Marionette

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A marionette is a type of puppet moved by strings, as in a puppet show. They originated from the medieval times in France and can be found in every country in the world. They can be found in box theatres, curtain theatres and black light theatres. Marionettes are considered by many to be very entertaining for both adults and children.

Sicily is home to two prominent folk art traditions, both of which draw heavily on the island's Norman and Provençal influence. Donkey carts are painted with intricate decorations of scenes from the Frankish romantic poems, such as The Song of Roland. The same tales are told in traditional puppet theatres which feature hand-made wooden marionettes. These puppet theatres are called Opira dî pupi (or opera of the puppets) in Sicilian. These same puppet theatres, and the centuries old Sicilian tradition of cantastorî (literally sing stories) have their roots in the Provençal troubadour tradition, prominent in Sicily during the reign of Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in the first half of the 13th century.

Pinocchio is a particularly famous marionette.

In the 1960s TV producer Gerry Anderson and his colleagues pioneered a technique combining marionettes with electronic components, typically to control facial features, which they dubbed "supermarionation".

The musical The Sound of Music contains a fairly detailed scene involving several marionettes worked on a stage.

The word "marionette" comes from French, where it was a diminutive of "Marion", which was a diminutive of "Marie".

The part that controls the marionette is called the hand.

Marionette sightings in culture

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