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As you will read throughout the pages of this
issue of Sigrdrifa magazine, the bull was a very important
symbol and creature to the inhabitants of ancient Crete. A
majority of artifacts, including pottery and frescoes, have
a bull depicted on it in one way or another, many times through
the sport of bull-jumping.
Historians are not sure if the participation
in sports was just for sports sake or if they also had a religious
meaning, nonetheless, it was a way for this civilization to
celebrate and have fun. Those that partook in bull-jumping
showed a great bravery and agility. The bulls were never intentionally
hurt or killed during this sport; it was done simply for the
spectacle and to prove ones courage.
In this “sport”, a bull would run
towards a jumper, or possibly a line of jumpers. When the
bull was close enough, the jumper would grab onto his horns
and vault onto the bull’s back if need be, or more highly
hoped for, vault over the bull by doing a “flying”
summersault. As the jumper grabbed onto the horns, the bull
instinctively jerked his head back, which, in turn, sent the
jumper into the air. The best of jumpers landed on their feet
behind the bull without the bull even knowing what happened.
What is also remarkable is that the Minoan culture had gender
equality; both young men and young women participated in this
sport, although the young women dressed in male clothes.
Depictions of this sport seem to show a very
graceful gymnastic type event, one that seems to have more
in common with modern day gymnastics then bull fighting. In
fact, it is compared to the “vault” in gymnastics,
although it is doubtful that gymnasts of today fear or respect
the vault as Minoans did the bull.
By Kristy McKinney
http://atheism.about.com/library/FAQs/religion/blgrk_crete10.htm
http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MINOA/MINOA.HTM
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