World Puppetry Day, is observed on March 21 every year. The idea came from the puppet theater Artist Javad Zolfaghari from Iran. In 2000 at the XVIII Congress of the Union Internationale de la Marionnette, (UNIMA) in Magdeburg, he made the proposal for discussion. Two years later, at a meeting of the International Council of UNIMA in June 2002 in Atlanta, the date of the celebration was identified. The first celebration was in 2003.

Did You Know?

• Puppetry is a form of theatre/performance that involves the manipulation of puppets–inanimate objects, often resembling some type of human or animal figure, that are animated or manipulated by a human called a puppeteer.
• Puppetry takes many forms, but they all share the process of animating inanimate performing objects to tell a story.
• The physical form of the puppets has always been diverse – the colourful, wooden kathputlis from Rajasthan with large eyes dancing to traditional music, Indonesia’s intricately-carved shadow puppets made of leather that tell the tale of Ramayana and the cute hand puppets made of soft plush from Germany, to name a few.
• Almost every country has a tradition of puppetry in its rich cultural bouquet.
• Hindu philosophers have likened god to a puppeteer or a sutradhar, and the universe to a stage, and how he manipulates every act and movement.