Funny holidays - International Amigurumi Day

The Land of the Rising Sun is home to many unique arts and crafts and craft techniques that have spread throughout the world. Japanese women spend their evenings embroidering temari (traditional fabric balls), making kanzashi (bone or wooden hairpins for creating a national hairstyle), creating oshie (three-dimensional paintings from scraps of fabric and paper). One of the most popular hobbies and ways of spending leisure time is knitting or crocheting amigurumi. The boom in tiny toys in the form of household items, figurines of people and animals was sparked by the cat Kitty. Thanks to her, the aesthetic concept of kawaii appeared - emphasizing and popularizing childishness, naivety and childishness by people of all ages, what in youth slang is denoted by the word “cute”. Tiny and pretty amigurumi in delicate colors and pastel tones evoke affection along with the desire to snuggle them, being the embodiment of the kawaii style. Knitting as a type of needlework appeared in Japan during the reign of the Tokugawa dynasty - during the Edo period. But the first mentions of creating soft miniature toys from threads date back to the 1920s. Until recently, art was known only within the Land of the Rising Sun. However, in 2006, knitted miniature toys made the list of the best-selling handmade goods online. In honor of the traditional handicraft technique, a holiday has been established - International Amigurumi Day is celebrated on April 25 every year. The height of each knitted and stuffed figure does not exceed 10-15 cm. Amigurumi is made in the form of animals and people, vegetables and fruits, cupcakes and donuts, hats and handbags, cacti and roses. Simple figures are crocheted or knitted entirely, more complex figures are crocheted in parts and then sewn together. Amigurumi is made either according to a description diagram or according to a table divided into columns and rows. Ready-made toys are given to friends and acquaintances or sold online. Almost all amigurumi express some kind of emotion - joy, sadness, thoughtfulness, etc. The average height of a figurine is 7 cm. But the size of some knitted keychains and other decorations can be 8 mm. Toys in the form of people, animals and birds have a minimal set of facial features, usually eyes and a mouth. Most often, parts of the body are deliberately made disproportionate, which immediately catches the eye. This cute imperfection gives the toys a cuteness, making them the epitome of kawaii aesthetics. In honor of the holiday, craftsmen post online images of their completed work or current project. Despite the fact that the technique was invented in Japan, the initiators of the establishment of International Amigurumi Day in 2017 were Italian craftsmen Marcia Scarpelli and Bianca Boneca. On April 25, it is customary to exchange secrets of making tiny figurines, share knitting patterns and order toys from your favorite craftsmen.