Show historians record use of dolls in earliest days of history Cu customs date to antiquity the use of dolls as playthings ornaments and symbols of religion and mysticism dates back to antiquity historians have failed to unearth any period in which there were no dolls early oriental mythology abounds with stories of gayly de do figures used in religious rites observes a writer in the detroit news in the orange free state in africa a girl receives a doll when she reaches maturity and keeps it until she has a child of her own egyptians throw a life size doll in the nile when it rises each year chinese mothers hang a doll in front of the house when a child is ill syrian maidens place a doll in the window to notify young blades of the village that they are ready and willing to take a husband in japan the annual feast of the dolls is a gay eay and impressive ceremony in which hundreds of thousands of children and grownups grown ups participate psychologists say dolls are useful not only to amuse but to educate and to develop imagination and the parental instinct in children dolls they say are helpful to little boys as well as girls and any boy under six bix years old need not fear being caned called a sissy if he loves and plays with dolls dolls of cave dwellers were crudely fashioned of mud stories stones or bits of wood archeologists archaeologists have found them in the earliest primitive dwellings often lying by the side of the remains of children through the centuries dolls have taken better form european craftsmen of tile the middle ages developed great skill in making dolls from wax later dolls were made of plaster easily breakable today dolls are made of a wide variety of materials |