Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Where, Oh Where, Oh Where, is Shadow?

"Wayang Kulit", leather shadow puppets used to retell H*ndu epics. Cute, huh?

There is a narrator, singer, and musicians all behind a screen so the puppets cast large shadows. These can last for as long as nine hours and they start around 9pm!


Today in class we had to retell a telling of a H*ndu epic that we had translated as our homework the night before. With well over 100 new words it was insane and difficult to find the words that we knew to retell the story. The story within the story is that this "show" is taking place at a boy circumcision party......uh, 'nuf said! Not blogging on that one! :)

The only shadow puppets I have seen, other than the ones we made ourselves as kids, (ya know, the "dog barking", the "butterfly", the "snake" and all the other crazy ways you distort your hands and call it some type of animal like a swan!) was the shadow puppet on "Bear in the Big Blue House", hence the title of the post. Marshall watched the show as a toddler and even "Shadow" with her ponytail on that show would creep me out a little, but these puppets are over the top in the whole creep factor!!

Anyway, this got me thinking, in English (sorry Pelatihs!), that this could be a fun way to share the stories from the "Manual" with children (or maybe even adults)! By making our own puppets that would look like characters from the Manual, more realistic but cartoon-ish like out of a children's "Manual" (not creepy, pointy, distorted features), it would be distinguished from the other puppets. It just might be a way to take something from their culture and use if for sharing HIStory!! Just a random thought but this could be a great way to use our home for a "kids club" outreach activity! Be praying about this, I will run it by those who have been here longer to see if it would have any negative drawbacks, but I am always looking for creative ways that I can be used over here!!

Thanks for the encouragement you guys give, it means SO much!!

2 comments:

Christina said...

I love the idea ... praying with you ... love you so ...

Shannonigans said...

Fantastic IDEA! Look forward to hearing more...;)