Atlas / For a happy home / MotankaNo. 81

Plate IEastern Europe & Balkans · Ukraine Motanka, drawn by Wishlore

Pl. IMotanka. A small doll of wound cloth tied with red thread, with a headscarf and a full skirt. Drawing: Wishlore.

No. 81 · For a happy home · Eastern Europe & Balkans

The motanka

A small Ukrainian doll made by winding cloth, never by sewing it. The Ukrainian Museum calls it an amulet, meant to keep harm away. We found no early record of it, and we show it as a piece for the home, not a toy.

Earliest record: No early record
Source: No early record
Region: Eastern Europe & Balkans · Ukraine
Wish: For a happy home
Layers: Record Folk Modern

Keep this symbol · from £2.99 Read the sources

The story · three layers

The story, in three layers.

Record, Folk and Modern are kept apart, and each one carries its source.

Record

Not recorded

No early record

We found no early record of the motanka. What we can show is how a museum describes it today, below.

To verify: An early record, or a dated motanka in a museum collection

Folk

Ukraine

Wound, never sewn

The Ukrainian Museum describes the motanka as a doll that is wound, never sewn, and calls it an amulet made to keep harm away from people.

III

Modern

Wishlore, today

For the home, not the toy box

We show the motanka as a piece for the home, not a toy for a child to play with. If we ever offer one, we will name the person who made it.

Motanka

No early record

Story and sources on the reverse

Pl. IIThe story card. Every printed piece carries the story and a code that opens the full source list.

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Story and source code on the reverse

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In one breath

Wound, never sewn. Who would you keep it for?

The motanka

The story, in three layers.

No early record

Wound, never sewn

For the home, not the toy box

How would you like to keep it?

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