I love Babushka dolls for
no reason that I can explain. Well, maybe because they always bring out the kid
in me. The process of taking them apart, no matter how often I repeat it, is
always fascinating and holding a grain of surprise. The principle is probably
as old as time itself. Every time I open one doll another almost identical will
show up, surprise!!! And so I go on and on until finally I get to the ‘baby’,
the last and the only one that cannot be taken apart.
But this is by far not
the end of the pleasures a babushka doll can offer. Now I can put it back
together and piece by piece construct order into the world until the final one
is done and the whole creation is lying in the palm of my hand, complete as it
was the minute I started. Vibrant colors, smiling face, the wood so smooth and pleasant
to the touch.
Being a retired educator
I sometimes ponder the educational value of the Babushka doll as part of a wide
category of stacking and nesting toys. But I know that while working on the
same principle there is something innately and unexplainable different about
this one.
It is possible to take the Babushka doll significance
further like this sentence I found on the net;
“Called by many names,
Matryoshka Dolls, Babushka Dolls, stacking Dolls, the Nesting Doll is a world
renowned symbol of maternity, continuity, layers of personality, and of Russia
itself.”
Or even expand further
than that;
“I would like to offer an
understanding of the way biblical prophecy works which is on the ‘Babushka Doll
principle’ let me explain; The core of this “doll” is the initial utterance by
the prophet and carries a literal meaning. He may not be aware that there is significance
in his words beyond his present day...”
http://www.birthpangs.org/articles/prophetic/babushka_principle1.html
I am not sure that I can buy the deep philosophical theological approach but can’t avoid thinking about the allure of this simple wood creation that beyond pure childish pleasure gives me the satisfaction of moving from order to chaos and back again in minutes.
I've always called them 'Russian dolls' and had never heard them called babushkas--do they always wear babushkas?
ReplyDeleteThis hits the prompt square on and takes an unusual approach. Most interesting to me is the Biblical prophecy quotation. That business of words having meaning their author may not be aware of is one of the things I'm after in 162, week 11 particularly, and something you and I have talked about in the past.
I have no belief whatsoever in the notion that the Hebrew prophets were prophesying the coming of Jesus when they talked about messiahs, sacrificial lambs, sons of god, sons of man, and so on. But undoubtedly later circumstances allowed their words to take on significance they never would have dreamed of.
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