Skip to the Hemp My Darling

“If you pass along one of these avenues, in the cool hours of the afternoon, you may see troops and troops of children, jumping rope, and chasing hoop round the fountain of Union Park; and if the sun is setting brilliantly, rainbows dodge about on the spray, as if playing bo-peep with the happy little ones.”

-The United States magazine and Democratic review, Volume 16- 1845, Page 569

“Holiday Sports on a Man-of-War — Sailors Jumping Rope” c.1875 wood engraving by Joseph Becker

Skip to the Hemp My Darling

A job, a game, a ceremony, a celebration, for fitness, the uses are endless the origins are hemp…

The Chinese are arguably the first to skip the hemp. On ancient oriental hemp ropewalks, whirling strands of hemp would take nimble feet of workers jumping the strands as they twist the hemp…

In the ancient Chinese New Years celebration’s, a ceremony called the “Hundred Rope Jumping” would take place. Said to symbolize the passing of the old year, costumed participants would jump over a twirling hemp rope, jumping into the new…

Chinese children would imitate this act as a game called “jumping 100 threads”…

Jumping rope, c. 1900

Modern day double dutch can be traced to ancient Phoenician rope makers…

With hemp strands in hand, they would slowly walk backwards down the rope walk while twisting their strands of hemp together forming rope. Workers in the Phoenician style rope walks supplying the hemp needed, would run back and forth jumping over the twirling hemp ropes…

With necessity comes invention often leading to pastime pleasure…

Salvador Dali skipping the hemp

English arriving in the new world of America saw the dutch children playing a new game with hemp.

The dutch children imitating workers on rope walks played a double dutch style game of jump rope. This hemp skipping by the children in New York coined the term still used today “Double Dutch”…

No matter if your jumping rope for ceremony, part of a job, as a game, for fitness or whatever the purpose is…