Lately I have been excitedly researching the long and deep history of hooping. It’s no surprise that folks have been using the symbolic circle in everything from religious rites to playtime, & dances to target training throughout time. Some 3000 years ago Egyptians fashioned hoops from dried grapevines and other plant materials to swing around their waists or roll across the ground. In ancient Greece, hoops (made from metal scraps or wood) were used as both a toy and a form of exercise to lose weight. Native American Indians have used hoops in many ways over time. Sacred hoop dances are performed with many small hoops that represent the circle of life with no beginning and no end. Flexible yet stong vines (such as rattan or willow) are soaked until soft to construct these hoops. Some groups of Native Americans have use hoop games (such as rolling a hoop and throwing poles through it as it rolls) to learn practical skills for harpooning and other hunting. In the late 50’s, two toy inventors from the U.S. learned that Australian children used rings of bamboo for exercise, and patented one of the biggest toy fads ever, the Hula-Hoop. The term ‘hula’ was used based on the Hawaiian dance movement it was said to resemble. Out of respect for Hula dancing and Hawaiian culture, as well as in cultivation of a new movement of hoopers, many of us have chosen to drop the ‘hula’ from the hooping altogether, or to change the spelling to ‘hoola’ -reclaiming and differentiating it from it’s culturally appropriating ancestral term. This newer hooping resurgence has sprung up in the last one to two decades (out of the Western U.S.), inspired in part by the String Cheese Incident jam-band (who are known to throw hoops into the audience) and the Burning Man Festival. Hoops from this modern movement are usually large and weighty, made from plastic poly-tubing, and most often decorated with colorful tape. What a history, eh? It’s nice to know that people have been enjoying all the beauty and benefits of hooping for millennia! Long live the eternally lovely hoop~