Hula Hoops

       I'm pretty sure that every child in the U.S  has either seen or played with a hula hoop as a child or even in their life time for that matter. The circular hoop is made out of plastic today but in the 500 bce  willow, rattan, grapevines or stiff grasses. You place it round your body and move your hips in a circular motion to have the hula hoop move in a circle counter clock wise without holding the hula hoop. in Egypt the children would play with them, made of grape vines, by rolling them around, swinging them around with sticks.

 

      In the 17th century Great Britain hula hoops were used for religious ceremonies and in some cases there are medical documents that state that people have dislocated their backs or even had a heart attack because of it.... note to self: take it easy on the hula hooping.... the name of it came from sailors who had seen hula dancers moving with the same motion that the Egyptian children would do when they played with them. But instead of moving it with sticks they would move it with their hips.

 

        around the 14oo's the native Americans found dancing as a way for telling stories and they wuld dance with hoops resembling eagles, snakes, ect. Their dances used very fast  movements and the off-body use of hoops to construct symbolic forms around their bodies...... so interpretive dancing?....maybe.... After many years of this traditional dancing they adopted an annual Native American Hoop Dancing competition at the Heard Museum in Phoenix, Arizona

                

 

The hula hoop Phenomena of the 50’s can be traced to Australia, where children twirled hoops made out of bamboo. When the production of bamboo hoops could not meet the demand, Toltoys , a popular toy company such as Fisher Price, began to make hoops out of plastic and sold 400,000 hoops in 1957....... The Evolution Of Hula Hoops..... Where can you find this in a history text book?... The small colorful plastic tube made primarily for children to play adapted to be a way of exercise..

Hula hoops were a great part in m childhood but they remind me of a beautiful thing Known as Karma. Karma is associated with "what goes around come around" or " you get out what you put into it" do these sound familiar? When getting a hula hoop to move you must move your hips in a circular motion. In kindergarten we learned that a circle has no corners or edges, it is never ending like the circle of life. I'm not making this into a " you are born, you pay taxes and then you die" kind of ordeal I'm looking at it as " with every action comes a equal or opposite reaction". In life you make mistakes its a learning experience, so for an example if you are rude to someone else they will most likely be rude back and if nothing changes there is a never ending circle of rudeness. 

 

http://inventors.about.com/od/hstartinventions/a/

http://www.jamesaltucher.com/2011/09/6-unusual-things-i-learned-from-hula-hooping/http://people.howstuffworks.com/hula-hoop2.htm