How to make a Russian traditional rag doll

Traditional Russian rag dolls could be made even without needles, as all parts are usually held together only by threads – red ones. Slavic people believed that red color could protect them from the evil spirits. That’s why you can often see this color in traditional clothing. Rag dolls were dressed in clothes but their faces were not painted leaving a plain white piece of cloth for the face. People believed that a faceless doll was lifeless, inaccessible for evil spirits and thus harmless for a child. That’s why a faceless doll was both a toy and a guardian.