There are many kinds of puppets, as you know. There are hand puppets, rod puppets, shadow figures, and marionettes. They are little figures operated by strings and wires from above, by rods, or by hands from below. Puppets are as old as the theater itself. The first puppets were probably made in India or Egypt. Puppet theaters, thousands of years old have been found in both of these countries. Marionettes, which are puppets animated by strings from above, got their name in Italy. During the early Christmas celebrations, small, jointed nativity figures including the Christ Child and the Virgin Mary were made to move by strings. This kind of puppet became known as a marionette, or little Mary.