March 28th Today, I am...

...this traditional Russian Matryoshka doll!

I'm also called a nesting doll or Matrioshka, if you wish. Unfortunatelly, there is no information of who was the first to call me Matryoshka, but this name goes from Russian female name Matriona, which was a very popular name among peasants. Its Latin root "mater" means "Mother" and was associated with the image of a mother of a big peasant family who was very healthy and had a portly figure. Subsequently, it became a symbolic name and was used specially to image brightly painted wooden figurines made in a such way that they could taken apart to reveal smaller dolls fitting inside one another. Professional artist made the first painted matryoshka nesting dolls just for fun. The stacking dolls were very expressive and they won admiration of adults and children. In the initial period of matryoshka development particularly attention was paid to faces of matryoshka, clothes were not detailed painted as they are painted and decorated now. Such dolls depicted different characters and types: peasants, merchants, and noblemen. Sometimes a nesting doll portrayed the whole family with numerous children and members of households. The most popular set of matryoshka dolls consisted of 3, 8 and 12 pieces. In 1913 a 48-pieces matryoshka made by N. Bulichev was displayed at the Exhibition of Toys in St. Petersburg.

other Matryoshka dolls:

interesting Matryoshka dolls facts:

* Matryoshkas are directly inspired by Japanese Daruma dolls; these dolls are modeled on the founder of Zen Buddhism, and symbolize prosperity and good luck
* it takes two years to cure (dry) the wood before it can be used to make the dolls
* each set of dolls is made out of a single piece of wood; the smallest doll is made first
* the smallest known doll is the size of a Tic Tac
* Matryoshkas are often called “Babushka Dolls”, but this is wrong; babushka means “grandmother” in Russian and Matryoshka means “little mother,” as the dolls inside represent her children
* a Matryoshka can sell for as much as $5,000

(all facts found at Sideshare)