Shrovetide is one of the few pagan holidays widely celebrated today. Traditionally, folk festivities are organized on this day, they gather at a large table and try pancakes with various fillings, and in the end, when it gets dark, a scarecrow is burned. Why not support this interesting and colorful original custom and not conduct a ceremony at home, in a close family atmosphere? If you do not know how to make a stuffed Carnival yourself, this article is for you.
Will we burn winter?
It is customary to make a doll no lower than human height, and if possible more, and burn it by evening. If you plan to arrange a holiday for friends and relatives, you can make small souvenirs as a keepsake. These may be small pupae depicting winter. Be sure to connect the children to the creative process. Tell them how to draw a scarecrow on Shrovetide, offer to make thematic crafts. Do not forget to explain the meaning of the holiday. For burning, it’s worth making a rather large stuffed animal. If there is not enough material, use a pole to lift it a certain distance from the ground.
We make a frame
But we want the winter to burn out completely and leave us? Then for the manufacture we will use only materials that can completely burn out. Take for the frame two wooden slats or ordinary, fairly thick sticks. How to make a stuffed Pancake week do-it-yourself from them? Very simple - you just need to connect them in the form of a cross. The easiest way is to nail. If the wood elements are thick enough, screw the screws into the joint. For a souvenir doll, which is not planned to be burned, you can make a wire frame.
Outfit and Filler
For pagan ceremonies, dolls from time immemorial were made from fine dry brushwood or straw. Today in the city to find these materials is not so simple. If you have enough time, try heading to the village. You can visit the pet store. But get ready for the fact that dry food for animals of this type will have to be paid not very cheaply. Any rags are suitable for creating clothes and a doll's head. It can be old women's dresses or a separate skirt and blouse. A light pillowcase or t-shirt is perfect for the head. Start with this element. Fill the fabric with hay, form a pillow that looks like a circle and attach it to the frame. Tie the ends tightly. Now you can dress up the body. In order for the filler to hold in it, tie all available holes of the orders with tape or a dense thread. As you see in the photo, the stuffed Pancake week can be made with a skirt freely fluttering in the wind.
We continue to decorate the doll
Surely in any home there is clothing that until today has not been thrown out just because it is too lazy to do it.
If you have a similar bundle of things, it's time to sort it out. Bright scarves can be tied around the neck or head. Put on your shoulders an old shawl or sweater. Do not forget about the hair. You can put on an old wig or a carnival wig that has lost a presentable appearance. Decorations will also be useful, but approach their choice carefully. Black smoke, when a scarecrow is burned at Shrovetide, is inappropriate. Namely, it is produced in large quantities by plastics used for the manufacture of modern jewelry. Hair can be made from threads or flaps of fabric. If there is enough material, experiment with hairstyles - braid braids or make ponytails. Scarecrow should be bright, use colored fabrics. On clothes, you can sew patches in a chaotic manner. The work is laborious, but the result is worth it. Some craftswomen even make skirts in patchwork technique. You can sew with any thread, and the stitches do not have to be straight.
Final decor
The ancient Slavs made ritual and play dolls for children without faces. It was believed that a scarecrow with painted facial features looked too much like a living person. The bad thing is that such a doll may well become a vessel for the evil spirit. Adhere to this tradition or not - it's up to you. Burning a stuffed animal on Shrovetide is the main ritual, so in any case, the spirit will soon be left without a “body”. Therefore, you can not be afraid and make the doll more expressive. A face can be marked with stitches of threads or drawn. Any paint, even ordinary children's gouache, will do. Make the scarecrow funny or strict - to your liking. The doll symbolizes winter, which means that you can add some seasonal elements to her costume. For example, decorate it with paper snowflakes or draw them on clothes.
