just mere piece of toys for little girls; in fact they are their best friends and only friend in their childhood. Many little girls get badly connected to their dolls that they don’t let go of them even in their teenage. Barbie doll is the universal doll but different countries have their distinct ways of making dolls many countries make dolls according to their folk tradition e.g. Russia which makes babushka dolls.

History of Matryoshka doll

The history of babushka doll dates back in 1890 when a Russian doll maker and wood carver Vasily petrovich zvyozdochkin made a unique looking doll, and named it Matryoshka doll which later on became familiarized as babushka dolls. The literal meaning of the word babushka is an elderly woman or grandmother, but vasily petrovich zvyozdochkin gave such a name to his doll as it was not a typical pretty and sweet doll. The first doll made was painted by sergey malyutin who was a skillful folk craftsmen, he gave it a very unique and innovative look.

Sergey malyutin painted a set of eight dolls in a decreasing order of height, the first doll made looked like a village girl standing with a rooster in her hand; this depicts the village culture of then Russia. Second doll painted in decreasing order was shows smiling, sixth was shown with a sickle in her hand which depicts the trend of harvesting, fifth doll is seen with a bowl in her hand. Next four dolls are very tiny in which two dolls are little girls, one is a small boy and last one and the tiniest one is a baby. Click here for These dolls are showcasing the traditional and village lifestyle of Russia.

Original idea of Matryoshka doll

There are many rumor about the origin of the dolls, some says vasily petrovich zvyozdochkin made it just out of his creative genius where as some says that he along with his partner sergey malyutin got inspired by dolls from the island of Japan, Honshu. It has a very close resemblance with the daruma doll of Japan. The daruma doll in Japan is also called fukuruma and it is hollow doll made up of wood and designed as bodhidharma, the founder of Zen. The doll came in contact with the world when sergey malyutin’s patron savva mamontov's wife showcased it in 1990 at exposition universal in Paris.