16 November 2008

Estonian swingers, with a video of kiiking.


"Originally swinging had a magical meaning. The belief that swinging in springtime facilitates the growing of crop and good health of cattle and people was widely spread among Finno-Ugric, Slavic and other peoples, and naturally also among Estonians.

Village swings helped young people to communicate with each other and offered opportunity of social interaction to all village inhabitants regardless of their age.

Swings were built on the public land of the village by single young men, and people who came swinging brought presents to swing makers.

Young girls were expected to sing special songs, because singing was an important part of Estonian swing culture.

During the last three centuries various swing types have appeared in Estonia: rõhtkiiged (seesaws), püstkiiged (swings of rope and wood), pöörkiiged (rotating swings or primitive carousels), ripp- ja võrkkiiged (hammocks), jalaskiiged (rockers - rocking horses, rocking chairs, cradles), vedrukiiged (spring seesaws, springboards).

[A] recent example is kiiking, extreme sport activity that originates from daring to make the swing go 360 degrees."
The video above illustrates kiiking. As I watched it, I couldn't help but wonder whether the "rope" of the swing isn't stiffened in some way, because on the penultimate swing the fellow hovers near the apex, and one would think the swing would be at risk of "collapsing" down when the centrifugal force reaches near zero.

3 comments:

  1. from watching the video it is definitely not rope.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It is a metal pole that can be elongated and shortened.
    There is some information about it:
    http://www.kiiking.ee/?id=75

    ReplyDelete

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