An archaic pagan wooden doll.
A wooden Panky doll is whole, undivided and strong.
Russian folk dolls panky are vaulted from a solid piece of any wood. They are usually animals, birds, or people, treated rather crudely, with a shovel!
Originally, northern punk dolls were probably pagan idols and pagan rites meant for magic, but even with the advent of Orthodoxy in northern lands they have retained their archaic form and meaning.
Intricate patterns and frescoes were made. Punks was denied the details.
Her facial features in the old days were either absent or barely marked with depressions and incisions. So the master acted quite deliberately: thus provided protection against intrusion into the doll of foreign evil spirits, which, according to pagan beliefs, can penetrate through the eyes, mouth, nose and ears. And the doll had no legs: it did not come to life or run away, but faithfully served its master.
The peculiarity of punks was their schematic form, or, as they say now, minimalistic design. No small details and details like outlines of feathers, hooves, hairs in the tail or mane, they look cooler than modern art-brute sculpture.
However, our northern ancestors used punks as toys for their children. A child could play with a punk and not be afraid to break it by dropping it. A brutal punk kid could easily guess whether it was a horse, a woman, a cow or a bird, but with all the details about the toy he had to guess the very thing that developed his imagination.