Although as adults we have never lived near each other, my brother and I have been close since we were babies. Now we are retired and still the best of friends.
In this picture, we are maybe five and three. We are at the local park in our town in Germany. At the time we had no idea that we would be living in Canada soon, and spend the rest of our lives being happy and grateful Canadian citizens.
But see the little puppets we are holding? These were our Kasper puppets. We played with them a lot, making up scenarios and imaginary plots.
I think they helped keep us out of trouble and kept our imaginations active, if not wild.
Did you know that the Kasper puppet character was first made popular in the 17th century? Kasper was like a German-speaking Punch who did some punching, but mostly he used a slapstick to punch the devil, or witch, or the crocodile, who were often the evil characters in his plays, where he promoted good behaviour. Punching the bad guy was acceptable in those days.
Here is the typical Kasper. I found this photo on the Wikipedia site, but couldn’t see whom to credit with the photo. My apologies to the photographer.
Looking more closely at our own Kasper puppets, I don’t think they look as scary as this traditional one.
We spent many a happy time playing with our Kasper puppets and I have fond memories of those childhood days.
Did you ever have a puppet or make up puppet plays?
IMPORTANT NOTE!!!
For the month of July, my novels will be half price on www.smashwords.com You can also go to my webpage www.anneli-purchase.com and find out all about the novels before clicking on the link to smashwords (or amazon) on that webpage.
Smashwords is good for all e-readers as well as paperback.
If you prefer to buy from amazon, the novels will be available for Kindle there, and in paperback, of course.
*The Wind Weeps remains free, but be sure to get the sequel, Reckoning Tide. All novels other than the FREE one are priced at a bargain $1.50.
July 5, 2019 at 7:57 pm
Puppets. Clowns. Frightening!
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July 6, 2019 at 12:10 am
This was before the clown. The Punch face is scary now, but I don’t think our puppets had that “Punch”-like look.
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July 6, 2019 at 1:41 am
Yes. You are right Anneli
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July 6, 2019 at 2:55 am
Like Live & Learn, I was always afraid of puppets and clowns. I do remember doing puppet shows with my friends, but we used socks and made happy faces on them. 🙂
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July 6, 2019 at 9:35 am
So did we! Later, I mean, when we no longer had our Kasper puppets!
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July 6, 2019 at 4:05 am
Your puppets looks indeed much sweeter than the traditional one on the photo. I am currently living in Germany but haven’t yet seen children playing with Kasper puppets. Maybe they are a little out of fashion now.
As a child, I lived in France and we often went to see “Guignol” in the puppet theater. I loved it. However, I wanted to go there with my daughter during our last holiday in France and she did not want because she was afraid of the puppets.
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July 6, 2019 at 9:42 am
Oh what a shame that she’s afraid of puppets. What has society done! And yes our puppets were sweet. Not a hint of menace in them nor a thought of evil. And yes, they would be out of fashion now, of course.
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July 6, 2019 at 5:23 am
Sweet memory!
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July 6, 2019 at 9:36 am
It really is. We knew nothing about Gacy and clowns then.
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July 6, 2019 at 5:47 am
Your Kaspar looks menacing!
Lots of handmade puppets and kiddie shows for sure. But what I remember most were the two marionettes (one for myself and one for my younger brother) we received one Christmas…OliveOyl and Popeye!
😀
Great for the imagination, sure, but also great for fine motor skill development! HA!
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July 6, 2019 at 9:37 am
I agree that the photo of Kasper I got off the internet is menacing, but ours had friendly faces.
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July 6, 2019 at 6:28 am
Oh my, Kasperle! I didn’t have a puppet like him, but my parents often took me to the “Kasperle Theater”, a puppet show in the vein of a Punch-and-Judy show.
This post evokes happy childhood memories. Thanks, Anneli!
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July 6, 2019 at 9:40 am
I’m glad for that, Pit. Thanks for your nice comment.
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July 6, 2019 at 12:22 pm
You’re welcome!
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July 6, 2019 at 7:03 am
Thanks for the glimpse of Kaspar! I don’t think I ever had a puppet. Lots of little toy animals though, and the adventures that we had! …well, in my imagination anyway.
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July 6, 2019 at 9:38 am
I think it’s good for kids to use their imaginations. Glad you experienced that. We had little animal figurines later too, that we used to make up scenarios. Fun!
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July 6, 2019 at 7:59 am
Originally, Der Kasper found its popularity first in southern Germany, where he was the star of the
“Kasperl Theater”. He always had a funny, happy face and was basically a guy who did mostly funny stuff, but of course, in the theater, he was also the hero of many tales. Kids normally loved him.
Kids (and grown ups) who did a lot of nonsense, fooling around and do comic antics, were called Kasper, they did a lot of “kasperln”
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July 6, 2019 at 9:39 am
YES! That’s how I remember it too. Funny how when you say it, I remember that, but I wouldn’t have been able to come up with the details myself. Too young then.
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July 6, 2019 at 10:21 am
I always had fun at the Kasperle theater and so did the other kids – that’s a long long time ago… Kind of nice to remember those events, bringing us back to our early youth.
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July 6, 2019 at 1:21 pm
I don’t think we ever saw the puppet shows, but we had to make our own. So nice that you got to see them,Ursula, and that it brings back happy memories.
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July 6, 2019 at 11:04 am
I love that photo of you and your bro. I’d not heard of a Kasper puppet before. I did not play with puppets as a kid. We did put on a few shows, but they were silly plays. We also made a haunted house for Halloween in our basement a few times. I wish I could say I was close with my brother, and it was him I did it with, but no. It was usually my next door neighbor, Nancy, who is like a sister to me. We are still “sisters” and recently went to see the 4th of July fireworks together.
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July 6, 2019 at 1:23 pm
The “silly” plays are what it’s all about. My brother and I did “silly” plays all the time and had loads of fun. Too bad you and your brother didn’t share what I did with mine, but we adjust and make connections that work for us. I’m glad you found a good friend in Nancy. Happy weekend, Lori.
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July 12, 2019 at 4:30 am
Adorable photo. Do you and your brother get to see each other often? My brother and I are 18 months apart and played well together as you and your bro did. We never had puppets though. We played ‘house’ under a card table with a sheet. I think puppets would have been more fun!
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July 12, 2019 at 9:18 am
I will see him in a month for his son’s wedding. We did lots of improvised play, using big packing boxes to make puppet theatres, or tipping the kitchen chairs upside down and putting blankets over them. Sounds like we made similar kinds of our own fun with our brothers.
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July 12, 2019 at 10:41 am
Oh, you brought back great memories (Yes, the upside down chairs with blankets). Bet you’ll have a blast at your nephew’s wedding.
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July 12, 2019 at 11:13 am
Yes, I’m looking forward to it. They live in Calgary and I don’t get out that way very often. Always enjoy it when I do, though.
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July 12, 2019 at 12:26 pm
Really liked seeing the photo of you and your brother, Anneli, and hearing how you played together. Sounds like it was the creative beginning of your writing career.
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July 12, 2019 at 2:10 pm
I think my brother and I were both were bitten by the same “writing” bug.
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July 22, 2019 at 10:34 am
A great photo of you and your brother. I never had a puppet. I think I was close to my brother but he did not play with me. I played with sticks and built houses under the shade trees in the back yard. Some were elaborate dwellings.
Thanks for the remembering of puppets and happy play days.
At five, my mom made me a Raggedy Ann doll which I still have. She is very old and fragile now.
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July 22, 2019 at 10:50 am
What a treasure your doll is! It’s wonderful (and amazing) that you still have it. You should take a picture of it and do a blog post about it.
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July 22, 2019 at 12:37 pm
I think I did Anneli. I will look and see and maybe repost.
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July 22, 2019 at 2:43 pm
Or just send me the link. I must have missed it.
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July 22, 2019 at 2:46 pm
I found it and tried to reblog after updating but I did not know how to reblog. It just updated.
The name of the post is Raggedy Ann dolls.
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July 22, 2019 at 2:57 pm
I figured it out and sent the link plus reblogged
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July 22, 2019 at 4:19 pm
I looked it up and saw that I had clicked the Like button on it two years ago, but I guess I had forgotten about it. Anyway, it was nice to have another look at your post. Your mom sure gave you a lot of support. Lucky you. What a lot of dolls she made!!
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July 22, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Those are just the ones she made for me. Many in her small community have dolls.
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July 22, 2019 at 4:23 pm
Good for her. She obviously liked doing it and she made a lot of people happy.
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