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Doll Houses and Folklore

© Virginia Marin

Folklore Table of Contents

Note--I am moving into a new house and will be offline Friday July 4 - Friday July 18. Have a nice holiday and see you in about 2-3 weeks.

"Come into my house," said the spider to the fly. Well, I assume we are neither but I do, however, invite you into the fantastic world of make-believe in miniature--doll houses, that is. You must take it upon yourself to empty your mind of daily cares and all preconceived notions, which would prevent your fantasy visit from being successful...

To enter into the world of doll house, one must be--well, he must be eclectic, and quite willing to shrink to at least 1/12th scale which is approximately 6" tall. He must be able to accept pandomonium and random clutter, as well as the foibles of a perfectionist. He must be open to the world of fantasy where pink and blue rabbits wear court clothing, and the size of an object is either too large or too small for its obvious purpose. He must be an architect, carpenter, seamstress, unholsterer, brick layer, interior designer, landscape engineer, and a cicerone for the most discriminating. I have purposely omitted electrician and plumber because doll houses need not the latter, and the former is best left to those who feel comfortable working with wires.

My love for doll houses began early in life, as did my love of fantasy, the two being naturally compatible. At a very young age I remember making simple furniture out of matchboxes and empty spools. My grandmother taught me early on how to crochet tiny items, and I still have that first crocheted bed spread for my first doll house, though the house, at some point, made its way across another dimension and into my immiginary Land of Lost Buttons.

In 1940, when I was in the third grade, we had a marvelous sand table on legs which measured approximately 50 inches long by 25 inches wide. We were studying Native Americans and had constructed an entire village in this sand table environment: teepes, canoes, figures, animals, trees, a river. In many aspects, this was a doll house environment, because of the teepes, which contained small items for daily living. I shall forever remember our sand table.

The years passed, and although I put away doll houses for awhile, I continued to collect miniatures. In the early sixties, when we lived in Japan, I started many collections in addition to miniatures. Kokeshi Dolls and Japanese doll houses are two collections which I have maintained since then. Now, those of us who live in the West do not usually think of Japan as a culture which has doll houses known, in their native tongue, as Goten.