Overview
Shadow play is a traditional art consisting of handmade puppets moving behind a thin translucent curtain or screen inside a dark theatre, now practised mainly in Damascus. A light from behind the stage projects the shadows of the puppets onto the screen as they move along to an oral script and music. The theatrical content of Shadow play revolves around humorous social criticisms – employing elements of suggestion, poetry, prose, singing and music – and satire is employed to relay narratives between the two main characters, the naïve Karakoz and his clever friend Eiwaz. Other characters include female personalities and talking animals. Performances are traditionally held in popular cafes, where people gather to watch stories about everyday life. The prevalence of Shadow play has declined over the years, however, notably due to the spread of modern technology and digital forms of...
This record is imported from the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage public dataset as discovery metadata. ARED has not independently verified community authority, access protocols or local naming beyond the source record.
Community and Authority
- Communities
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Languages
- Not specified in UNESCO dataset
- Cultural territories
- Syrian Arab Republic
- Countries
- Syrian Arab Republic
How the System Works
Shadow play is a traditional art consisting of handmade puppets moving behind a thin translucent curtain or screen inside a dark theatre, now practised mainly in Damascus. A light from behind the stage projects the shadows of the puppets onto the screen as they move along to an oral script and music. The theatrical content of Shadow...
Sources and Evidence
Imported from UNESCO DataHub dataset ich001. Field-level provenance is retained in the record metadata.
Field-Level Provenance
- title
- UNESCO DataHub field title_en
- preferredTitle
- UNESCO DataHub field title_fr
- summary
- UNESCO DataHub field description_en
- type
- UNESCO DataHub fields type_of_element_en and type_acronym
- countries
- UNESCO DataHub field countries, ISO codes resolved with ISO-3166 regional metadata
- categories
- ARED category inference from UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names and title
- relationships
- UNESCO concepts_primary_names, concepts_secondary_names, type fields and World Heritage links
- sourceUrl
- UNESCO DataHub field http_url_en
- rights
- UNESCO DataHub dataset metadata license and license_url
Original Source Metadata
Why This Record Is Credible
This public record is connected to 1 source and has been labelled Source Supported. ARED separates evidence sources from cultural authority so users can see both provenance and review limits.
Cultural Access
Use this as public discovery metadata only. It does not replace community authority or local access protocols.
Relationships
Review and Corrections
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