What are the small little mexican or native american dolls that usually come in a little box

Worry dolls!

Get them on ebay, of course.

http://shop.ebay.com/items/__worry-dolls_W0QQLHQ5fFSZ1QQQ5ftrkparmsZ66Q253A2Q257C65Q253A16Q257C39Q253A1QQ_fromfsbZQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14QQ_sopZ15QQ_scZ1

Trouble dolls I think I used to have some too. When I was little I let them out of their box & they ran away!



Worry dolls, or trouble dolls, r very small dolls originally made in Guatemala. A person (usually a child) who cannot sleep due to worrying can express their worries to a doll & place it under their pillow before going to sleep.

According to folklore,the dolls were created by two young children in Guatamala. In the midst of a drought a very poor family were struggleing to grow crops & buy food. To solve this problem, the mother of the family created beautiful woven material to sell at the market. One night, a robber came andstole all the material, & the family was left with nothing to sell. So the two children came up with an idea to make little dolls out of twigs & scrap material. They spent all night making them & when they were finished they put the dolls in groups of six. Before one of the children went to bed, she told one set of the dolls all her worries & asked them to help her. She put them under her pillow & slept very soundly that night. When she awoke she found the dolls all layed out in a circle on the table,even though she was sure she put them under her pillow. That morning the children went to the market but no one bought the dolls.Then just as they were packing up, a stranger came & asked about the dolls. The children told him that they were magic & he brought all of them! When they got home, thechildren found that their mother was better & that it had started raining. Later that night the girl child found the set of dolls from the night before, even though she was sure she had sold them. She also discoverd a note saying:''Tell these dolls ur secret wishes. Tell them ur problems. Tell them ur dreams. And when u awake, u may find the magic within u to make ur dreams come true.'' Tthe doll is thought to worry in the person is place, thereby permitting the person to sleep peacefully. The person will wake up without their worries, which have been taken away by the dolls during the night.

The dolls r about 1/2 to 2 inches (13 mm to 50 mm) tall & handmade using wood or wire as a frame, cotton fabric & thread for clothing & cardboard for its body & face, although they can be made from clay. Worry dolls r often sold as a fair trade item. Worry dolls r now part of Guatemalan culture & r very popular.

They are called ''worry dolls'' My Spanish teacher gave them out as prizes one year.