LAKE BAIKAI TO CICADAS AT COPPACABANA

Home of the Small Sand Doll

Introduction II PES

Birch Matryoshka Dolls and Pes have many similarities. Both are Russian and are Nesting Dolls, with exciting links to fairytales. 'Matr; comes from the Russian word for 'mother', Traditionally the Matryoshka dolls are made and painted like a woman with a baby inside. The very first one was painted in a village near Moscow and is still housed in a local museum.

Pes descended from a Siberian minority tribe whose village was located on the misty picturesque shores of Lake Baikai in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia. Lake Baikai is the deepest freshwater lake in the world and the only place where fresh water seals (Nerper) are found.

Matryoshka dolls from this village have baby seals inside and are decorated in the bright colours of the spectacular snow capped mountains and green lime forests that reflect in the cloudy waters of the lake. Pes has a small teak chest where she hordes anything of value from precious gems to fridge magnets. At times other dolls take refuge in it.

The unexplained mystery of the Great Siberian Explosion in 1908, forever changed the culture of the once God-fearing reindeer herding tribes of the northern Baikai. Pes was destined to travel to far away places, her mother preparing her in worldly ways at an early age.

Siberian folklore was passed on. There were tales of Reindeers eating magical mushrooms from the forest, then being instinctively attracted to urine. Lazy hunters would wee in the fresh snow to attract the beast and trap it. Pes learnt about the power of the beautiful Birch Tree and how it was the centre of the earth in Shanamism worship. There were inspiring stories of brown bears, wolves, lemmings, chipmunks, polecats and squirrels, and sad stories of voles, mink and sable. She knew about mushroom wine and the Koryak, Chukchi, Ostyak and Yukagir; of cigarette smoking, Turkish speaking crocodiles and how seals heard noises even though they had no ears.

Riding the Trans-Siberian Railway through Mongolia and China, little Pes was shipped off to a distant country where her parents thought she would have an opportunity to develop and fulfill her desire to achieve her ambitions. She was an excited doll, brazen to the adventure that lay before her. She thought about the Cultural Revolution in China and how books where banned as they could disturb public order and wondered how the Internet would survive in the flicker of the Red Lantern.

She arrived at Hong Kong in time for the Festival of the Hungry Ghost. The bustling imperial outpost was glittering with roadside fires fueled by money being burnt to appease restless spirits. Pes wondered if Cinderella lived here??? She dreamt of wearing a traditional satin cheongsam with purple and red embroidery and a Manchu Fan. She could not see Jackie Chan or a Chinese horoscope and did not find the Hungry Ghost she so wanted to feed.

Than Pes was in flight bound for the great southern land of Australia. She was concerned that it had been called 'Van demons land'. Maybe all the demons now lived in New Zealand? She felt sorry for the poor little Kiwi and wished it wings to escape the 'Aussie demons'.

Greeted by a mist of insecticide, Pes did not envisage that Australia was full of annoying flies, savage mosquito's, giant cockroaches and big hopping insects that made loud frightening noises with their wings and feet. Cicadas are the loudest insect in the world and quite tasty to eat.

Considered a delicacy in Japan, and by the Greeks and Romans in ancient time. Roasted cicadas are the staple diet for tribes in New Guinea, Australia, Indochina and American Indians. There were many thousands of bugs. Pes wondered if bugs bunny lived in Australia?

Pes was intrigued by the little cicada, and would often sit in her chair or amongst the bushes with it and listen to its story, although she did not understand insect language and had no idea what it was saying. She wondered why all the cicadas on earth started to sing after the sun set - maybe they were telling each other where they were as they didn't have torches.