Who Invented the Skipping Rope?
It is known as the jump rope, skipping rope or the double dutch. Jumping rope is both a recreation and a sport. Conversations around the origin of this practice, which is now enjoyed globally, takes us on a journey around the world.
Some people believe the jump rope was invented in the 1600s by the Chinese, where the practice of jumping rope was a part of the Chinese new-year festivities. According to that school of thought, the jump rope found its way to Europe where Dutch children used two ropes for jumping and named it the double-dutch. One school of thought credits the jump rope entirely to the Dutch, while another credits Australian Aborigines with the invention of the recreation.
A less widely known school of thought is that which credits the invention of the jump rope to Africans. This school of thought believes that Egyptians invented the jump rope as part of conditioning rituals for warriors, using specially selected vines selected from the savannah forests where they grew among trees . Known as eta, the vines of the Landolphia owariensis grows between trees as woody vines with stems up to a meter wide and 100 m (330 ft) long. This ritual has been in practice since the 15th century BC. Today, it is as much a sport as it is recreational . Some ethnic groups such as the Mafalala in Mozambique continue to practice the jump rope as part of the Tufo dance. In some other communities, jumping rope is done by men as part of coming-of-age rite of passage; while in others, women jump rope while dancing to celebrate the new yam festival in a dance ritual.
Women jumping rope as part of the Tufo dance in Mozambique
What stories have you heard about the jump rope?
