A mamushka is a hollow doll that, inside, contains another smaller figure, which in turn houses another smaller one, and so on.
Mamushkas are traditional Russian dolls , whose origins date back to the late 19th century. It is a hollow figure that, inside, presents another smaller doll , which in turn houses another smaller one and so on.
It is important to note that the mamushka concept is used in several Latin American countries , although Russians call these dolls something else: matrioshkas . The reason for both denominations can be traced in the language of the nation of the tsars.
Origins of the terms mamushka and matrioshka
Matrioshka comes from Matriona (or Madrona , in Spanish), a common name in ancient Russia . The etymology of Matriona is linked to a “mother of the family” ; That is why the Russians related that name to the image of a corpulent peasant mother and over time it became a symbolic name. The matrioshkas, in this way, would represent different generations of women.
The notion of mamushka, meanwhile, is a combination of Matriona and babushka , a word whose translation is “grandmother” . It could be understood, in this framework, that a collection of mamushkas is formed with grandmothers and mothers along with the rest of the descendants of a family .
Mamushkas are traditional from Russia.
Emergence of these dolls
Although the origin of mamushkas is not known with certainty, the oldest one dates back to the 1890s and it is believed that they may have been inspired by similar dolls that were manufactured in Japan . Even if this were true, in Russia there were already other artisanal products that were based on a similar system, which consisted of storing one inside another, such as Easter eggs and apples.
In recent decades, already positioned as the typical souvenir that tourists acquire when visiting Russia , mamushkas have diversified in terms of materials and characteristics. There are mamushkas of personalities, fictional characters and family groups with their pets, for example.
Mamushkas are generally made of wood. The most common is linden, since it is very light and its texture is very fine. The trees intended for this task are cut in April to take advantage of their large volume of sap. After the wood is cut, it is processed for a minimum of two years before continuing.
Maliutin's mamushkas
Some evidence suggests that its creator was a painter named Sergei Maliutin , who had a workshop north of Moscow. According to this version, a patron who worked with him brought a set of Japanese dolls that consisted of the image of the god Fukurokuju that contained those of the seven gods of fortune.
His fascination with the game was such that he drew it in his own style. Its design was carved and painted by Vasily Zviozdochkin and Sergiev Posad, respectively. In this case there were eight dolls: the oldest was a girl; the youngest, a baby; the rest, an alternating series of boys and girls.
A few years later, the patron's wife presented the new creation at the Universal Exhibition in Paris , where it received a bronze medal. After this success, its diffusion began and in a short time new versions began to appear.
Representation of Soviet leaders
At the time of economic reform known as Perestroika , a variety of mamushkas emerged with the image of the different leaders of the Soviet Union.
The oldest represented Mikhail Gorbachev, and was followed by Leonid Brezhnev, Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin and, lastly, Vladimir Lenin. There are two names absent from this list because their terms did not last long: Yuri Andropov and Konstantin Chernenko.
Mamushka, a chocolate brand
In Argentina , finally, Mamushka is a chocolate brand founded in 1989 in the city of Bariloche .
Over the years its manufacturers also began to produce other products, such as ice cream and cakes (cakes or pastries).