Through the Ages Some Toys for Girls and Boys Have Changed Hardly at All

Bay of Plenty Times, Volume LXXVIII, Issue 15161, 19 December 1949, Page 4

Through the Ages Some Toys for Girls and Boys Have Changed Hardly at All

Boils in Ancient' Egypt

CHILDREN HAVE ALWAYS HAD PLAYTHINGS OF ONE SORT OR ANOTHER

TO WHOM —in a world 1 1 1 aI, in four decades, has survived two devastating' wars and lias seen'a steady swing from a spiritual to a more material outlook —does Christmas mean most ? You should sec the answer in the eyes of the youngsters particularly the smaller youngsters -- when they are sent bed wards on Christmas Eve. fortunately for them the serious thing's of life arc far away. Their thought's for the moment are happily concentrated on the morrow and the delightful surprises

if will briny

Many of the gifts which they so> eagerly await are playthings of the child which have changed littleover .thousands of years. It seems, in fact, that children have always had playthings of some form or another. . Today however, the mechanically-minded -are catered for by toys which would have astonished their forebears. Relics remain today to show the playthings of the children of ancient Egypt. The toys of the children of this distant civilisation included earthenware, metal and stone dolls. A British Museum collection of these relics includes a flat wooden doll with strings of mud beads representing the hair, a bronze woman bearing a pot on her head, and an eathenware doll carrying and nursing a child. In addition to the dolls, some of which have movable arms, are a number of toy animals. There is a wooden calf and a porcelain elephant with a rider. The elephant once possessed movable legs, but these have disappeared. There are also a number of balls, made of leather stuffed with hair, chopped straw and other materials, while others are made of blue porcelain and papyrus (the paper reed, from the stem of which ancient writing paper was made). Greek And Roman Times There are also jointed dolls, moved by string, which were evidently the favourite playthings of Greek and Roman children, and small models of furniture, including tables and chairs, and sets of jugs painted with scenes of children’s life, also surviving from Roman and Greek times. In further support • for the assertion that the amusements of children have changed little through the ages there are tops and rattles and articles for numerous games which are still favourites in many countries. However, some of these objects, may, it is admitted, have been used as workmen’s models, or as votive or sepulchural offerings. Common among civilised and savage peoples, the doll, the familiar toy puppet of childhood, is one of the oldest human institutions, its antiquity attested by Egyptian, Greek and Romain remains which include small figures of clay, wood, bone and ivory. Some of these have been recovered from old graves. “Scapegoat” Doll A primitive type of child’s doll in Japan consists of a shaved willow stick, with shavings or strings representing hair, and paper clothes. A scapegoat doll, dressed and fed and generally treated as though it lived, was given to mothers in old Japan to ward off evil from their children. Japanese children have ordinary dolls and ceremonial dolls. These symbolise the imperial court and are not played with but are exhibited formally at the girls’ festival on May 3. Similarly, Japanese boys have like toy images. These represent warriors and are displayed at the boys’ festival on March 5. A spirit that may bring harm to their children is said to he seen in every doll by Mohammedan women in Baghdad. The dolls, therefore, are not given as toys, but small girls, following _ their instincts, make dolls from pillows and blocks of wood. Magical Observances In Africa, certain forms of dolls are peculiar to certain regions and their use by the children is apt to be complicated by magical observances. Among one tribe in the

Orange Free State, a girl is given a doll when she becomes of age and she keeps it until she has a child. Her mother then gives her another doll which she keeps until she has second child. Dolls used as playthings were associated with the Christmas festival in the earlier centuries in Christian Europe. A structure representing the scene of the Nativity was erected in churches and private houses, where the Christ child was displayed in its cradle, with more or less elaboratelycostumed figures of the Holy family, the Magi and their retainers. The Netherlands and the Tyrol have long been the leading centres of European doll-making. During the First World War elaboratelycostumed dolls intended to illustrate seasonal fashions were often made by women artists to make a living in the period of hardship. These dolls were bought by adults for ornamental purposes. Produced in large numbers, they became very popular as gifts and keepsakes among the well-to-do.