Effigy

[1] The term is mostly used for the makeshift dummies used for symbolic punishment in political protests and for the figures burned in certain traditions around New Year, Carnival and Easter.

In India, for instance, effigies in protests regularly take the form of the ten-headed demon king Ravana, as they figure in the traditional Ramlila.

[6] The word efigy is first documented in English in 1539 and comes, perhaps via French, from the Latin singular form effigies,[1] meaning "copy, image, likeness, portrait, and statue".

In the British colonies in New England, effigy performances gained prominence as an effective tool in the protests against the 1765 Stamp Act, leading to the American Revolution and the founding of the United States of America.

The best known British example of a political effigy is the figure of Guy Fawkes, one of the conspirators in the Gunpowder Plot who tried to assassinate King James I in 1605 by blowing up the House of Lords.

Traditionally, children make effigies from old clothing filled with straw to beg for "a penny for the guy", and communities build their own bonfires.

[12] Burning effigies is part of many rituals to mark the change of the seasons, performed all over Europe in locally distinct traditions.

The Marzanna ritual represents the end of the dark days of winter, the victory over death, and the welcoming of the spring rebirth.

The museum of Westminster Abbey has a collection of English royal wax effigies reaching back to Edward III of England, who died in 1377.

In the 18th century also other important personalities were honoured with a funeral effigy, for instance British prime minister Pitt the Elder, the naval hero Horatio Nelson, French emperor Napoleon, and Frances Stewart, Duchess of Richmond, who also had her parrot stuffed and displayed at her own request and expense.

Although these funeary and commemorative reliefs were first developed in Ancient Egyptian and Etruscan cultures, they appear most numerously in Western Europe tombs from the later 11th century, in a style that continued in use through the Renaissance and early modern period, and are still sometimes used.

They typically represent the deceased in a state of "eternal repose", with hands folded in prayer, lying on a pillow, awaiting resurrection with a dog or lion at their feet.

[22] A related type of tomb effigy, the cadaver monument, shows the corpse in a state of decomposition as a reminder of human mortality.

Effigy vessel is a term used in the archeology of (mainly) Pre-Columbian America for ceramic or stone containers, pots, vases, cups, etc., in the shape of an animal or human.

In southern India, effigies of the demon-king Ravana from the epic poem the Ramayana are traditionally burnt during the festival of Navrati.